Last week’s special team’s article was my proudest moment in picking kick returners. Brandon Banks had 136 kick return yards which led the league, while Felix Jones wasn’t far behind with 112 yards which ranked third, along with 36 rushing yards and 7 receiving yards. Picking kickers went well as well, with my top choice Connor Barth finishing a perfect four for four, with all of the kicks from beyond 40 yards. Here are the players to help you with your playoff run.
Kick Returners
Stefan Logan – This year, Logan has had a respectable 546 kick return yards and 225 punt return yards. The reason he doesn’t have more is that early on in the season he wasn’t consistently returning kicks, hasn’t had as many opportunities to return kicks later in the season, and his long is just 33 yards. However he should get more of a chance in this one with the Lions secondary hurting. The game is indoors at Ford Field, and Ryan Longwell has had just three touchbacks in the last four games. All of those add up to a number of opportunities for Logan.
Richard Goodman – The San Diego return man has 610 kick return yards on 23 returns, which is good for 11th best in the league. In the past it’s been hard to find a team better in December than the Chargers, and the Monday Night game continued that trend. They play the Bills who still have weapons on offense that can put up some points. The Billskicker is Dave Rayner now that Lindell is on IR, and he averages just 60.5 yards per kickoff, so Goodman should get a number of opportunities here.
Leon Washington – In third place on the kick return leaderboard is Washington with 797 yards. He goes up against the Rams, who might not score a lot of points, but when they do Josh Brown will kickoff. Since Week 8, he has had either zero or one touchback in every game, so Washington will get some chances to return the ball, as well as hopefully having a huge return which Washington is capable of.
Kickers
Dan Carpenter – In the last two games the Dolphins kicker has played in, he’s made two field goals in each. The Miami string of good games should continue against the Eagles, as Philadelphia’s playoff chances are practically gone so their motivation can’t be that high. Look for the Miami offense to take advantage of the linebackers of Philadelphia, which will move the ball down the field and get Carpenter to kick a lot.
Nick Novak – It’s hard to find a team in the recent past as good in December as the Chargers. They continued that on Monday night putting up 38 points against the Jaguars. Against a hurting Buffalo defense, the Chargers should put up a lot of points again, which means plenty of chances by Novak.
Nick Folk – The Jets kicker has one of the worst field goal percentages at 76.2%, which in large part is due to three missed field goals beyond 50 yards. He is more accurate on shorter distances, so Folk should be accurate enough to make a number of kicks. He goes up against the Chiefs, who have allowed a high number of points against other AFC East opponents, and the Jets are desperate to stay in the playoff hunt. Their offense needs to step up to stay alive.
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