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To understand how good a season the New Orleans Saints had on special teams in 2011, all you have to do is look at rankings compiled annually by the Dallas Morning News.

Veteran NFL writer Rick Gosselin assigns point values for each of the 32 teams (the top team receives 32 points on down to 1 for the worst) in 22 different elements of special teams and is considered one of the top barometers for measuring that aspect of the game.

After finishing a little bit below average in 18th place in 2010, the Saints were more effective last season and rose 10 spots to eighth.

While it encompasses 22 all-around elements of special teams, at least a good portion of the Saints’ improvement can be attributed to the powerful right leg of punter/kickoff man Thomas Morstead and the addition of speedy kick returner Darren Sproles.

Morstead, who recently signed a six-year, $21 million contract extension with the team, averaged a club-record 48.3 yards per punt and had the third-best single-season net average in NFL history at 43.1 yards per kick. He also set an NFL record with 68 touchbacks on kickoffs.

“He’s an elite punter, but his strength is his ability and work ethic and his ‘come early, stay late, get better (mentality)’ ” special teams coordinator Greg McMahon said of Morstead, a four-year veteran. “He just feels like he’ll be better this year than last year.

“So he is a tremendous talent for us, and he’s a good warrior.”

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SmashMouth

It's real good to have our specialists in the kicking game taken care of.

TheOak

Field position means everything.

Mardigras9

Morestud is a huge weapon for us.

Danno

From 2010 to 2011...

Our Punt return ranking went from 23rd to 17th. Decent.
Our Punt coverage stayed at 28th, no change at all.

Our Kick return ranking went from 15th to 3rd. Great jump.
Our Kick coverage went from 24th to 5th. Great jump.

The only big improvements were in Kick returns and Kick coverage.

TheOak

When your kick offs are dam near field goals its difficult to get any sort of return.

On returns, as soon as Reggie was not running laterally we did a lot better. Sproles lead the league in returners that had over 35 returns with an ave of 27.2 yards. Roby ave 23.8 in 2010.

Why doesn't Morestead just kick field goals from our 45?

halloween 65

I wanted the ST coaches head on a platter the year before, not so much now, he did better in areas last year, we'll see this year!! Much improved though.

Rugby Saint II

Just imagine if we replaced McMahon with someone who is capable?