Rick Gosselin’s 2010 NFL Special Teams Rankings

(Published February 2011)

Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are a powerful combination on the football field. So are Scott O’Brien and Belichick.

Belichick hired O’Brien as his special-teams coach in his first venture as an NFL head coach with the Cleveland Browns in the early 1990s. In 1994, the Browns led the NFL in special teams and captured a wild-card playoff spot.

But Browns owner Art Modell spent 1995 laying the groundwork to move the franchise. The Browns finished 5-11, skipped town and left Belichick behind. Modell fired him.

Fifteen years later, Belichick again hired O’Brien to coach his special teams. And again the New England Patriots qualified for the playoffs with the best special teams in the NFL, according to rankings compiled annually by Rick Gosselin.

The league’s 32 teams are ranked in 22 categories and assigned points according to their standing – one for best, 32 for worst. The Patriots finished first with a composite score of 269, five points better than the runnerup Tennessee Titans.

Seven playoff teams finished in the Top 10, including five division champions. But the Green Bay Packers finished 29^th in special teams –Marc Marin tying the 2009 New Orleans Saints for the lowest finish ever by a Super Bowl champion.

The Patriots vaulted from 16^th in the NFL in special teams a year ago to first under O’Brien. But the biggest leap in the rankings was staged by the Titans, who moved up 24 spots from 2009 in large part because of rookie return specialist Marc Mariani. Tennessee finished in the Top 10 in both kickoff and punt returns.

The Patriots did not lead in any of the 22 categories but finished in the Top 5 in 10 of them, including punt returns, scoring, blocked kicks and penalties. New England also finished in the Top 10 in two other categories.

Belichick has been building a younger roster in recent years and the Patriots finished the 2010 season with 23 players with two years or less experience.

Those young legs made the Patriots a faster, more physical unit on special teams _ also a more productive one. Second-year men Patrick Chung and Kyle Arrington and rookies Devin McCourty and Dane Fletcher combined for 47 tackles, a blocked kick and a fumble recovery in the kicking game.

In addition, Zolton Mesko had a superb rookie season as the punter with a 38.4-yard net average and only five touchbacks, and second-year return specialists Brandon Tate and Julian Edelman combined to run three kicks back for touchdowns.

Dallas tumbled from fourth in the NFL in special teams when the Cowboys were NFC East champions in 2009 to 20^th in 2010 despite another superb season by punter Mat McBriar and the emergence of rookie Dez Bryant as a return threat with his two touchdowns on punts.

But the Cowboys ranked 27^th in the NFL in kickoff coverage, lost three fumbles and suffered two blocked kicks. One of the fumbles and one of the blocked kicks were returned for touchdowns.

Another defending division champion that took a huge tumble was San Diego. The Chargers collapsed from seventh in 2009 to 32^nd in 2010 and their failures on special teams caused them to miss the playoffs with a 9-7 record.

San Diego allowed five touchdowns on special teams and suffered five blocked kicks. Special-teams blunders contributed directly to the first three San Diego losses _ losses that allowed the 10-6 Chiefs to overtake the Chargers as AFC West champs.

Rank	Team	Score
1	New England	269
2	Tennessee	274
3	Cleveland	277
4	Chicago	280
4	Oakland	280
4	Seattle	280
7	NY Jets	294
8	Baltimore	311
9	Pittsburgh	314
10	Atlanta	318.5
11	Jacksonville	332
12	Arizona	346
13	Washington	348
14	Philadelphia	350.5
15	Detroit	359.5
16	St. Louis	362.5
17	San Francisco	378.5
18	Minnesota	384
18	New Orleans	382
20	Dallas	387
21	Tampa Bay	388
22	Houston	405
23	Carolina	405.5
24	Kansas City	407.5
25	Miami	408
26	Denver	412.5
27	Buffalo	413
28	Cincinnati	421.5
29	Green Bay	441
30	NY Giants	445.5
31	Indianapolis	458.5
32	San Diego	480.5

Here’s a breakdown of the 22 categories:

KICKOFF RETURNS

Best: Atlanta, 26.5 yards

Worst: Cleveland, 17.0 yards

 

PUNT RETURNS

Best: Chicago, 17.1 yards

Worst: Pittsburgh, 6.1 yards

 

KICKOFF COVERAGE

Best: Cleveland, 17.8 yards

Worst: Baltimore, 26.0 yards

 

PUNT COVERAGE

Best: Cincinnati, 4.8 yards

Worst: San Diego, 18.9 yards

 

STARTING POINT

Best: NY Jets and Chicago, 31.5-yard line

Worst: Indianapolis, 22.7-yard line

 

OPPONENT STARTING POINT

Best: Atlanta, 22.2 yard-line

Worst: Minnesota, 30.8-yard line

 

PUNTING

Best: Dallas, 47.2 yards

Worst: Chicago, 40.1 yards

 

NET PUNTING

Best: Dallas, 41.7 yards

Worst: San Diego, 30.8 yards

 

INSIDE-THE-20 PUNTS

Best: NY Jets, 42

Worst: San Diego, 13

 

OPPONENT PUNTING

Best: Pittsburgh, 40.4 yards

Worst: Arizona, 47.9 yards

 

OPPONENT NET PUNTING

Best: Chicago, 32.6 yards

Worst: Arizona, 41.4 yards

 

FIELD GOALS

Best: Oakland and St. Louis, 33

Worst: Buffalo, 16

 

FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE

Best: Minnesota, 94.4 percent

Worst: Washington, 68.5 percent

 

OPPONENT FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE

Best: Atlanta, 65.2 percent

Worst: San Diego, 100 percent

 

EXTRA POINT PERCENTAGE

Best: 24 teams tied at 100 percent

Worst: Cincinnati, 93.7 percent

 

POINTS SCORED

Best: Oakland 26

Worst: 7 teams tied with 0

 

POINTS ALLOWED

Best: 6 teams tied with 0

Worst: San Diego, 34

 

BLOCKED KICKS

Best: Seattle, 4

Worst: 12 teams tied with 0

 

BLOCKED KICKS AGAINST

Best: 13 teams tied with 0

Worst: San Diego, 5

 

TAKEAWAYS

Best: Oakland, 5

Worst: Four teams tied with 0

 

GIVEAWAYS

Best: Four teams tied with 0

Worst: Three teams tied with 4

 

PENALTIES

Best: Atlanta, 7 for 53 yards

Worst: Philadelphia, 25 for 198 yards