Rick Gosselin’s 2005 NFL Special Teams Rankings
Special teams coach Bobby April and his Bills go back-to-back
(Published February 2006)
Special teams helped coach Tom Coughlin transform the Jacksonville Jaguars into an AFC power in the 1990s. Special teams are helping Coughlin turn the New York Giants into an NFC power again this decade.
During his final seven seasons in Jacksonville from 1996-2002, the Jaguars posted Top 10 finishes five times in special-teams rankings compiled annually by Rick Gosselin. The Jaguars fielded the NFL’s best special teams in 1997.
Coughlin inherited a New York team in 2004 that hadn’t finished in the Top 10 in special teams since 1996 and hadn’t been out of the 20s since 1999.
But the Giants improved from 23rd to 17th in Coughlin’s first season in 2004, then vaulted all the way to No. 2 in 2005 as the Giants won their first NFC East title since their Super Bowl season in 2000.
New York finished with the best special teams in the NFC, second overall to the Buffalo Bills.
The league’s 32 teams are ranked in 22 categories and assigned points according to their standing _ one for the best, 32 for the worst. The Bills, who are coached by Bobby April, became the first repeat winner in the 21-year history of these rankings. Buffalo won with a composite score of 217, 41 ½ better than the Giants.
New York was the only NFC team to finish in the Top 6. The Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers finished 13th.
The reconstruction of New York’s kicking game actually began in 2003, a year before Coughlin’s arrival, when the Giants drafted wide receivers David Tyree and Willie Ponder with sixth-round picks and signed punter Jeff Feagles in free agency.
In 2004, Coughlin hired a familiar face to coach the special teams _ Mike Sweatman, who handled the kicking game for Bill Parcells in New York in the 1980s. The Giants also drafted linebacker Reggie Torbor in the fourth round.
In 2005, the Giants signed kicker Jay Feely and return specialist Chad Morton in free agency and drafted defensive end Justin Tuck in the third round. New York also signed undrafted collegians Chase Blackburn of Akron and James Butler of Georgia Tech.
Feely tied a Giants’ single-season record with 35 field goals and finished second in the NFL in scoring with 148 points. Feagles finished eighth in the NFL with 26 punts inside the 20.
Ponder returned a kickoff for a touchdown, Morton returned a punt for a score and both Tuck and Tyree blocked kicks. Blackburn, Butler and Ponder all recovered fumbles in the kicking game, and Tyree was selected to the Pro Bowl as the NFC special-teams player.
Blackburn led the Giants with 22 tackles on special teams, followed by Butler and Tyree with 21 apiece and Tuck with 18.
The Bills finished in the Top 10 in 13 of the 22 categories and were the only team to rank in the Top 10 in the four major return categories: kickoff (first) and punt return (fifth), kickoff (fourth) and punt coverage (seventh).
The team that made the greatest improvement in the rankings was the Houston Texans, who vaulted from 29th in 2004 to third in 2005. Rookie Jerome Mathis finished second in the NFL in kickoff returns with a 28.6-yard average and scored two touchdowns on his way to the Pro Bowl.
Rank Team Score
1 Buffalo 217
2 NY Giants 258.5
3 Houston 260.5
4 Miami 286
5 Tennessee 298.5
6 Cleveland 311
7 San Francisco 321.5
8 Jacksonville 334.5
9 Carolina 337
10 Washington 343.5
11 Chicago 359
12 Minnesota 360.5
13 Pittsburgh 362.5
14 Dallas 365
15 Atlanta 365.5
16 Cincinnati 367.5
17 St. Louis 376.5
18 Denver 379.5
19 Kansas City 380.5
19 Tampa Bay 380.5
21 New England 382.5
22 San Diego 387.5
23 Philadelphia 393.5
23 Baltimore 393.5
25 NY Jets 400
26 Oakland 406.5
27 Detroit 423.5
28 Arizona 428
29 Indianapolis 428.5
30 Seattle 429
31 New Orleans 437
32 Green Bay 442.5
Here’s a breakdown of the 22 categories:
KICKOFF RETURNS
Best: Buffalo, 26.5
Worst: Green Bay, 18.9
PUNT RETURNS
Best: Baltimore, 11.1 yards
Worst: Oakland, 5.5 yards
KICKOFF COVERAGE
Best: Atlanta, 19.3 yards
Worst: Arizona, 28.3 yards
PUNT COVERAGE
Best: Tennessee, 4.5 yards
Worst: Oakland, 11.8 yards
STARTING POINT
Best: Buffalo, 34.8-yard line
Worst: St. Louis, 24.5-yard line
OPPONENT STARTING POINT
Best: Atlanta, 24.2-yard line
Worst: NY Jets, 31-yard line
PUNTING
Best: Buffalo, 45.6 yards
Worst: Houston, 38.8 yards
NET PUNTING
Best: Buffalo, 39.1 yards
Worst: Green Bay, 33.5 yards
INSIDE-THE-20 PUNTS
Best: Detroit, 34
Worst: Green Bay, 11
OPPONENT PUNTING
Best: St. Louis, 40.0 yards
Worst: Kansas City, 45.7 yards
OPPONENT NET PUNTING
Best: Baltimore, 33.0 yards
Worst: Kansas City, 40.0 yards
FIELD GOALS
Best: Arizona, 43
Worst: Washington, 17
FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE
Best: Arizona, 95.5 percent
Worst: Oakland, 66.6 percent
OPPONENT FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE
Best: San Diego, 68.9 percent
Worst: Miami, 100 percent
EXTRA POINT PERCENTAGE
Best: 19 teams tied at 100 percent
Worst: Cleveland, 90.4 percent
GIVEAWAYS
Best: 4 teams tied with 0
Worst: NY Jets, 6
TAKEAWAYS
Best: Minnesota, 5
Worst: 6 teams tied with 0
BLOCKED KICKS FOR
Best: Oakland, 4
Worst: 9 teams tied with 0
BLOCKED KICKS AGAINST
Best: 4 teams tied with 0
Worst: Minnesota & Philadelphia, 3 apiece
POINTS SCORED
Best: Cleveland, 18
Worst: 15 teams tied with 0
POINTS ALLOWED
Best: 13 teams tied with 0
Worst: Arizona 24
PENALTIES
Best: NY Jets, 8
Worst: New Orleans, 35
