With Feely gone, Dolphins relying on rookie

By Joe Mayes  |   Wednesday, August 13, 2008  |  Comments( 3 )

Miami Dolphins
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Earlier this week, Miami Dolphins showed the door to the last of their four captains from 2007 -- kicker Jay Feely. The 32-year-old joined Trent Green, Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor as Miami's leaders from last year who are no longer on its roster.

Dan Carpenter, a rookie from the University of Montana, appears to be in line to take over the kicking duties for the Dolphins in 2008.

Carpenter, 22, went undrafted out of Montana, where he lettered all four years and was named first-team Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) All-American his senior year. At Montana, Carpenter converted just under 73 percent (75 of 103) of his field goal attempts and 97 percent (182 of 188) of the extra points he tried. At 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, he’s a big and strong with plenty of leg, and he accounted for all of Miami's points in its 17-6 preseason loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last weekend.

Still, he was surprised to hear that Feely had been, well, given the boot.

“Of course it was a shock," Carpenter said.

During his last three years (with the New York Giants and the Dolphins), Feely’s accuracy improved each season -- increasing from 83 percent in 2005 to 85 in 2006 -- and he set Miami all-time record by converting 91.3 percent of his field goal tries in 2007. As a result, Feely does not expect to be unemployed for long. According to his agent, Glenn Schwartzman, as many as six teams have indicated an interest in vying for his services in 2008.

But the question for Dolphin fans is whether the loss of Feely will have an adverse effect on the team in the upcoming season.

The Dolphins lost six games by three points last year. However, Feely missed just one kick in three-point losses (against the Giants last October during Miami's 13-10 loss in London).

So will replacing Feely with a strong-legged youngster cost the Dolphins any games in 2008?

A poll conducted at FinHeaven.com, a Dolphins fan board, asked the question: How many games will the loss of Feely cost the Dolphins in 2008?

Two-thirds of the nearly 100 replies said there will be no net effect of replacing Feely with the pride of Helena, Mont. Fourteen percent of those responding said that the team will lose between one and three games with Carpenter that it wouldn’t have lost with the veteran.

Nearly 20 percent, however, believe the Dolphins will win one to three more games in 2008 because of Carpenter’s presence, claiming that his stronger leg will be a boon on field goals and kickoffs.

In 2007, Feely averaged just 57.8 yards per kickoff, ranking him 34th in the league among those with at least 10 downfield boots. That translates into the receiving team fielding the ball at its 12-yard line. Carpenter, on the other hand, averaged more than 64 yards per kickoff, meaning opponents would field the ball at their 6.

While Feely expressed the opinion that his release was thanks at least in part to his outspoken personality, head coach Tony Sparano insists that it was the on-field performance, not Feely’s personality or his salary (his $850,000 was nearly three times Carpenter’s $295,000), that was the basis for his departure.

“The decision was based purely on numbers, on performance and Carpenter has outperformed him right now. That's the bottom line,” Sparano said Tuesday after the team's morning workout. “We chart a ton of categories with the kickers and Carpenter has outperformed him.”

According to Sparano, Carpenter converted on 93 percent of his 40 kicks, including a string of 23 in a row before missing one during the Tuesday morning practice.

“The numbers weren't close,” stated Sparano.

The only question remaining is whether Carpenter can outperform Feely when it matters most -- on Sunday afternoons beginning in September. Considering Feely converted more than 91 percent of his attempts in 2007, the rookie will have some awfully big cleats to fill in '08.

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About Joe Mayes

Joe Mayes is an award-winning writer with credits ranging from national sports columns to local newspapers and commercial and technical writing. Joe is the host of "The Morning Wrap," a morning drive-time sports talk radio show on WTKE-FM in Northwest ...
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