The Ravens finished in the top five for the sixth straight year–the only team that can make that claim.
Courtesy: Talk of Fame Network
Since 2012, the Ravens have ranked third, fifth, fifth, first, fifth again, and now fourth. The Los Angeles Rams finished atop the 2017 list.
In 1980, The Dallas Morning News’ Rick Gosselin developed the only point system to truly quantify how effective special teams units are and then ranked teams from 1 to 32 in nearly two dozen different categories.
Teams were assigned a point value of one to 32, and the scores were tabulated with the lowest number winning–just like golf.
The Ravens were
#1 in kick-return average
#1 in kickoff coverage
#1 in average drive start
#1 in coffin-corner punts
tied for #1 in extra-point percentage
tied for #4 in points scored,
#5 in punt-return average, and
were one of 15 teams that allowed no special-teams points.
Baltimore was one of 13 teams that also had no special-teams turnovers.
Here are the complete rankings.
GOSSELIN 2017 SPECIAL TEAMS RANKINGS
(Teams’ 2016 rankings in parentheses with list courtesy of The Dallas Morning News)
1. Los Angeles Rams (4)
2. Kansas City Chiefs (3)
3. New England Patriots (6)
4. Baltimore Ravens (5)
5. Dallas Cowboys (11)
6. Detroit Lions (2)
T7. Buffalo Bills (24)
T7. Oakland Raiders (9)
9. Indianapolis Colts (8)
10. Carolina Panthers (21)
11. Miami Dolphins (7)
12. Seattle Seahawks (10)
13. Philadelphia Eagles (1)
14. New Orleans Saints (25)
15. San Francisco 49ers (16)
16. Green Bay Packers (29)
17. Pittsburgh Steelers (20)
18. Tennessee Titans (22)
19. Washington Redskins (17)
20. New York Jets (30)
21. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (12)
22. Atlanta Falcons (14)
23. Minnesota Vikings (15)
T24. Cincinnati Bengals (13)
T24. Jacksonville Jaguars (28)
26. Houston Texans (23)
T27. Chicago Bears (27)
T27. Cleveland Browns (26)
29. Los Angeles Chargers (32)
30. Arizona Cardinals (31)
31. Denver Broncos (19)
32. New York Giants (18)
