The Packers enjoyed success on kickoff coverage against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. Mason Crosby attempted to pop up some of his kicks toward the sideline, which resulted in good hang time but sacrificed distance. The strategy neutralized the Vikings dangerous return man Percy Harvin, who averaged only 17.3 yards on four returns.

The Packers employed a similar approach in 2007 against the Bears Devin Hester, who at the time was considered the most dangerous return man in the NFL.

To me its about disrupting the rhythm and timing, said Packers special teams coach Shawn Slocum.

So why dont the Packers kick the ball short and high all the time? Crosbys kicks consistently landed at about the 20-yard line but the Vikings struggled to return it beyond the 30. Wouldnt that be an acceptable tradeoff to guard against long runbacks?

Slocum explained why the Packers cant do that.

I think what would happen is their initial drops would be shorter, so they would contact our guys, said Slocum. They would change their plan. Theyre set up for a deep ball kick, and if we kicked them all short like that they would run and jump on us sooner, block us lets say at about the 40-yard line and we wouldnt have the penetration down the field. Now that guy catches the ball , takes 4 or 5 steps and hes got it to the 40. Thats what you have to be careful with.

Slocum said any time the kickoff team tackles a returner inside the 20 its like a defensive tackle for loss.

I think its really important to tackle them inside the 30-yard line just from a statistical standpoint, and historical data says that teams score at really twice the rate when they have the ball outside the 30 as opposed to inside the 20. That range between the 20 and 30 I feel fairly comfortable when were tackling in there.