Despite coach change, Bills special team ranked among NFL best in 2022

The Buffalo Bills made a controversial coaching change last offseason when the team left Heath Farwell and promoted Matt Smiley to special teams coordinator.

While the Bills had promising special teams the previous two years under Farwell, that only continued under Smiley in 2022.

Rick Gosselin’s annual Special Teams Rankings is a comprehensive and respected breakdown of this aspect of the NFL game. In Gosselin’s odds, the league’s 32 teams are ranked in 22 categories and are awarded points based on their ranking. One point is awarded to the best team and 32 points to the worst. As in golf, the lower the score, the better.

In 2022, Gosselin totaled Buffalo at 286 points. This landed the Bills in fifth place overall in his standings.

The top five this year were:

5. Bills: 286 4. Panthers: 277.5 3. Ravens: 272 2. Seahawks: 269.5 1. Texans: 255

In the previous two years, Buffalo was still doing well under Farwell. The Bills have had consecutive finishes at No. 8.

Farwell was hired by the Bills in 2019. He was fired after the 2021 playoffs when Buffalo had a weird final kickoff by Tyler Bass that ultimately led to the ’13 seconds’ affair against the Chiefs of Kansas City.

In February 2022, Farwell took on the role of special teams coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jags finished 11th in Gosselin’s standings (322.5).