Bob Fox Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 I was reading a story today by Rick Gosselin of the Talk of Fame Sports Network in which he names his all-time NFL special teams unit. Now nobody studies NFL special teams units like Gosselin does. Since 1980, Gosselin has studied and ranked all the special teams units in the NFL. That has gone on now for 38 years and his rankings are must-read material. Back in 1980, Gosselin was covering the Kansas City Chiefs. The special teams coach of the Chiefs then was Frank Gansz. It was by talking with Gansz that Gosselin learned the formula about how to rank special teams units. Before I read the story on his all-time team, I was wondering if Travis Williams of the Green Bay Packers and later the Los Angeles Rams was on Gosselin’s 53-man unit. It turns out that he wasn’t, as the returners which Gosselin has on his team are certainly worthy of getting that honor. The three kickoff returners Gosselin has on his team are Gale Sayers, Josh Cribbs and Mel Gray. The three punt returners are Devin Hester, Billy “White Shoes” Johnson and Rick Upchurch. Everyone of those players were consistently very good at returning kicks throughout their NFL careers, as opposed to Williams, who made a name for himself in 1967, which also happened to be his rookie year in the NFL. In that season, Williams returned 18 kickoffs for 739 yards, which averages out to 41.1 yards-per-return, which is still a NFL record. No. 23 returned four of those 18 kicks for touchdowns and almost had a fifth against the Chicago Bears. To read the rest of the story, please go to: https://greenbaybobfox.wordpress.com/2018/05/17/green-bay-packers-remembering-travis-williams-aka-the-roadrunner/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexGreen#20 Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leader Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 Thanks for the article Bob. My greatest memory of Williams was a game in LA against Roman Gabriel and the Fearsome Foursome. Though I cant recall the scoring, I do remember that Williams gave us a late lead with a KO returned for a TD. I believe we ultimately lost the game - but those were some special matchups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hands Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 Bob, thanks for sharing and also for the mention of the ST ranking that Gosselin puts together every year. I miss his articles in the local paper.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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