The Bengals host Monday Night Football tonight, and they’ve got a punt returner who took one back 81 yards for a touchdown last week – Charlie Jones coming up big against the Ravens. With this in mind, should there be increased expectations for tonight’s game?
I think not. I play around with the numbers on this kind of a thing from time to time, and I’ve never been able to find anything compelling.
In the 32-team era (since 2002), there have been 250 games in which a player has returned a punt for a touchdown. Only six of those players (2.4 percent) have come back the next week and again scored on a punt return. Nobody has done it in 12 years. It’s damn hard scoring on returns in today’s game.
| PUNT RETURNS TD IN BACK-TO-BACK GAMES | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Opponents |
| 2002 | Santana Moss, NYJ | Clev., S.D. |
| 2002 | Dante Hall, K.C. | Ariz., St.L. |
| 2004 | B.J. Sams, Balt. | K.C., Wash. |
| 2008 | Johnnie Lee Higgins, Oak. | Mia., Den. |
| 2009 | Patrick Crayton, Dall. | Atl., Sea. |
| 2011 | Patrick Peterson, Ariz. | Balt., St.L. |
Statistics compiled using search tools at Pro-Football-Reference.com
The six listed above includes Dante Hall, who’s one of the top few returners of all time. Nobody is suggesting that Charlie Jones is up in the Dante Hall class. (Santana Moss and Patrick Peterson; those are also elite-type talents.)
Jones was a good returner at the college level, but not a great one. He scored on one of his 76 punt returns in college, and it came three years ago. He averaged just over 7 yards per return the last two years while playing at both Iowa and Purdue. He scored on only 1 of his 45 career kickoff returns. (Jones is not returning kickoffs for Cincinnati).
It was a cool return against the Ravens, but I don’t think we’ll see Jones ripping off another such return again anytime soon. (Maybe ever). In looking at the 32 teams for Week 3, I would have the Bengals in the middle of the pack in terms of special teams potential.
—Ian Allan