BEREA — Peter King, an NFL insider for Sports Illustrated and NBC, sat in the front row of the Cleveland Browns Stadium press box for the loss to Denver and incredulously declared Joshua Cribbs the best special teamer in the league.
For Browns coaches, reporters and fans who watch Cribbs every week, the reaction was universal: No kidding.
“He’s absolutely, in my opinion, the best special teams player in the NFL,” special teams coordinator Ted Daisher said Saturday. “It’s like that guy just returned a punt, that guy just returned a kickoff, and now he just made the tackle. You just don’t see it.
“No one does it but him, and he does it so well that the first time you see it, you’re a little bit surprised by that.”
Cribbs made the Pro Bowl last year as a returner after scoring three touchdowns. But while the Jets’ Leon Washington, Buffalo’s Roscoe Parrish and Chicago’s Devin Hester are in the same class as returners, none matches his work on kick coverage.
Cribbs is tied for third in the NFL with 14 tackles, including four solos versus Denver and three solos against Baltimore the week before.
“It does seem like he makes almost every tackle — because he does make just about every tackle,” Daisher said. “He’s terrific and like I’ve said before and repeated every time someone will listen, no one does what Josh Cribbs does. No one is the quality returner that he is and can go down and cover kicks and punts the way he does.”
Cribbs’ 6-foot-1, 215-pound frame gives him an edge over the typical pint-sized returner in breaking and making tackles.
But it’s his all-out effort — watch him gun on a punt return or bust a wedge on a kickoff — that separates him.
“He’s just 100 miles an hour every second of every play,” Daisher said. “That’s just the way Josh plays and it’s a great example for the rest of the guys on our team.”
Cribbs’ return to the Pro Bowl looked like a long shot after three games. He was inactive for the opener with an ankle injury suffered in preseason, then averaged fewer than 20 yards a kickoff return the next two weeks with a long of 24. But as the ankle healed, Cribbs quickly regained his all-pro form.
“My agility is back. I think I’m there,” he said. “I think consistently now I’m back where I want to be and in the running to possibly get back to the Pro Bowl.”
Cribbs has also made an impact on offense, rushing seven times for 67 yards, including three for 48 with a long of 27 against Denver. He has two catches for 18 yards.
“He’s such a threat whenever he’s on the field, you just have to be aware of him at all times,” Bills coach Dick Jauron said. “Whenever he gets the ball in his hands, your heart is kind of in your throat, just hoping that you take the right angles, that you can gang-tackle him and somehow get him on the ground.”
The Browns rank near the top in most major special teams categories. Cribbs is second in kickoff return average (27.7 yards, one touchdown), the team is tied for first in average starting position (30.3-yard line) and third in punt coverage (7.1) and Phil Dawson has missed just two field goals in 19 tries, both from 50 yards and beyond.
The biggest improvement from last year is in coverage, an area Daisher stressed before the season.
“I thought our return game was as good as anybody in the NFL last year and when evaluated, I thought our kick coverage needed to get better,” he said. “No. 1, the players have to go down and make plays in space and you have got to be disciplined in your lane coverage. It’s gotten a lot better and that’s a credit to the guys.”
The special teams will be in the spotlight Monday night in Buffalo for a couple of reasons. Snow and wind could make conditions tricky for the offenses and put a premium on field position, and the Bills have one of the league’s best special teams, coached by guru Bobby April.
“They are the best special teams unit we have played this year, there is no question,” Daisher said. “They play hard, physical and sound.”
Parrish led the league with a 15.3 average on punt returns last year and is third at 13.2 this season. The matchup motivates Cribbs.
“I love when our coaches hype ’em up to be the greatest player,” Cribbs said. “That’s what happened when (Denver’s Eddie) Royal came in. He was projected to be one of the best as well and we played him good.”
Cribbs’ experience as a running quarterback at Kent State showed that he could be effective with the ball. But there was no reason to believe he would be the tackling missile he’s become.
“What I’m always surprised by is that a lot of things he does are instinctive,” Daisher said. “He sifts through traffic, he sees things and reacts to things that you wouldn’t suspect someone who’s been a quarterback or a receiver to be able to do, and that impresses me more than anything.”
So, just how grateful is Daisher to coach Cribbs?
“What, you got a half-hour?” he said. “He’s the best player in my opinion.
“As a person, coaching that person, that personality, that effort, that team-oriented guy, that’s what makes it good.”
Contact Scott Petrak at 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com.

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