News: DMN: Rick Gosselin's NFL special teams rankings, 2015: Surprisingly, Cowboys lost Dwayne...

[NewsBot]

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[dallasdave]

When offensive coordinator Scott Linehan lost his best player, the Cowboys offense went south.

Two broken collarbones suffered by Tony Romo cost Linehan 12 starts from his Pro Bowl quarterback and the offense collapsed from seventh in the NFL in 2014 to 22nd in 2015, scoring 192 fewer points.

When special-teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia lost his best player, surprisingly, his special teams improved. The Cowboys vaulted from 13th in the NFL in special teams in 2014 to fourth in 2015, according to rankings compiled annually by The Dallas Morning News.

The league's 32 teams are ranked in 22 categories and assigned points according to their standing - one for best, 32 for worst. The Baltimore Ravens finished with the best special teams in the NFL this season with 231 points, followed by the New York Giants (271.5), Jacksonville Jaguars (295) and Cowboys (310.5).

The Cowboys opted not to resign Dwayne Harris last offseason, which cost Bisaccia his best punt returner, best kickoff returner, best gunner on the punt team and best coverage ace on the kickoff team.


Twitter: @RickGosselinDMN

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[Solution]

Am I the only one who didn't notice?

 

[StarBoyz83]

That's hard to believe the st's looked like crap this year.

 

[DFWJC]

Harris was 3rd in the league in KO return average. Whitehead didn't have enough returns to qualify, but did well in that area as well.

Harris was 6th in PR average (Dallas had no one in the top 26).

Harris also returned two for TDs...one that beat us.

But if these stats are legit, the Giants jumping from 25th to 2nd after adding Harris IS telling.

 

[big dog cowboy]

I thought we didn't consider our special teams so special any more.

It's true I read it in here many times.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

I thought we didn't consider our special teams so special any more.

It's true I read it in here many times.

Yea, many here over reacted based on preseason.

Funny part is, the same thing we happen next year. During preseason, when the coverage units do not play together and only practice together, they'll look below average. And everyone here will freak out, forgetting they looked below average this past preseason.

 

[jobberone]

Yea, many here over reacted based on preseason.

Funny part is, the same thing we happen next year. During preseason, when the coverage units do not play together and only practice together, they'll look below average. And everyone here will freak out, forgetting they looked below average this past preseason.

Some don't need a reason to freak.

 

[landroverking]

With Harris we might have inked out number ONE!

 

[percyhoward]

There are several aspects that go into that score (starting point, opponent starting point, total FG, indside-the-20 punts, etc) that depend to varying degrees on factors unrelated to special teams in any way.

Dallas can't score TD in the red zone, so the Cowboys' special teams get credit for kicking a ton of FG?

 

[Vinnie2u]

Well maybe this means that everybody's special teams suck

 

[Kevinicus]

Well maybe this means that everybody's special teams suck

No, it means that like percy said, the system is very flawed. A lot of those categories are really stupid and in no way reflect on the quality of special teams.

 

[JD_KaPow]

Football Outsiders' numbers agree (well, sort of). We improved from 13th to 11th in ST last year. HOWEVER...

That improvement was entirely from the punting team, which went from 16th to 4th in the league. The field goal unit was a bit better too. The kicking team was much worse and the punt return team was worse. The kick return team was actually very slightly better.

 

[FaSho]

Jones and Bailey have a lot to do with this!