Super Bowl Breakdown: Special Teams

By: Jesse Larch, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Leading up to the Eagles matchup in Super Bowl LII against the New England Patriots 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.

New England ST | Stephen Gostowski, Ryan Allen, Danny Amendola

Stephen Gostowski was one of the most reliable kickers in football, connecting on 37 of 40 field goal attempts. He was a perfect 4-for-4 beyond 50 yards. 

Punter Ryan Allen placed 24 punts inside of the 20 with an average distance of 43.4 yards. 

Danny Amendola averaged 8.6 yards per punt return. Dion Lewis added a kick return touchdown for the Patriots' special teams unit. 

Philadelphia ST | Jake Elliott, Donnie Jones, Kenjon Barner

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

Gostowski (92.5%) is far more reliable than Jake Elliott (83.9%) in terms of field goal percentage this season, and Allen gets the edge over Jones because he placed more kicks inside of the 20 yard line. 

Kenjon Barner is a bette rpunt returner than Danny Amendola, but the Eagles did not return a kick for a touchdown this season, so the advantage goes to the Patriots.