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Believe it or not, the Ravens have the worst kickoff return coverage in the NFL, allowing 27.2 yards per return.
Despite that lowly ranking and high return average, Baltimore's kick coverage hasn't been a major topic of discussion this year.
The reason? Billy Cundiff's ridiculous touchback numbers have provided a massive cloud which has shielded the issues that lie in the coverage unit.
Cundiff leads the NFL with 31 touchbacks, and a whopping 56 percent of his kickoffs haven't been taken out of the end zone by the opposing team. As a result, the Ravens have only had to truly cover 23 kickoffs on the season.
Special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg expects the number of returnable kicks to grow in the coming weeks, however.
"As the weather changes, as we all know, it'll have an effect on it, on how [far] the kickoffs [travel]," Rosburg said. "So, we anticipate covering a lot more kicks down the stretch in December and January than we have up until this point."
Over the Ravens' final five regular season games, only one (next Monday night at Houston's Reliant Stadium) will take place in either a stadium with a retractable roof or a fairly warm climate. In the others (three games here in Baltimore, one in Cleveland), cold weather and wintery conditions could come into play.
While the weather will make it tougher for Cundiff to consistently crush kickoffs deep into the end zone, Rosburg says that one thing that's working in Cundiff's favor as the Ravens approach the final stretch is his conditioning.
Some kickers might get worn out over the course of a 16-game regular season, but Rosburg doesn't expect that to be the case with Cundiff, who he says is in very good shape.
"Billy takes very good care of himself," Rosburg said. "He's a fit athlete, and I think probably what a little bit different about Billy than a lot of kickers, is Billy is a year-round trainer. A lot of kickers - when they get to 30 years old in particular - they take off the winter and they start kicking again when March or April comes around. Sometimes, even in June, guys will take off if they don't go through OTAs.
"But Billy kicks year-round. He's had the benefit of having a view from the outside in, and he's had a plan on how to do this, in how he's trained and how he not only physically trains, but how he kicking trains. He's followed it through and it's really paid off for him."
