Roscoe Parrish: East's Top Punt Returner

by Randy Lange:

The best of the Buffalo Bills often is special. Such has been the case for the past two seasons with Roscoe Parrish.

Parrish is the Bills' 5'9", 171-pound punt returner par excellence. He'd love an opportunity to break into the Buffalo WR rotation, and with the arrival of Terrell Owens, he may well factor into some new packages and formations.

But it seems unlikely Parrish will be asked to give up his return duties. As ST coach Bobby April has said, "In my mind, there's no better punt returner than Roscoe."

Parrish has demonstrated that the past two seasons. In 2007 he reeled off an average of 16.3 yards on each of his 27 returns (with only two fair catches, we might add). Then last season he "slumped" to 15.3 on 21 returns.

 

I won't argue with this. There may be no more dangerous return man in the game today than Leon Washington, but he does most of his damage on kickoffs. The Jets are taking him off punt returns this year and giving the job to Jim Leonhard. The numbers Lange presents speak for themselves. The Bills from 2007 to 2008 have the best average since 1960 on punt returns over a two year span.