Playoff Comparison: Special Teams

By: Jesse Larch, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Leading up to the Eagles playoff matchup against the Atlanta Falcons on Saturday Sports Talk Philly and Eagledelphia will compare the personnel of the two teams each day until gameday is here. 

In this edition of our week-long comparison we will look at the special teams. 

Atlanta ST | Matt Bryant, Matt Bosher, Andre Roberts

In his 17th pro season Falcons' kicker Matt Bryant is earning an "ageless wonder" billing. At age 42 the kicker connected on 34 of 39 field goal attempts this season. His power has not diminished either going eight-for-nine from beyond 50 yards, including a long of 57. 

Eagles' fans will best remember Bryant best for the 62-yarder he hit against the Eagles as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2006.

Matt Bosher is considered one of the better punters in the league, but had a poor season with just 19 punts landing inside the 20-yard line and average distance of 44.9 per punt. 

Andre Roberts handles the returning responsibilities for Atlanta. Roberts averages 22.6 yards per kick return – good for ninth in the NFL. He also averages 7.4 yards per punt return which ranks in the bottom half of the league at 18th. 

Philadelphia ST | Jake Elliott, Donnie Jones, Kenjon Barner

While there is a veteran kicking the ball for the Falcons, the Eagles' kicking game has leaned on a rookie. Jake Elliott connected on 26-of-31 field goals including the NFL's season long of 61 yards. Elliott has a strong leg but is still honing his control. 

Donnie Jones took care of punting the ball for the Eagles this season and placed 21 of his punts inside of the 20-yard line with an average distance of 45.3 yards. 

The Eagles added Kenjon Barner earlier this season after Darren Sproles suffered a season ending injury and the return specialist did a respectable job ranking 11th in punt return average (8.9 yards), but only averaged 19.4 yards on 10 kick returns. 

Edge

Matt Bryant (87.2%) kicked for a higher percentage than Jake Elliott (83.9%) this season, and converted more field goals from long distance. 

Donnie Jones had a better season than Matt Bosher, landing more punts inside of the 20-yard line and averaging further distance on his punts. 

With Bryant being the better kicker, and Jones being the better punter this machup comes down to the return game. 

Andre Roberts is not as efficient as Kenjon Barner is at returning punts, but he is far more experienced returning kickoffs, with 28 more kick returns than Kenjon Barner had this season. 

A slight edge goes to the Atlanta Falcons because of Roberts's experience and effectiveness as a kick returner.