Why Cartwright over ARE?

It's simple, in Pittsburgh he was mainly a #3 WR, they could afford to turn him loose on kickoffs.

I'm not sure if many teams around the league put their #2 WRs in on kickoffs regularly.

The Steelers ironically are doing just that. Santonio Holmes.

It has alot to do with coaching philosophy. I can see why Gibbs likes Rock....


1) He doesn't fumble kickoffs. (I can't find any stats, so correct me if I'm wrong)

2) He's consistent (I think he's right along the middle of the pack in return yard average)

3) He's expendable.

I'm sure Saunders doesn't want his gadget guy lost on a kickoff. ARE can do a lot of damage on offense with his versatility, and I'm sure he'll be used for PR.

Rock is a mediocre kick returner who's completely expendable. Why risk your #2 WR when you've got Rock... it just doesn't seem like it would make any sense.

To cap it off, Rock is a better kick returner anyways. (Keep in mind, punt returns and kick returns are two totally different things)

Antwaan Randel El - 22.3 yds / return
Rock Cartwright - 22.7 yds / return

Couldn't that be attributed to the fact that the D also set team records for futility? I'd like to see his average compared to a guy like Brian Mitchell or Mike Nelms (who I had to look up, he averaged 29.7 yards per kick return in '81).

cartwright had like 24.0 last year if i remember correctly. he's a good kick return guy.

you saw we lost a kick returner in the game on thursday, right?

that's why his exposure is limited.

First off punt returning is a lot different than kick returning. In punting u generally end up being just 1 on 1 or 1 on 2. Lots of space to make a move, therefore you don't need to plow people over, which I can't imagine ARE being too good at. Kick returning is different, you build up a head of steam and just basically throw your body into the defender and hope he gets knocked over, that's why Cartright gets the honors.