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2007 Special Teams Index
Cold, Hard Football Facts for November 16, 2007
By Jonathan Comey
Cold, Hard Football Facts coffin cornerer
We finally found something that the NFC West is good at.
It's not winning football games, although the West did get upset victories from the Rams and Cardinals last week. For the season, the West is 12-24, three games behind the AFC West and AFC East (15-21) for the "worst division in football honors."
The NFC West is similarly poor in our Quality Stats.
On the Offensive Hog Index, they rank 18th (AZ), 26th (SEA), 27th (SF) and 29th (STL). Dirty, dirty hogs.
The Defensive Hogs are significantly better, with Arizona tied for 8th, Seattle and St. Louis in the middle and San Francisco not too bad at 21st. But we still wouldn't call it a strength.
Seattle is the "best" Passing YPA team at No. 11, with Arizona 13th, St. Louis in 26th and San Fran in dead last. The Seahawks are a solid No. 4 in defensive passer rating, but the other three are all in the bottom half.
And the four teams combined are a net -15 on Big Plays this year.
Yes, the West is a mess.
Ah, but then there's our new Special Teams Index, the place where the NFC West shines. No division is better at special teams than the NFC West, which lends even more credence to the argument that special teams just aren't that important in the grand scheme of things.
San Francisco comes in tied for 4th, followed by Arizona tied for 6th, Seatle in 9th and St. Louis tied for 14th. No other division has all of its teams in the top half of the S-T index, or comes close to their average ranking of 8.3.
And there are several standout S-T units in the West. San Francisco's Joe Nedney is the No. 1 field goal kicker, punter Andy Lee is No. 2. Arizona has the best net kickoff number in the league. Seattle, Arizona and St. Louis are 3-4-5 in the league at punt returns. And St. Louis punter Donnie Jones is No. 3 in net punting.
So, congrats, West! Your fringe players are better than anyone else's fringe players. Add a few more actual stars to the mix, and you might reach .500 sometime this decade.
The worst special-teams division is definitely the NFC South. Tampa Bay (16th) is the only team above the average line (and just barely), while Atlanta (23rd), New Orleans (25th) and Carolina (27th) are all pretty bad.
Houston and Buffalo (combined record: 9-9) are tied atop the Index, while Indy and the Giants (combined record: 13-5) hold down the bottom two positions.
Here's the complete Index through games of Week 10. (Method to the madness appears below the chart.)
2007 SPECIAL TEAMS INDEX
|
|
|
FG efficiency |
rnk |
Net KO (yds)
|
rnk |
Net punt (yds)
|
rnk |
KR avg. |
rnk |
PR
avg.
|
rnk |
TOTAL
RANK | |
1t |
HOU |
1.15 |
2 |
43.3 |
13 |
38.5 |
8 |
24.5 |
11 |
9.11 |
7 |
41 | |
1t |
BUF |
0.875 |
12 |
43.3 |
13 |
39 |
6 |
24.9 |
9 |
15.13 |
1 |
41 | |
3 |
SD |
0.8 |
17 |
44.9 |
10 |
40.4 |
4 |
25.7 |
6 |
8.85 |
8 |
45 | |
4t |
SF |
1.25 |
1 |
45.1 |
7 |
44.1 |
2 |
22.2 |
23 |
5.72 |
16 |
49 | |
4t |
NE |
0.833 |
14 |
45 |
8 |
37.2 |
17 |
28.5 |
1 |
8.29 |
9 |
49 | |
6t |
CLE |
0.933 |
10 |
42.1 |
19 |
37.3 |
16 |
28.3 |
2 |
7.38 |
10 |
57 | |
6t |
AZ |
0.883 |
11 |
46.7 |
1 |
33.9 |
31 |
24.6 |
10 |
10.32 |
4 |
57 | |
8 |
MIN |
1 |
8 |
44.9 |
10 |
36.9 |
20 |
25.1 |
7 |
