Rick Gosselin’s 2020 NFL Special Teams Rankings

(Published February 2021)

Cameron Achord faced a daunting challenge in his debut in 2020 as special-teams coordinator of the New England Patriots.

Achord was replacing Joe Judge, who was hired by the New York Giants as their head coach. Judge was held in such high esteem that he joined the legendary Frank Gansz as the only coaches in NFL history to go directly from an NFL special-teams coordinator to a head-coaching seat.

And the guy Judge replaced in New England, Scott O’Brien, was a bit of a legend himself. He coached the Patriots to a No. 1 finish in special teams twice during Bill Belichick’s 20-year tenure as head coach. Clearly there is a high standard for the kicking game in New England. The Patriots have finished in the Top 10 14 times under Belichick, including nine Top 5 finishes.

Achord spent this first two seasons in the NFL as the assistant special-teams coach under Judge before his promotion. But he proved more than ready for the increase in responsibilities in 2020, coaching the Patriots to a No. 1 finish in the NFL special-teams rankings compiled annually by Rick Gosselin for the last 42 years.

The league’s 32 teams are ranked in 22 kicking-game categories and assigned points according to their standing – one for best, 32 for worst. The Patriots compiled 214 points to finish eight better than the runnerup Seattle Seahawks at 222. Those 214 points, by the way, were a record-low for the Patriots.

Five other playoff teams joined Seattle in the Top 9 of these rankings. Indianapolis came in fourth, Baltimore fifth, New Orleans sixth, Buffalo eighth and Chicago ninth. Miami, which missed the playoffs despite winning 10 games, finished seventh.

The Patriots claimed two of the five Pro Bowl spots devoted to special teams in the AFC, punter Jake Bailey and coverage ace Matthew Slater. In addition, Gunner Olszewski was voted first-team all-pro as the punt returner by the Associated Press. Coverage ace Justin Bethel and kicker Nick Folk have been to past Pro Bowls and Joe Cardona has provided six seasons of stability as New England’s deep snapper. This is a seasoned group that expects to perform and does.

New England finished in first or with a share of first in six of the 22 categories this season and second in another. There were five other Top 5 finishes by the Patriots and three more in the Top 10. That’s 15 Top 10 finishes in the 22 categories. All punting aspects were a strength with Bailey. The Patriots also blocked two kicks and scored two touchdowns on returns of a punt and a blocked field goal.

The Saints excelled in coverage, finishing first in punts and second in kickoffs. New Orleans finished in first or with a share of first in three categories and second in two more. There also were two other Top 5 finishes and four in the Top 10.

The Detroit Lions were a surprising third-place finisher. They were terrible — finishing 5-11 with the NFL’s 20^th ranked offense and 32^nd ranked defense – and head coach Matt Patricia was fired after Thanksgiving. But Detroit was ultra-competitive on the kicking downs, especially with NFC Pro Bowl punter Jack Fox.

The Lions blocked a league-high four kicks and finished first or with a share of first in four categories. There also were two second-place finishes, four more in the Top 5 and three more in the Top 10. But special-teams coach Brayden Coombs didn’t survive, either. The Lions fired him during Christmas week.

The greatest improvement was charted by the Colts, who vaulted from 29^th in 2019 to fourth in 2020. Special-teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone was hired by the Colts in 2018 away from the Patriots, where he had been O’Brien’s assistant. New England then hired Judge to replace Ventrone. Now it’s Achord’s turn.

Two other teams charted sizable improvements – Baltimore vaulted from 25^th to fifth and Buffalo from 28^th to seventh.

Rank	Team	Score
1	New England	214
2	Seattle	222
3	Detroit	235.5
4	Indianapolis	244.5
5	Baltimore	262.5
6	New Orleans	267.5
7	Miami	281.5
8	Buffalo	287
9	Chicago	294
10	Arizona	309.5
11	Dallas	313
12	Cincinnati	315.5
13	Houston	324.5
14	Jacksonville	325
15	Las Vegas	346
16	Carolina	346.5
17	Philadelphia	361.5
18	Pittsburgh	383
19	NY Giants	396.5
20	Kansas City	397
21	Denver	410.5
22	Tampa Bay	416.5
23	Atlanta	419.5
24	Tennessee	420.5
25	Washington	431.5
26	NY Jets	434.5
27	San Francisco	453
28	Cleveland	466.5
29	Green Bay	492.5
30	LA Rams	506.5
31	LA Chargers	517.5
32	Minnesota	520.5

Here’s a breakdown of the 22 categories:

KICKOFF RETURNS

Best: Buffalo, 27.6 yards

Worst: Green Bay, 18.9

 

PUNT RETURNS

Best: New England, 15.5 yards

Worst: Minnesota, 4.3

KICKOFF COVERAGE

Best: Miami, 15.7 yards

Worst: Tampa Bay 33.6

PUNT COVERAGE

Best: New Orleans, 2.3 yards

Worst: Green Bay, 17.1

KICKOFF STARTING POINT

Best: Baltimore, 27.3-yard line

Cincinnati, 26.4

Worst: Denver, 23.6

OPPONENT STARTING POINT

Best: Arizona, 23.3-yard line

Worst: Minnesota, 27.2

PUNTING

Best: Buffalo, 50.8 yards

Worst: Atlanta, 42.5

NET PUNTING

Best:  New England, 45.6 Yards

Worst: LA Chargers, 34.1

 

INSIDE-THE-20 PUNTS

Best:  Seattle, 32

Worst: Minnesota, 11

 

OPPONENT PUNTING

Best: Detroit, 41.3 Yards

Worst: SF 49ers, 48.5

OPPONENT NET PUNTING

Best: Jacksonville, 35.6 yards

Worst: LA Rams, 43.9

FIELD GOALS

Best: Atlanta, 38

Worst: Philadelphia, 14

FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE

Best: Seattle, 100 percent

Worst: Minnesota, 68.1

OPPONENT FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE

Best: Baltimore, 66.6 percent

Worst: Carolina, 93.5

 

EXTRA POINT PERCENTAGE

Best: Miami, 100 percent

Worst: Denver, NY Jets, 83.3

POINTS SCORING

Best: 1. Indianapolis, 12 points

Worst: 14 teams tied with 0

POINTS ALLOWED

Best: 16 teams tied with 0

Worst: LA Chargers, 20

BLOCKED KICKS

Best: Detroit, 4

Worst: 8 teams tied with 0

OPPONENT BLOCKED KICKS

Best: 11 teams tied with 0

Worst: LA Chargers, LA Rams, 4 apiece

TAKEAWAYS

Best: Arizona, 3

Worst: 15 teams tied with 0

GIVEAWAYS

Best: 14 teams tied with 0

Worst: SF 49ers, 4

PENALTIES

Best: SF 49ers, 3 penalties, 25 yards

Worst: LA Chargers, 22-143