Osgood has it covered in Hawaii

Thursday, Feb 08, 2007
By Tom Shanahan, Chargers.com

Photo Gallery: Pro Bowl Practice

Kassim Osgood is angry, and that’s why he’s in Hawaii this week for the Pro Bowl.  The Chargers’ wide receiver earned his first Pro Bowl trip as the AFC’s special teams player.

“You have to be angry to play special teams,” Osgood said. “When you’re mad, you play faster and with more reckless abandon. You disregard everything. I have a little chip on my shoulder to accomplish my goals. That’s what makes special teams players standout. They have so much tension built up, and they want to go out on the field and let it out.”

Osgood is in his fourth season with the Chargers after making the team as an undrafted free agent wide receiver out of San Diego State in 2003.

“The Pro Bowl is a good accomplishment I’m proud of,” Osgood said. “It shows you hard work in the offseason pays off in the end and you can go to the Pro Bowl. I’m blessed to have a coaching staff and teammates around me that are also doing their jobs. That makes my job easier. If I had it my way, the whole punt team would be going to the Pro Bowl. We all worked toward our desired goals.”

This is the second straight year Osgood was voted the Chargers’ Special Teams Player of the Year, even though his regular-season tackle numbers were down significantly from the 2005 season.

Osgood only had nine tackles on special teams to rank seventh on the team. A year ago he was leading the team in special teams tackles with 19 until a torn pectoral injury ended his season in the first quarter of Oakland Raiders game with four weeks remaining in the season.

But the measure of respect Osgood has earned in the NFL isn’t gauged by his statistics. It’s measured by the number of double- and triple-team blockers he faces heading down the field on punt coverage and kickoff coverage.

“It shows you other players and coaches respect you regardless of your numbers,” Osgood said. “Fans get caught up in numbers, but coaches and players get caught up in game planning. They know what you can do and they have to game plan against you.”

What Osgood, a 6-foot-5, 220-pounder, does best on coverage is get down the field quickly, especially on kickoff coverage. On kickoff coverage, he gets up a full head of steam running unencumbered for the first 20 yards or so as opposed to punt coverage when opponents position two or more defenders to bump him at the line of scrimmage.

“It is remarkable how much faster he runs out there in the kicking game than anyone else on the field,” Chargers Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer said. “Those long strides of his have him 3, 4 and 5 yards out in front of everybody on the coverage team. He’s been that way since he’s been here.”

Although this is Osgood’s first Pro Bowl trip, he’d like to score another touchdown at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu. As a senior at San Diego State, he caught five passes for 127 yards and one touchdown. He also had an 87-yard reception that set up a score in a game the Aztecs lost 41-40.

Osgood said he long ago scheduled a trip to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl. After the game he plans to leave from Hawaii for a trip to New Zealand.

The only question was whether he was going to the Pro Bowl as a spectator or a player. He got his answer on Dec. 19 when the Pro Bowl teams were announced.