Baltimore’s streak of top-five finishes ends at six.
The Ravens’ well-documented prowess on special teams has had them ranked perennially among the top five on Rick Gosselin’s annual Special Teams list. But early-season mistakes cost them a sixth straight finish among the elite.
Baltimore was tied for sixth overall with Jacksonville in the Gosselin 2018 rankings, down two spots in the annual survey. Since 2012, the Ravens have ranked third, fifth, fifth, first, fifth again, fourth and now sixth.
After finishing 30th and 20th the past two years, the New York Jets finished atop the 2018 list, replacing last year’s top team, the Los Angeles Rams.
In 1980, then-Dallas Morning News writer’ Rick Gosselin developed the only point system to truly quantify how effective special teams units are, and then he 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 either first or tied for first in five different categories on last year’s list. But this year, they were second in field goals (35), fifth in punt-return average (11.5), fifth in extra-point percentage (97.3) and fourth in punting (46.6).
Baltimore was also one of 16 teams that did not allow any points on special-teams plays. The Ravens have not allowed a kick-return touchdown since 2011 (the Jets’ Joe McKnight) or a punt-return score since 2016 (Washington’s Jamison Crowder).
Also, the Ravens were one of 11 teams that did not force a special-teams turnover.
Here are the complete rankings.
GOSSELIN 2018 SPECIAL TEAMS RANKINGS
(Teams’ 2017 rankings in parentheses with list courtesy of The Football Maven)
1. New York Jets (20)
2. New Orleans Saints (14)
3. Kansas City Chiefs (2)
4. Miami Dolphins (11)
5. Arizona Cardinals (30)
T6. Baltimore Ravens (4)
T6. Jacksonville Jaguars (T24)
8. Houston Texans (26)
9. Los Angeles Rams (1)
10. Indianapolis Colts (9)
11. New England Patriots (3)
12. Detroit Lions (6)
13. Minnesota Vikings (23)
14. Philadelphia Eagles (13)
15. New York Giants (32)
16. Tennessee Titans (18)
17. Washington Redskins (19)
18. Seattle Seahawks (12)
19. Oakland Raiders (T7)
20. Atlanta Falcons (22)
21. San Francisco 49ers (15)
22. Cincinnati Bengals (T24)
23. Carolina Panthers (10)
24. Denver Broncos (31)
25. Pittsburgh Steelers (17)
26. Chicago Bears (T27)
T27. Dallas Cowboys (5)
T27. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (21)
29. Los Angeles Chargers (29)
30. Cleveland Browns (T27)
31. Buffalo Bills (T7)
32. Green Bay Packers (16)
