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Through four games, the Ravens rank 29th in the league in punt return average at just 5.3 yards per return.
Those aren't the numbers that head coach John Harbaugh or special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg want to see out of punt returner Tom Zbikowski and the group in front of him.
But the Ravens aren't planning on switching punt returners this week or making any drastic moves to turn things around. In fact, they released cornerback Prince Miller this week, one of Zbikowski's top backups in the punt return department.
Harbaugh says that the Ravens just haven't been given much to work with so far, and believes they need to stay patient.
"Punt returns, for whatever reason, guys have punted really well against us," Harbaugh said. "We've just got to keep working on that and see if we can pop one."
Zbikowski agrees with his head coach.
"They've had some good punts, high, hanging ones," Zbikowski said. "They've been punting well. They've been bombing them."
From his perspective, Rosburg said this week that it isn't just the distance of the punts that the Ravens have received that has led to the low numbers, but also the positioning on the field and the situation that the punts have come in.
The Ravens' coaches gave Zbikowski the punt return job this season because he showed well in his preseason opportunities, averaging 11.5 yards per return and breaking a long of 28 yards. But it's been a different story for the third-year safety in regular season action, as he's averaged just 5.7 yards on 14 returns (with a long of 20 yards).
Zbikowski tried to get a little too fancy at times through the first few games, attempting to make a big play by running from sideline to sideline instead of north-south. The Ravens would prefer that Zbikowski take what the coverage unit gives him and run hard up the field, which he's done a better job of lately.
Now, Zbikowski says he just needs to keep plugging away and hope that a big play happens soon.
"You just keep fighting," he says. "You've got to be patient. You learn that through experience. You break ones when you really least suspect it. When you try to, you don't. When you're trying to get 10 yards is when you finally break it."
