Which AFC East Team Has the Best Special Teams Unit?
Facebook Logo Twitter Logo Copy Link Icon Home > NFL > AFC East Which AFC East Team Has the Best Special Teams Unit? Erik Frenz@ ErikFrenz Twitter Logo Senior Writer I April 20, 2012 Comments Comment Bubble Icon
Commissioner Roger Goodell may have killed the kickoff return, but special teams still has its place in the NFL.Winslow Townson/Getty Images
Like the running back position, rule changes have made the special teams units less valuable over the years. This is especially true of the place kick, which was now moved up to the 35-yard line, thus increasing the number of touchbacks by epic proportions.
But never underestimate the value of a dynamic return specialist or a well-versed coffin corner punter.
And if your offense isn’t scoring touchdowns, a field goal kicker will ultimately be more important, as well.
So it’s clear that special teams still has its place in the NFL, and in the AFC East; Football Outsiders’ rankings have the Jets, Dolphins and Patriots all with top 10 special teams units, while the Bills rank all way down at No. 24 in their DVOA rankings.
So which team has the best special teams unit in the AFC East?
1. Miami Dolphins
Jason Miller/Getty Images
As a team, the Dolphins averaged 24.2 yards per return last year—the second-highest average of any AFC East team. Wide receiver Clyde Gates found a way to contribute to the team last year, with an average of 24.8 yards per return on a team high 34 kickoff returns. They even ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in punt return average, with 11.4 yards per return. Davone Bess was their bell cow with 37 returns for 442 yards.
As for their specialists, kicker Dan Carpenter was an 85.3 percent shooter last year. He struggled in 2010, but has been a very steady presence at kicker for the Dolphins besides that season.
Punter Brandon Fields, meanwhile, landed 32 of his 78 punts (41 percent) inside the opponent’s 20-yard line and netted an average of 41.1 yards per punt.
Across the board, the Dolphins have the best unit in the AFC East.
2. New England Patriots
Jim Rogash/Getty Images
A solid duo of Stephen Gostkowski and Zoltan Mesko is enough to put the Patriots in the top half of the AFC East rankings.
Gostkowski ranked just 14th in field goal percentage with 84.8, and with just two attempts of over 50 yards, the Patriots know they don’t have a big boot with Gostkowski. Plus, they have an offense that’s usually scoring touchdowns and not settling for field goals.
But on the rare occasion that they are out of range and can’t score, Mesko has been as solid as a rock. The second-year punter averaged 46.5 yards per punt, with a net of 41.5, and forced opponents to start inside their own 20 on 24 of his 57 attempts (42.1 percent).
But it’s not all sunshine and flowers for the Patriots on special teams. As a team, the Patriots averaged a paltry 21.4 yards per kickoff return, ranking 29th in the NFL. They should look to find someone to contribute more in the return game in the draft, but their punt return units were right around the league average with 10.3 yards per return.
3. New York Jets
Nick Folk’s key misses had Jets fans up in arms, and has their special teams unit at the bottom of this ranking.Rob Carr/Getty Images
The Jets averaged a whopping 26.3 yards per kickoff return, ranking in the top five in the NFL. Joe McKnight and Antonio Cromartie were their two biggest contributors in that facet, with McKnight scoring one of only nine return touchdowns on the season. His 31.6 yards per kickoff return was the second-highest average of anyone in the league, and the highest of anyone with over 20 kickoff returns.
Beyond that, there was enough mediocrity to go around for the Jets special teams unit.
Nick Folk, at 76 percent, is in the bottom seven in the NFL. Three of his six misses were on kicks of 50 or more yards, but Folk has been wildly disappointing since 2008, so this is a trend more than an aberration.
With 92 punts as a rookie, punter T.J. Conley had the 11th-highest total of any rookie punter in NFL history. His averages didn’t get him off to a very good start, with just 42.7 yards per punt and 38.8 net.
4. Buffalo Bills
Michael Heiman/Getty Images
The Bills have classically had one of the NFL’s best special teams units, but as of 2011, they weren’t even in the top half of their own division. It wasn’t all bad, but some of it was ugly.
Take, for example, Brian Moorman and the punt unit. Even at 36 years old, Moorman was booming kicks downfield to a tune of 48.2 yards per punt. The net average? 38.1. That means the Bills gave up more than 10 yards per punt return on Moorman’s watch.
That’s not good at all.
What’s more, their kickoff return units averaged just 23.1 yards per return. That was bad enough to land them in the bottom 10 of the league. Where Brad Smith excelled in that role with the Jets, he floundered for the Bills with just 15 returns and almost a full 10 yards less per return on average.
Even their average of 12.7 yards per punt return, good for fourth in the league, is wildly deceiving. They only got to return 26 punts this season, and Leodis McKelvin broke one of them for an 80-yard touchdown.
The Bills have some work to do to get back to the upper echelon of special teams units.
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