5.64 |
17 |
62 | |
9 |
SEA |
1.053 |
7 |
44.7 |
12 |
36.3 |
26 |
23.3 |
18 |
10.46 |
3 |
66 | |
10 |
BAL |
0.857 |
13 |
42.4 |
18 |
36.5 |
23 |
25 |
8 |
9.28 |
6 |
68 | |
11 |
JAX |
0.583 |
25 |
46.4 |
2 |
37 |
18 |
26.4 |
4 |
5.21 |
24 |
73 | |
12 |
GB |
0.773 |
19 |
43.2 |
15 |
39.4 |
5 |
22.3 |
22 |
6.45 |
14 |
75 | |
13 |
WAS |
0.765 |
20 |
39.6 |
26 |
37.7 |
14 |
25.8 |
5 |
7.15 |
12 |
77 | |
14t |
OAK |
0.824 |
15 |
46 |
4 |
44.5 |
1 |
21.1 |
27 |
3.06 |
31 |
78 | |
14t |
STL |
0.522 |
27 |
39.5 |
27 |
41.3 |
3 |
23.5 |
16 |
9.39 |
5 |
78 | |
16 |
TB |
0.588 |
24 |
46.1 |
3 |
35.8 |
27 |
23.7 |
14 |
7.2 |
11 |
79 | |
17 |
PIT |
1 |
8 |
38.7 |
28 |
38.5 |
8 |
23.8 |
13 |
5.23 |
23 |
80 | |
18t |
TEN |
1.083 |
4 |
43 |
17 |
37 |
19 |
20.9 |
28 |
7.14 |
13 |
81 | |
18t |
DAL |
1.059 |
6 |
41.8 |
21 |
38.5 |
8 |
21.8 |
25 |
5.56 |
21 |
81 | |
18t |
DEN |
0.778 |
18 |
45 |
8 |
37.7 |
14 |
24.4 |
12 |
3.76 |
29 |
81 | |
21 |
CHI |
0.722 |
22 |
41.8 |
21 |
38.2 |
12 |
17.7 |
32 |
13.48 |
2 |
89 | |
22 |
KC |
0.474 |
28 |
45.4 |
5 |
38.7 |
7 |
19.9 |
30 |
5.5 |
22 |
92 | |
23 |
ATL |
0.24 |
31 |
45.2 |
6 |
38.4 |
11 |
23 |
19 |
3.88 |
28 |
95 | |
24 |
CIN |
1.1 |
3 |
37.5 |
30 |
34.1 |
30 |
23.7 |
14 |
2.48 |
32 |
109 | |
25t |
NYJ |
0.444 |
29 |
40.6 |
24 |
36.4 |
24 |
28.2 |
3 |
3.47 |
30 |
110 | |
25t |
NO |
-0.333 |
32 |
43.2 |
15 |
36.7 |
21 |
22.1 |
24 |
5.63 |
18 |
110 | |
27 |
CAR |
0.813 |
16 |
37.3 |
31 |
37.9 |
13 |
18.3 |
31 |
5.57 |
20 |
111 | |
28 |
MIA |
1.067 |
5 |
36.6 |
32 |
36.4 |
24 |
21.3 |
26 |
4.94 |
25 |
112 | |
29 |
PHI |
0.545 |
26 |
41.6 |
23 |
36.6 |
22 |
20 |
29 |
6.42 |
15 |
115 | |
30 |
DET |
0.75 |
21 |
40.4 |
25 |
35 |
28 |
23.4 |
17 |
4.5 |
27 |
118 | |
31 |
IND |
0.25 |
30 |
42.1 |
19 |
30.5 |
32 |
22.4 |
21 |
5.59 |
19 |
121 | | 32 | NYG | .588 | 23 | 38.5 | 29 | 34.9 | 29 | 22.6 | 20
| 4.88 | 26 | 127 |
The five categories in the special teams index::
1. Field-goal kicking
- For every field goal made from inside the 40, a kicker gets one point, but he loses three for a miss.
- Between 40 and 49, it’s two for a make and minus two for a miss.
- Hit from 50 or beyond and it’s worth three, while a miss costs a kicker only one.
Then
we divide the C.O.C.K.-U.P. total by the number of kicks attempted.
This gives us C.O.C.K-U.P. Per Attempt, or C.O.C.K.-U.pP.A.
2. Net kickoffs
No rocket science here, it's just gross kickoff yards (minus) opposition
return yards/touchback yards. Onside kicks don't count toward the total, and a kick out of bounds is considered a 40-yard return.
3. Net punts
This one's finally been accepted as the more important stat than
gross punting when judging kickers, although no one in the NFL pundit
community is much concerned with either stat.
4. Kick return average
Just like momma used to make.
5. Net punt return average
It's always irked the Cold, Hard Football Facts that fair catches
aren't figured into a returner's average. As it stands, if Punt
Returner A has 10 returns for 100 yards + 10 fair catches for zero
yards and Punt Returner B has 20 returns for 199 yards and no fair
catches, PR A is averaging 10.0 a return, PR B 9.9 a return.
Unfair! Punt returners with balls should go on strike to protest their less-bold counterparts.So that's how we arrive at the net punt return number.
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