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Thursday, January 30, 2020

Bengals’ special teams ranked No. 1 by Football Outsiders DVOA











This is.... what we like to hear.
By NathanBeighle  Jan 23, 2020, 10:30am EST



















Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images

    The Cincinnati Bengals did not have a good season.
If we’re honest, the Bengals were borderline unwatchable at times early on. Finishing 2-14, there weren’t many bright spots for a team that finished with the league’s worst record.
However, there were a few.
The Bengals’ special teams was one of them. The oftentimes forgotten side of the ball was led by punter Kevin Huber and kicker Randy Bullock to go along with solid long snappers, returners and projection units.
Coached by Darrin Simmons, that unit in particular is worthy of some praise. “Simmons has spent his entire Bengals term leading the special teams units, and for the last seven years has held the title of special teams coordinator,” Bengals.com has under Simmons bio.
Here’s the breakdown of many different special teams’ rankings

    


















    The Bengals were actually percentage-wise led by strong safety Clayton Fejedelem who played over 80% of the special teams’ snaps in 14 of the team’s 16     games.
In the return game, they were led by Brandon Wilson. He totaled 625 yards on 20 kick returns with one touchdown as well. It was Alec Erickson who did the team’s punt returns.
Averaging 45.3 per punt, it may have been Kevin Huber who was the most impressive special teams’ member though. He was just six yards shy of 3,400 on the season, including a 63-yard long.
Huber has played his entire career in Cincinnati, earning one Pro Bowl appearance in 11 seasons. He’s become a fan favorite and should continue to be for quite a while.
As for Bullock, he finished the season 87% on field goals and 96% on PATs, both solid percentages in a modern-day NFL that struggles for consistency from the kicker.

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