FRISCO, Texas -- What’s the best way to describe the Dallas Cowboys special teams in 2016? OK comes to mind. Good, not great. Solid.
Every year Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News puts together his special teams' rankings, a formula of 32 different categories using one point for the best in the league and 32 for the worst.
The Cowboys checked in at No. 11. Again good, but not great.
The two biggest plays were a 30-yard fake punt by Chris Jones that sparked the Cowboys in a comeback win against Philadelphia, and Kyle Wilber's fumble recovery against Minnesota that led to the Cowboys' winning touchdown.
The good news: the Cowboys did not have a turnover on special teams (although they did have one punt blocked). They were one of five teams not to miss an extra point attempt. They were one of 10 teams that did not allow a return for a touchdown.
The not so good: the kickoff and punt return games ranked 23rd, averaging 20.5 and 7.1 yards per return, respectively. Though the Cowboys did not allow any returns for a touchdown, they did not return any kicks or punts for touchdowns.
Rich Bisaccia has been the Cowboys’ special teams coordinator since 2013. In his first year the Cowboys were fourth in Gosselin’s rankings thanks in many ways to Dwayne Harris' return skills. In 2014, they ranked 13th. In 2015 they were 15th.
So how do the Cowboys get back into the top 10?
If nothing else, seeing Dan Bailey return to near-automatic instead of mostly automatic would move the Cowboys up the standings. Bailey missed five field goal attempts in 2016, the most he has had in one season since his rookie year. From 2012-15, he missed more than two in a season just once.
Bailey dealt with some back spasms early in the season and his three misses in December were from 55 (hit the crossbar at New York), 56 and 52 yards, respectively.
But where the Cowboys need the biggest jump is in the return game. Lucky Whitehead is the primary returner. He averaged 23.2 yards on 17 kickoff returns and had a long of 33 yards. He averaged just 7.8 yards per punt return, and 39 of his 195 return yards came on one return.
Is it Whitehead? Is it the scheme? Is it the new rules? The kickoff return game has been mitigated by the change in touchbacks from the 20 to the 25. Teams don’t take many chances. If coverage teams hang the ball high, then it’s hard for a returner to even get back to the 20. Punters are also better in limiting returns with their placement by the sidelines.
Clearly it’s not impossible to have success. The Vikings led the NFL in kickoff return average at 27.3 yards, nearly 7 yards more than the Cowboys averaged. Cordarrelle Patterson averaged 31.7 yards per return for the Vikings and had one touchdown. Tyreek Hill averaged 15.8 yards per punt return and scored two touchdowns for the Chiefs, who had the best punt return average at 14.8 yards.
Patterson and Hill are dynamic returners.
The Cowboys put their special teams money into their coverage guys with Jeff Heath, Andrew Gachkar and Wilber. James Hanna would have made this list, too, but he missed the season with a knee injury.
The Cowboys have not returned a kickoff for a touchdown since 2008 when Felix Jones had a 98-yarder against the Eagles. They have not returned a punt for a touchdown since Harris' 86-yarder against Washington in 2013.
If they want to go from OK, good and solid, to the best in the league, they need to find some juice in the return game.
