What a difference a year makes for the Buffalo Bills’ special teams unit.
One year after being ranked 31st out of the 32 NFL teams in Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings, the Bills climbed 19 spots to finish 12th in Gosselin’s year-ending rankings with 341 total points.
Among the primary differences in Buffalo’s placement in the rankings? The team fired former special teams coordinator Danny Crossman and replaced him with Heath Farwell, and brought in Pro Bowler Andre Roberts to handle returns.
The rankings are based on 22 different kicking-game categories, including kickoff and punt returns, kickoff and punt coverage, punting and net punting average, the number of punts kicked inside the 20, takeaways, giveaways, and penalties committed.