Whenever the Eagles, or any team in the league, is on the field with the Chicago Bears, there's one player who demands undivided attention whenever he's on the field - Devin Hester. With respect to running back Matt Forte, who has established himself as one of the best running backs in the league, Hester is, almost without argument, the best returner in league history. Hester. the NFL's all-time leader in return touchdowns, is capable of changing the course of any game. So it hasn't been an easy week for Eagles special teams coordinator Bobby April.
"Any time he gets his hands on the ball you know he can make anything happen, even when you're in position to make the play," April said of Hester. "He has the ability to make the play and keep the other guy from making the play. So he's good. He's better than good, maybe the greatest returner of all time. His records certainly show that. And in only six years there's been some greats that he's passed that took twice as long to have that many. So I guess he's sort of like [former RB Jim Brown] in that he passed everybody in a shorter period of time. So he's a great player and there's no doubt about that."
The Eagles, though, know Hester quite well, having played the Bears in each of the last four seasons. They've actually done an outstanding job corralling Hester over that time, holding him to only eight punt returns for 27 yards (3.25 yards per return) and six kickoff returns for a 29.5-yard return average. Notably, there have been no touchdowns among those returns. But, of course, there are two different ingredients for the Eagles in the kicking game this season as rookies Chas Henry and Alex Henery are in their first season as specialists. For Henery, there isn't much to change, despite Hester's production. As April pointed out in his weekly press conference, Hester is likely to opt for a return even if he's nine yards deep in the end zone.
"Mainly, I'll just go out there and have every kick ready," Henery said. "If we're winning, keep the ball away from him. We have options to go to if we want to keep away from him, but there's not much we can do differently."
Henry, meanwhile, hasn't had too much action this season, having punted only 18 times on the season, allowing 6.5 yards per return, the sixth-best average in the league. He's also gotten some experience against dangerous returners like Ted Ginn Jr. of the San Francisco 49ers, who had two returns for negative six yards against the Eagles. But Henry knows that Hester is a different animal, and he, nor the coverage units, can afford to let up for a second.
"When you're facing, not even arguably but definitely the best of all time in the NFL, you kind of have to do a little something different," he said. "We're going to try to keep it away from him as much as possible and hopefully it works out for us.
"He has an opportunity to change the game any time he touches the ball. So we're just going to try to limit that, give our guys an opportunity to get down the field. It kind of puts a little pressure on me to get it up there and hang it up a little bit higher, and try to keep it away from him a little bit."
