Special teams is Darren Rizzi’s bread and butter, and it stood out for the majority of the New Orleans Saints’ Week 14 matchup against New York Giants. But the game’s third phase was in the spotlight for both good and bad reasons.
The two most notable moments on special teams were Rizzi letting loose on Matthew Hayball and Bryan Bresee leaping over the Giants’ blockers to block a game-tying field goals.
The stark contradiction between those moments is a good representation in the difference between each half of play.
Rizzi was extremely disappointed in the way his unit performed at the beginning of the game. “Our special teams had one of, maybe the worst half of the year in the first half.”
Things changed in quarters three and four. “We turned around and made some plays there in the second half. It’s kind of ironic that we ended up winning the game on a special teams play because we were having one of our worst days in recent memory.”
That improvement is highlighted by Bresee’s phenomenal play, but Hayball redeemed himself with two, much more successful, punts later in the game.
