3 philiosophies the 2023 Miami Dolphins need to embrace
By Matt Serniak
The Miami Dolphins would do themselves a few favors if they acknowledged this portion of the game.
Not sure how Danny Crossman, the Dolphin’s current special teams coach, wasn’t shown the door but he’s the man that operates those units. He didn’t do a good job and it seems like nobody in Miami seemed to care.
McDaniel treated the Dolphin’s special teams like I used to treat my freshmen football team’s special teams. Just possess the ball even if it means you never touch it and if you’re the kicker, just get the ball down there a little bit.
Now the NFL is a little different level than AA freshmen league, where I dominated, so you’d expect a little more expertise and confidence when out there.
The Miami Dolphins ranked tied for last in punt return average with a whopping 5.8 yards a return and were also in the bottom 10 in FG%.
Jason Sanders did have a decent last couple of games but I know I will be squeamish when I see him attempt his first FG longer than 44 yards next year.
The return game is where things are really rough. Because Cedrick Wilson was such an afterthought at wide receiver, the thought was “hey, let’s make him the punt returner.” That had virtually zero positive impact besides the near return he had against the Bills in the playoff game.
The point is, the special teams unit should be thought of and relied on to do its job at least at an average level. That’s all I’m looking for. Just be average and I think that averageness along with the explosiveness of the offense can do great things for the whole team.
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