Bills finish with best special teams in the NFL

[patmoran2006]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/columnists/rgosselin/stories/020809dnspospecialteamslede.38f0fd2.html



The Buffalo Bills have gone the entire 2000 decade without a playoff appearance.

Don't blame their special teams.

The 7-9 Bills finished 25th in the NFL in offense and 14th in defense this season but first in special teams, according to rankings compiled annually by The Dallas Morning News.

It was the third time in the last five years the Bills have fielded the NFL's best special teams. They wrested the honor from the Chicago Bears, who finished No. 1 in 2006 and 2007.

[patmoran2006]

What makes me think twice about the real value of special teams; is that 7 of the top 9 finishers in overall special teams failed to make the playoffs (NYG and Tenn were the exceptions)

Not saying ST isn't important; I'm saying that perhaps some bottom feeders put TOO Much emphasis on having ST players on their rosters, and fail to fill enough depth for offense and defense.

[Typ0]

I do blame the special teams. I'd much rather have a top 10 defense and offense than the best special teams but we barter those squads to have the players for ST. Big mistake and a waste of playoff appearances.

[OpIv37]

Special teams makes highlight reels.
Defense wins championships.

ST is the one thing this team does right, but they do it at the expense of everything else. Our #3 receiver is a midget who can't get open, but he can return punts. Our back up DE can't play DE, but he can snap a football 20 yards. Our back up LB's can't play LB, but they can stay in a lane on punt coverage.

It's nice to be able to rely on ST, but clearly it's not helping us win.

[streetkings01]

Bobby April has too much say on final cuts IMO! Our depth consist of special teamers and marginal backups!

[TacklingDummy]

I'd rather have a top 5 D or O and ST ranked in the 20's.

[yordad]

So, one thread on this wasn't enough?....Third No. 1 rating in five years is something special for 7-9 Buffalo Bills (http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php?t=169908)

But, I guess we don't have many bright spots, lol.

[X-Era]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/columnists/rgosselin/stories/020809dnspospecialteamslede.38f0fd2.html



The Buffalo Bills have gone the entire 2000 decade without a playoff appearance.

Don't blame their special teams.

The 7-9 Bills finished 25th in the NFL in offense and 14th in defense this season but first in special teams, according to rankings compiled annually by The Dallas Morning News.

It was the third time in the last five years the Bills have fielded the NFL's best special teams. They wrested the honor from the Chicago Bears, who finished No. 1 in 2006 and 2007.

Im sure there were a few that questioned letting guys like Sam Aiken, Marrio Hagan, and other leave... and yet we had similar success.

[jmb1099]

I wonder if April's football smarts extends past special teams? Perhaps its time for the front office to see if he's more than just a special teams coach. Just a thought, but perhaps he could design an explosive offense.

[zone]

Special teams makes highlight reels.
Defense wins championships.

ST is the one thing this team does right, but they do it at the expense of everything else. Our #3 receiver is a midget who can't get open, but he can return punts. Our back up DE can't play DE, but he can snap a football 20 yards. Our back up LB's can't play LB, but they can stay in a lane on punt coverage.

It's nice to be able to rely on ST, but clearly it's not helping us win.

Exactly :clap:

[Mr. Pink]

I love how so many people put such an emphasis on how having good STs matters.

The truth of the matters is...they don't.

Our organization for the past 5 years has proved it. Pat's post of most of the top ST units in the league team's didn't make the playoffs.

When your STs are the best in the league you're gaining maybe 5 yards of field position on average during each series as opposed to league average.

What's 5 yards when your offense doesn't move the ball effectively and your defense is a sieve?

[Oaf]

What makes me think twice about the real value of special teams; is that 7 of the top 9 finishers in overall special teams failed to make the playoffs (NYG and Tenn were the exceptions)

Not saying ST isn't important; I'm saying that perhaps some bottom feeders put TOO Much emphasis on having ST players on their rosters, and fail to fill enough depth for offense and defense.

