One year after Danny Crossman’s special teams unit experienced the largest improvement among the 32 teams in the NFL, the Buffalo Bills took a major step backwards in special teams play in 2018. It cost Crossman his job, as the Bills plummeted from 7th to 31st overall in columnist Rick Gosselin’s annual NFL special teams rankings.
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.
Points are assigned according to a team’s standing, with one point given out for being the best team in that category, and 32 points for the worst team.