Hawks’ coach Casullo a special kind of guy

Bob Casullo’s voice is distinctive and so are the words that typically fly from his mouth.
The Seattle Seahawks’ new special teams coach can probably be heard across the Eastern Washington University campus when he barks out instructions at training camp practices. There is a combination of urgency and excitement delivered at high decibels with his rocks-in-a-blender voice.
Some excerpts from the Monday morning practice:
On a kickoff return: “Straight up the field… now bounce it, NOW…good job, good job.”
On the next kickoff return, when there wasn’t enough bounce: “You’re like a horse with blinders on!”
On a properly executed return a couple of plays later: “There you go ‘Weave’ (rookie Leonard Weaver), now you look like a football player.”
Weaver, the subject of Casullo’s scorn and praise, took it in stride.
“He wants perfection and he takes pride in his job,” said Weaver, a blocker on kickoff returns. “When you mess up he’s going to get on you and it just so happens that’s what I did.”
Casullo was hired to clean up the shaky special teams play last season under former coach Mark Michaels. Some areas were exceptional. Kicker Josh Brown made 23 of 25 field goals for a 92 percent success rate, second only to Adam Vinatieri’s 93.9 (31 of 33). Bobby Engram averaged 11.8 yards per punt return, which would have put him third in the NFC, but he didn’t meet the minimum number of attempts.
At the opposite end of the scale, Seattle struggled in gross and net punting, punt return and kickoff return and coverage. The Seahawks used three punters last year while finishing second-to-last in gross punting and 25th in net punting. Seattle ranked 22nd in both punt return and kickoff return. In kickoff coverage, Seattle was middle of the road (17th). Only in punt coverage did Seattle rank in the upper half of the NFL (11th).
If one focuses on Seattle’s net punting vs. its opponents’, the Seahawks gave away roughly 15 yards per game in field position. That probably doesn’t sound like much, but it could spell the difference between a drive that culminates in a touchdown instead of a field goal or a field goal instead of a punt.
Casullo is aware of Seattle’s woeful 2004 statistics, but he didn’t spend a bunch of time trying to figure out what went wrong. He’s been busy implementing his system, which has been formulated by 15 years in the college ranks at Syracuse, Georgia Tech and Michigan State and four seasons with the Oakland Raiders.
“I put my system in and I wanted to see how they’d do with that and I’ve been pleased,” Casullo said. “Each coach has his own philosophy. I don’t think there are many drastic changes (in special teams systems), but there are subtle changes per coach, per team.”
The same might apply to head coaches in terms of their approach to special teams.
“I don’t think ‘overlooked’ is the proper term because I know every coach in the NFL is cognizant of special teams,” Casullo said. “It’s the emphasis that’s put on it that is different. All I know is Coach (Mike) Holmgren is emphasizing it, he’s relayed the message that it’s been a sore spot and he’s given me all the time to correct it.
“From my standpoint, it’s an excellent setting to go do it.”
From Holmgren’s standpoint, he gets a quality coach and some entertainment along the way.
“What you have to be careful of, all of us, is you have to sift through all of the baloney and realize he is a good coach because you get caught up in all that other stuff,” Holmgren said earlier in camp. “Being boisterous and running around, that’s good, as long as you know what you are doing. He is very organized, he is a good teacher and if you throw that other stuff in there he is pretty good.”
Weaver said several players are proficient imitating Casullo’s voice in team meetings. “He’s totally cool with it,” Weaver said. “He gets a kick out of it. He’s a fun guy to be around.”
Casullo’s immediate task is identifying kickoff returners and a punter. Engram is a reliable option on punt returns. Taco Wallace and Marque Davis have fielded punts, too. Kick return seems wide open with Jerome Pathon, Kerry Carter, Maurice Morris, Bobby Shaw and rookie Marquis Weeks among the contenders.
“We’re nowhere near settled in the return game,” Casullo said.
Veteran punter Leo Araguz and rookie Chris Kluwe have impressed Casullo. “I kind of like what Leo is doing. He’s more consistent than Chris. I don’t know if it’s Leo’s to lose. I just want to see him maintain what he’s doing and keep Chris on the upswing.”
Casullo had mixed reviews of the special teams units in Friday’s preseason win over New Orleans. Seattle gave up punt returns of 17 and 18 yards and kick returns of 35 and 31.
“There were some missed tackles, but as far as being in position to make the plays I thought we were very good,” Casullo said. “In training camp, you’re never allowed to finish a play, so that (tackling) is the last thing that comes around.”
Notes
The first scrap of camp was a brief one. Defensive tackle Chartric Darby and offensive lineman Andy King tangled during a one-on-one pass rush/block drill. Darby ripped King’s helmet off before teammates jumped in to separate the two. … The aforementioned Weaver’s 40-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter punctuated Seattle’s win Friday. The 251-pound Weaver, who played tight end at NCAA Division II Carson-Newman, is trying to make the Seahawks as a fullback. “It was a magnificent feeling to be able to do that in the first preseason game,” Weaver said. “But that’s all it was, the first preseason game.” … Rookie linebacker LeRoy Hill will miss about 10 days after spraining his knee in practice Sunday.