The Buffalo Bills’ special team unit under Heath Farwell finished in the top 10 for the second consecutive season in Rick Gosselin’s annual rankings.
In Gosselin’s rankings, the league’s 32 teams are ranked in 22 kicking-game categories and assigned points according to their standing. One point is awarded to the best team and 32 points for the worst. Just like in football, the low man wins. The Baltimore Ravens finished at No. 1 ranking first in five of the 22 categories.
Buffalo’s final score was eighth at 316.5. Their unit ranked behind Baltimore, Indianapolis, Seattle, Kansas City, New Orleans, Dallas, and Detroit. The Bears and Giants complete the top 10. Buffalo is one of six teams to finish in the top 10 for two years in a row.
Among the 22 categories making up the rankings, the Bills finished in the top five in nine. Buffalo dominated the league in kickoff coverage (18.0 yards per return), punt coverage (5.6 yards per return), kickoff starting point (26.6 yard line), opponent starting point (23.7 yard line), extra point percentage (100%), blocked kicks (2) and takeaways (3).
Surprisingly the Bills didn’t finish as the most penalized special teams unit, that honor went to the Jets and their 20 penalties for 191 yards.
Field goal percentage was not among the categories. Bills kicker Tyler Bass would have finished 12th in the NFL with an 87.5% conversion rate with 28 makes on 32 attempts. Still Bass was just one of five kickers this season to convert every single one of his extra-point attempts. He had the second-most extra points made with 51, trailing just the Buccaneers.
Notable the Bills kickoff returns didn’t tail off despite two different returners in Isaiah McKenzie and Marquez Stevenson. Buffalo’s average starting point was at the 26.6 yard line, just a little bit more than a fair catch.
When the Bills returners had a chance to return the kick, McKenzie narrowly outplayed Stevenson with 24.3 yards per kickoff return to 23.6 yards per return, respectively. Meanwhile, Andre Roberts – who the Bills let walk after consecutive Pro Bowl seasons – had 27.3 yards per kickoff return while playing for the Texans and Chargers. Roberts led the NFL with 30.0 yards per return in 2020.
Buffalo punter Matt Haack did not land in any top five for punting categories. Last season with Corey Bojorquez’s leg, the Bills finished first in average punt (50.8) yards and fourth in net punting (44.0) in Gosselin’s rankings.
Farwell was hired by the Bills in 2019 and has brought the unit into the top 10 for consecutive seasons. He was an assistant special teams coach with the Panthers and Seahawks before being hired. In 2018, Football Outsiders ranked Buffalo as the worst special teams unit in the NFL while Pro Football Focus tabbed the Bills’ as the second-worst. Quite the turnaround he’s been able to accomplish.