That's a interesting stat but meaningless. What's the TREND of the stat over a few seasons, say dating back to 2000? I would like to see that. Not only that, but even if most top st teams don't make playoffs, your claim that top special teams CAUSES a difficiency in offense or defense is laughable. It's quite the opposite in terms of field position and scoring execution.

You all seem to forget the st unit that allowed the music city miracle, that gave up 2 KR tds to the jets in the opener a few years back that directly led to a loss, that had chris watson returning punts, that consistently ranked wortst in punt coverage.

If anything, what I see from this is that despite considerable turnover every year or two, april takes new players and molds them into a top st unit within one season, the best example of competent coaching that we have.

If you're blaming marcus buggs, ryan neill, and john wendling for what happened to us last year, you are an idiot. And like it or not, aprils "vouching" for parrish is NOT the only reason he is on the roster.

[Dujek]

The reason the poorer teams have the best ST is because those teams get the most game-time practice at playing ST as their offense can't move the ball.

[Oaf]

Anyone got a rebuttal to my response?

[OpIv37]

That's a interesting stat but meaningless. What's the TREND of the stat over a few seasons, say dating back to 2000? I would like to see that. Not only that, but even if most top st teams don't make playoffs, your claim that top special teams CAUSES a difficiency in offense or defense is laughable. It's quite the opposite in terms of field position and scoring execution.

You all seem to forget the st unit that allowed the music city miracle, that gave up 2 KR tds to the jets in the opener a few years back that directly led to a loss, that had chris watson returning punts, that consistently ranked wortst in punt coverage.

If anything, what I see from this is that despite considerable turnover every year or two, april takes new players and molds them into a top st unit within one season, the best example of competent coaching that we have.

If you're blaming marcus buggs, ryan neill, and john wendling for what happened to us last year, you are an idiot. And like it or not, aprils "vouching" for parrish is NOT the only reason he is on the roster.

Well I don't know about April and Parrish- that's too inside for anyone here to know. But I do know that Parrish's receiving skills are lacking and he wouldn't be on the team if he wasn't a good returner.

And you're forgetting that the Music City Mirage team won 11 games and made the playoffs WITH ****ty ST. So again, while being able to rely on ST is nice, it's not helping us win. If we could make the playoffs with good ST and avoid another Music City Mirage, it would be nice. But one of the reasons we suck is because we lack depth, and one of the reasons we lack depth is because we keep guys for ST alone.

[trapezeus]

if we had a better offense that didn't punt so often, perhaps we'd not be so dependent on our All Star punter.

If we had a better defense, we'd get more punts and less kickoffs, perhaps, with an average ST unit, we'd still have a lot of return yards because we're returning more kicks.

It's fun as hell to have a guy take it to the house. But in our excellence, it's not like we're returning one kick a game or every two weeks to the house. we get like 3 touchdowns and a bunch of good field position that we can't do anything with.

and we're still stuck with Fancy I Lindell.

I see your point Oaf. Those late 90 early 2000 teams sucked on special teams. Agreed. i wouldn't want another sucky ST unit, but a mid tier ST unit and an offense above the top 30 would be a good start.

[HHURRICANE]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/columnists/rgosselin/stories/020809dnspospecialteamslede.38f0fd2.html



The Buffalo Bills have gone the entire 2000 decade without a playoff appearance.

Don't blame their special teams.

The 7-9 Bills finished 25th in the NFL in offense and 14th in defense this season but first in special teams, according to rankings compiled annually by The Dallas Morning News.

It was the third time in the last five years the Bills have fielded the NFL's best special teams. They wrested the honor from the Chicago Bears, who finished No. 1 in 2006 and 2007.

This is exactly why I hate Bobby April on this team. If we ever play in the "Special Teams Bowl" we'll be awesome. But to have a guy like Parrish who gets millions and can't get open as a WR tells you everything you need to know about this team.