Special Teams Might Be Green Bay's Most Reliable Unit

We've gotten used to elite quarterback play carrying the Green Bay Packers to the playoffs over the years. On multiple occasions, Aaron Rodgers' elevated offense carried the Packers' struggling defense and special teams to the postseason.

That era is over, at least for now. With a first-time starting quarterback and a talented but unproven offensive weapon group, Green Bay's offense has a lot to prove. Thankfully, another phase of the game has emerged as reliable and capable of making life easier for Jordan Love…and it's not the defense, which still has a lot to prove after two years of inconsistent showings under Joe Barry.

Nay, when there was only one set of footprints, it was Rich Bisaccia and his special teams unit that carried the team.

It may feel like we're living in Bizarro World (and it feels more like that's true every day), and Bisaccia has only been in Green Bay for a year, but he has changed the culture of the unit into something to be proud of. The “we-fence” has questions of its own and needs to build on a promising Year 1, but special teams might just be the most reliable group in Green Bay.

This is quite a big jump in confidence considering just two seasons ago the Packers special teams performance was so bad it broke multiple Geneva Convention tenets. With just even a merely below-average unit in 2021, Green Bay beats San Francisco in the divisional round and stands a good chance of making it to the Super Bowl.

So Bisaccia had his hands full when he took the special teams coordinator job in 2022. And, despite some hiccups, the son of a gun did an excellent job.

Bisaccia's group went from dead last in Rick Gosselin's 2021 special teams rankings to a respectable 22nd in 2022. Bisaccia had to mostly remake his group from scratch. Staples like Oren Burks and Ty Summers weren't retained. Bisaccia looked for players to be special teamers, not just play special teams because it was the only spot on the roster for them.

He found some gems. Keisean Nixon became an All-Pro returner despite limited kick-return experience and none returning punts in the NFL. Tyler Davis, Dallin Leavitt, Isaiah McDuffie, and Eric Wilson became staples, and many of them could teach the defense how to tackle more efficiently. Tariq Carpenter felt like a pick made solely for Bisaccia and is primed to play a bigger role in 2023. His chosen punter Pat O'Donnell brought consistency and holding ability the team lacked.

Not everything was perfect, of course. It's still a crime how long Amari Rodgers held on to the returner job. Punt blocking still needs some work, as there were far too many close calls. But Bisaccia's first year in Green Bay was a massive success, earning him assistant head coach honors for this season.

Whereas Bisaccia had to remake the unit in his first season, he'll keep most of his core intact for 2023 and have a chance to build on a successful season. The Packers didn't make many moves in free agency thanks to a limited cap budget and the fact that they're the Green Bay Packers and don't make moves in free agency anyway. But the ones they did make, including re-signing Nixon and Leavitt, were moves for Bisaccia.

Bisaccia's biggest challenge this season will be in his development of rookie kicker Anders Carlson. Many fans may not get super psyched about punt-return coverage, but kickers are always under a microscope thanks to their ability to single-footedly determine games. Carlson wasn't highly ranked by draft experts, but Bisaccia found success with Anders' brother Daniel in Vegas. How Bisaccia's chosen kicker performs will be a major part of his legacy.

Hopefully, the offense and defense can do their part to keep up. It's hard to win games completely based on special teams performance. The offense is unproven but has a quarterback they believe in, athletically gifted monsters as pass catchers, a solid offensive line, and one of the league's best offensive minds. The defense has all the talent in the world. It would just be super neat if the entire unit put everything together at the same time and the coach lets his troops play their best roles.

But it's nice to view special teams as a security blanket instead of an active cause for concern. Helping tilt the field position, minimizing errors, and getting those tough field goals makes everyone’s lives easier.

Is being excited about Green Bay's special teams cause for concern? Have I just drank the Kool-Aid? Of course not — that stuff is full of sugar. But I believe in the job Bisaccia has done. He's historically led successful units, his coaching style is well-received by his players, and he brings a fresh philosophy to the group the powers-at-be in Green Bay have ignored for years. That group can help elevate the rest of the team as they go through their growing pains.