The Green Bay Packers no longer have one of the NFL’s worst special teams unit. Rick Gosselin has released his annual rankings of the league’s special teams units and the Packers are 12th.
This is the grand improvement over past seasons under special teams coach Shawn Slocum. The Packers were ranked 31st as recently as 2009 and Slocum’s units didn’t show much improvement until last season.
The rankings are determined as follows. The 32 teams are ranked in 22 categories and assigned points according to their standing — one for best, 32 for worst.
I think the Packers will take 12th considering most people were of the opinion Slocum didn’t deserve to have an NFL job just a couple years ago. The rank would have been even higher if Mason Crosby didn’t have the worst field goal percentage in the NFL.
There’s no problem there though, just ask Mike McCarthy.
The winner of the special teams derby were the Minnesota Vikings, who finished with the most field goals, committed the fewest turnovers and allowed the fewest points on special teams. The Vikings also finished in the top five in seven other categories.
That might help explain how they made the playoffs with no passing game and a weak defense.