Shawn Williams looks to captain another
stalwart special teams day.
BENGALS S SHAWN WILLIAMS VS.
DOLPHINS S CLAYTON FEJEDELEM
Darrin Simmons, the superstitious long-time
coordinator who broke the
Bengals special teams hex while making them one of the most consistent kicking
games in the NFL's 21st century, is doing more than knocking on wood
this week.
But, as usual, he won't say what as he prepares for Sunday's (1
p.m.-Cincinnati's Local 12) showdown in Miami against the Dolphins' top-ranked
special teams. With the help of two successful fake punts in the last three
weeks, the Bengals have climbed back to No. 6, according to Football Outsiders.
Simmons won't say if he called the play from the bench or if Williams, his
on-field alter ego as punter Kevin Huber's personal protector, made the check
and ran for the first down.
"I," says Simmons, "wouldn't answer my own mother
if she asked me that."
According to Williams, it doesn't much matter. Other than Huber
and his personal long snapper Clark Harris, Williams has taken the most snaps under Simmons since he arrived
in 2013. In that stretch, according to Football Outsiders, the Bengals have
finished in the top 10 in that hidden phase of the game four times and that
includes last year's No. 1 ranking.
(Remember what Simmons
inherited. The year before he arrived in 2002, the Bengals allowed four return
TDs. Under Simmons, they didn't allow their fourth TD until the opener of his
eighth season.)
And they care about stuff like that. "We want to be one of
the reasons we win, not the reason we lose," Huber says of his fellow
specialists. They know where they're ranked and where their foe is ranked.
"Darrin and I are kind of on the same wave pattern as far
as thoughts," Williams says. "I can ask in my head, 'What would
Darrin do here?' I know Darrin like nobody on this team does. Well, not as much
as Clark and Kevin."
If Simmons won't answer his mother, Williams can remind
Fejedelem, "Who his Daddy is." Williams checked in with Fejedelem
after Sunday's game the Bengals teamers almost stole one from the Giants and
reminded him of this Sunday's appointment.
"I taught Fej everything he knows," Williams says.
"Darrin is still his Daddy. But I'm his big brother. Brayden is his
uncle."
"Brayden," is Brayden Coombs, Simmons' former
assistant who took the Lions' head special teams job this season. All of them
went to Fejedelem's wedding back in March in Chicago and a few days later
Fejedelem signed with the Dolphins.
Fejedelem, the fearless NAIA Illinois walk-on the Bengals took
in the seventh round in 2016, blossomed into a Pro Bowl alternate under Simmons
and Coombs and now what does that make Danny Crossman, the Dolphins special
teams coordinator?
When Simmons came to Cincinnati with head coach Marvin Lewis in
2003, Crossman replaced Simmons as the Panthers assistant special teams coach.
With both raised under the special teams tree of Scott O'Brien, you wouldn't
exactly call them twins but X and O cousins would be pretty close.
"There's probably not much different what he's telling his
guys than what I'm telling my guys," Simmons says.
When Simmons flipped on the tape this week, there were no
surprises. Crossman has his people playing hard and in the right spots. Jakeem
Grant leads the NFL in punt returns, the Dolphins are second in the league
covering them and in a memo to Bengals kick return ace Brandon Wilson they are No.
1 covering kickoffs.
And as insurance, the balmy South Florida air has big-footed
kicker Jason Sanders seventh in touchbacks.
Even though he missed the first three games, Simmons can see
that Fej is Fej, leading the Dolphins in tackles as their special teams
quarterback in the role of punt team personal protector.
That's the job he had here and when Simmons went searching for a
new PP he didn't have to go far. Running back Giovani Bernard, who arrived a
round before Williams in the 2013 draft, had done it before in spurts. But when
running back Joe Mixon got hurt back in mid-October and Bernard became the No.
1 ball carrier, Simmons had to find someone else.
"Darrin has higher standards for you than you
probably think you could ever reach," Williams says. "That never
changes regardless of the score in the game or the record at any point in the
season. That's what makes
Darrin the great coach that he is. His standards are not only high for the
team, but for each player specifically."
That was a short search, too, once he lost Bernard and landed on
Williams. But then, that's what the best NFL special teams coaches do. Their
No. 1 trait has to be reacting because during the week the other coaches take
from them to fill their own holes and the kicking game is left with guile,
improvisation and not much else.
Especially in a year for the Bengals that has been devastated by
injury and racked by COVID uncertainty.
"Special teams coordinators get the short end of the
stick," says Huber, the longest-tenured Bengal. "They find out late
Saturday, early Sunday who is going to be active, who is going to be inactive
after a week of practicing guys. So he has to have multiple guys prepared,
multiple lineups prepared in case one guy is down vs. another guy.
"Darrin
does a great job with detail. Guys know what to expect. There aren't many looks
we're going to see that we haven't seen already in practice. I'd say our guys
are more prepared than any other special teams unit in the league."
Head coach Zac Taylor
recognized Simmons' organizational skills when he appointed him assistant head
coach during the offseason and while that probably kept interested teams at
bay, it has also helped the club.
"He's a guy I turn
to 20 times a day," Taylor says. "(We) talk about the roster, talk
about schedules, talk about how to handle the game, how we're going to win this
game on Sunday. I run everything that I'm thinking through him. He's been a great, great
resource for me."
If Williams can hear Simmons in his head, Simmons can also hear
Williams. He could hear him watching the tape of last Sunday's game. He heard
him on that last punt return with two minutes left and the Bengals needing the
29 yards Alex Erickson got them to stay in it.
"I think our guys like the challenge of going against a
team ranked like that," Simmons says. "They care about winning and
doing the job well."
With pros like Williams. He blocked the gunner out of bounds and
went back on the field to help out and get another block. That was after he
helped spring Wilson for his franchise-long 103-yard kick return in the first
quarter. It was after he ran seven yards on fourth down with a fake punt two
weeks after he got 39 against the Steelers with another one.
That's how Simmons sees his unit. Everyone, and maybe most
importantly his captain, a veteran like Williams who lost his starting safety
job this year, making a big contribution no matter what.
"It's hard," Williams says of trying to adjust to a
different role. "It's hard. Everyone sets out to have goals and standards
and seeing it not come true, you deal with it. You do what you can to get over
it, get through it and help your team."
So that means watching tape of the 5-7, 171-pound Grant gobbling
up nearly 14 yards per return while taking one 88 for a score. "The little
returner is really good," says Williams, who leads a crew that is ninth
covering punts despite the revolving door at cornerback. Wilson, the Bengals'
defending NFL kick return champ, has moved up to sixth and faces a Miami kick
cover team that has put teams inside the 20 nine times when Sanders doesn't
boot it out of the end zone.
"It should be a nice little game," Williams says.
"Two good (units). Two coaches that came up together. Let the chips fall.
"We'll do what always try to do and help the team by
bringing the juice."
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