Hightower on plan after Scales lands on injured list |
CHICAGO—With the kickoff rule change, Special teams have received more attention than ever before. For the Bears, special teams have taken on even greater importance with a battle at kick and punt returner and the draft of a sensational punter in Tory Taylor.
Now, special teams is back in the headlines with a change in long snapper after Patrick Scales was placed on injured reserve (IR). “Patrick Scales is an outstanding human being and I’d be remiss if I didn’t say, kid’s played 99 games. He’s outstanding. He’s the glue in that room, honestly,” special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said. “So, he’ll be missed. But this is pro football, and Pat wants us to go forward, and that was the last conversation I had with Pat. Pat wants nothing but for the unit to look good because he cares so much about the team, and that’s what kind of teammate he is. He wants to score points, and he wants to win, and I want to win. So, Pat understands that everyone’s still in full support of him as well.” It is unclear at this point whether Scales will be able to return this season as he is having back surgery. In his place, the Bears have signed former Detroit Lions long-snapper Scott Daly. Daly is an Illinois native who went to high school at Downers Grove South. During his three seasons in the NFL, he played 42 games. “Scott Daly will be the guy. We like him a lot, played against him a ton, veteran, snaps a really good ball. Really, in our personal opinion, it is one of 32 in the league, and now it’s all about Cairo and Tory developing that relationship and that bond together because that’s a critical piece of our team because it deals with points, and points is how you win games. So, those three will develop that relationship and try to put points on the board for the team.” Extra points, field goals, and punts are typically easy to snap. That is because the punter, kicker, and long snapper have all offseason to develop chemistry. Now, Taylor, Cairo Santos, and Daly will have to develop that chemistry in about two weeks to prepare for Chicago’s preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, Sept. 8 (Noon / FOX). “It is extremely challenging. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. A lot of people think that you just snap, hold, kick and the ball goes through the uprights. But, there’s a lot of different things that play into that,” Hightower said. “The laces, the lean on the ball, the wind, how you tilt the ball can change the direction and the flight pattern of the ball. How you snap the ball can change that. How you hold the ball can change that, the steps in the kicker’s operation can change that. So, it’s just something that we’re going to have to work through and we feel great about it. We feel great about the fact that we were able to get Scott and they’re going to work good together. We’re excited about it.” During training camp, Velus Jones Jr. played multiple positions, including being in the kick returner conversation. However, he made his biggest mark as a running back. Hightower is a coach who roots for everyone, so to see Jones Jr. make the roster is something he was incredibly proud of. “He just had an outstanding camp. We always knew that he could play on (special) teams,” Hightower said. “But, he showed that he could play on offense and showed that he had versatility and that’s where his value came because he had a really good camp. So, I’m excited to see him or any other of our players to make plays because I just want them all to succeed.”
