Rick Gosselin’s 2022 NFL Special Teams Rankings

The Houston Texans fired their head coach after just one season.

But the Texans might want to hold on to one of his assistants.

The Texans fired Lovie Smith after a 3-13-1 finish. An offense without DeShaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins finished 31^st in the NFL and a defense without J.J. Watt finished 30^th. But special-teams coordinator Frank Ross gave the Texans the best kicking game in the NFL according to the 42^th edition of my annual special-teams rankings.

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 Texans compiled 255 points to finish 14 1/2 better than the runnerup Seattle Seahawks at 269.5. The top 12 finishers included two division champions – Buffalo and Jacksonville – and four wild-card playoff teams: Seattle, Baltimore, the Chargers and Dallas.

The quirk in the rankings is that the top two seeds in the playoffs – Kansas City in the AFC and Philadelphia in the NFC – finished in the bottom two of these rankings. The Eagles finished 31^st with 459 points and the Chiefs dead last with 461 points.

The Texans finished first in three categories – kickoff coverage, opponent starting point and takeaways. They ranked in the Top 5 in seven categories and the Top 10 in nine categories.

The Texans recovered four fumbled kicks by Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Dare Ogunbowale, Blake Cashman and M.J. Stewart and got a pair of long-distance field goals (55 and 56 yards) from Ka’imi Fairbairn. Cameron Johnston launched a league runnerup 37 inside-the-20 punts and the Texans were also the only team to hold the opposition under 20 yards per kickoff return.

“There was a subculture, to be honest with you, in the kicking-game room and my guys really bought in,” Ross said. “Our season was tough. But early on, maybe about Week 4, those guys noticed that, `Man, we’re pretty darn good in the kicking game.’ And the pride level never wavered, never waned. Our players took ownership. We had a good veteran group.”

Ross also had a head coach who understood the value of special teams. Smith’s 2006 Chicago Bears led the NFL in special teams on their way to the Super Bowl. He gave Ross the chance to succeed in the kicking game with a commitment to both practice time and personnel.

“Lovie was great,” Ross said. “He had an appreciation for my vision. There was a clearly defined role for how I wanted to use players and he was on board with that.”

Ross debuted as an NFL special-teams coach in 2021 with the Texans and finished 14^th in these rankings. But the team that made the biggest jump was the Los Angeles Chargers, who finished 31^st in special teams in 2021 before vaulting 24 spots to No. 7 this season under first-year coordinator Ryan Ficken.

It also marked the third consecutive season the Seattle Seahawks have finished in the Top 5 in special teams under Larry Izzo and the second consecutive Top 5 finish for the Ravens under Chris Horton.

Rank	Team	Points
1	Houston Texans	255
2	Seattle Seahawks	269.5
3	Baltimore Ravens	272
4	Carolina Panthers	277.5
5	Buffalo Bills	286
6	Detroit Lions	292.5
7	LA Chargers	296.5
8	Indianapolis Colts	300.5
9	NY Jets	306
10	Atlanta Falcons	309
11	Jacksonville Jaguars	322.5
12	Dallas Cowboys	328.5
13	Las Vegas Raiders	331
14	Tennessee Titans	341
15	Minnesota Vikings	357
16	New England Patriots	362
17	SF 49ers	375.5
18	Cleveland Browns	378.5
19	Washington Commanders	383.5
20	New Orleans Saints	385
21	Pittsburgh Steelers	407.5
22	Green Bay Packers	408
23	Arizona Cardinals	408.5
24	Chicago Bears	414.5
25	Denver Broncos	433.5
26	Cincinnati Bengals	434
27	Miami Dolphins	437.5
28	NY Giants	438.5
29	LA Rams	440
30	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	445
31	Philadelphia Eagles	459
32	Kansas City Chiefs	461

Here’s a breakdown of the 22 categories:

KICKOFF RETURNS

Best: Indianapolis, 27.8 yards

Worst: Denver, 17.5 yards

League average: 22.85 yards

 

PUNT RETURNS

Best: Atlanta, 16.2 yards

Worst: Las Vegas, 5.78 yards

League average: 8.88 yards

 

KICKOFF COVERAGE

Best: Houston, 19.0 yards

Worst: Miami, 27.8 yards

League average: 22.85 yards

 

PUNT COVERAGE

Best: Los Angeles Chargers, 3.1 yards

Worst: Cleveland, 12.3 yards

League average:  8.88 yards

 

STARTING POINT

Best: Buffalo, 28.2-yard line

Worst: Denver, 23.9-yard line

League average: 25.3-yard line

 

OPPONENT STARTING POINT

Best: Houston, 22.1-yard line

Worst: New England, 27.9-yard line

League average: 25.3-yard line

 

PUNTING

Best: Tennessee, 53.1 yards

Worst: New England, 41.7 yards

League average: 46.74 yards

 

NET PUNTING

Best: Kansas City, 45.6 yards

Worst: New England, 35.9 yards

League average: 41.47 yards

 

INSIDE-THE-20 PUNTS

Best: Carolina, 39

Worst: Detroit, 14

League average: 25.4

 

OPPONENT PUNTING

Best: Miami, 43.7 yards

Worst: Denver, 51.5 yards

League average: 46.74 yards

 

OPPONENT NET PUNTING

Best: New England, 38.2 yards

Worst: Denver, 45.0 yards

League average: 41.47 yards

 

FIELD GOALS

Best: Baltimore, 37

Worst: Tennessee, 20

League average: 28.2

 

FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE

Best: Carolina, 94.2

Worst: New Orleans, 74.1

League average: 85.02 percent

 

OPPONENT FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE

Best: Las Vegas, 70.0

Worst: Jacksonville, 96.29

League average: 85.02 percent

 

EXTRA POINT PERCENTAGE

Best: 5 teams tied at 100 percent

Worst: Chicago, 84.3

League average: 94.6 percentage

 

POINTS SCORED

Best: Buffalo, 14 points

Worst: 19 teams tied with 0 points

League average: 3.0 points

 

POINTS ALLOWED

Best: 20 teams tied with 0 points

Worst: New England, 18 points

League average: 3.0 points

 

BLOCKED KICKS

Best: Carolina, 5

Worst: 5 teams tied with 0

League average: 1.5 blocks

 

BLOCKED KICKS ALLOWED

Best: 7 teams tied with 0

Worst: Green Bay, 4

League average: 1.5 blocks

 

TAKEAWAYS

Best: Houston, 4

Worst: 10 teams with tied 0

League average: 1.2 takeaways

 

GIVEAWAYS

Best: 11 teams tied with 0

Worst: Kansas City, 5

League average: 1.2 giveaways

 

PENALTIES

Best: Buffalo, 7 for 54 yards

Worst: Carolina, 23 for197 yards

League average: 13.5 penalties for 109.1 yards