Bills' special teams have been a letdown
December, 11, 2009
12/11/09
3:36
PM ET
By Tim Graham | ESPN.com
In three of the past five years, the Buffalo Bills finished first in the Dallas Morning News' respected special-teams rankings.
Rest assured, they're not going to repeat.
Bills assistant head coach and special-teams guru Bobby April has overseen an uncharacteristically tough season.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reporter took a look at the Bills special teams. He pointed out they ranked 10th in kickoff returns, 23rd in punt returns, 13th in kickoff coverage and ninth in punt coverage.
Not bad, but not great either. Special teams have been one of the few elements Buffalo could rely on in recent years. Extract that and you can see why they're headed for a 10th straight season out of the playoffs.
In a post about special-teams penalties, AFC South nabob Paul Kuharsky notes the Bills are tied for third with 18, but at least they haven't been flagged their past two games.
The Bills have been blessed with great return men. Terrence McGee, Roscoe Parrish and Leodis McKelvin have made their marks in the NFL.
And none of them is a factor. McGee doesn't return kicks anymore. Parrish has been in the doghouse all year. McKelvin was done for the season after three games.
"We haven't gotten set on offense, defense, and special teams all year because of the rotation of people going in and out," Bills interim head coach Perry Fewell said. "Especially for Bobby because you have to cross-train so many different people in so many different places, and so he doesn't have any consistency.
"But I will give them a lot of credit. These past three weeks they've really performed well and they're getting better each week."
Rest assured, they're not going to repeat.
Bills assistant head coach and special-teams guru Bobby April has overseen an uncharacteristically tough season.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reporter took a look at the Bills special teams. He pointed out they ranked 10th in kickoff returns, 23rd in punt returns, 13th in kickoff coverage and ninth in punt coverage.
Not bad, but not great either. Special teams have been one of the few elements Buffalo could rely on in recent years. Extract that and you can see why they're headed for a 10th straight season out of the playoffs.
In a post about special-teams penalties, AFC South nabob Paul Kuharsky notes the Bills are tied for third with 18, but at least they haven't been flagged their past two games.
The Bills have been blessed with great return men. Terrence McGee, Roscoe Parrish and Leodis McKelvin have made their marks in the NFL.
And none of them is a factor. McGee doesn't return kicks anymore. Parrish has been in the doghouse all year. McKelvin was done for the season after three games.
"We haven't gotten set on offense, defense, and special teams all year because of the rotation of people going in and out," Bills interim head coach Perry Fewell said. "Especially for Bobby because you have to cross-train so many different people in so many different places, and so he doesn't have any consistency.
"But I will give them a lot of credit. These past three weeks they've really performed well and they're getting better each week."
ABOUT THIS BLOG
James Walker
Walker joined ESPN.com in 2008 after four seasons covering the NFL and NBA for the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch. He's a Temple graduate and Hyattsville, Md. native who lives in Miami.
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