For Dolphins, surprisingly solid special teams play a subtle bright spot

By Hugo Guzman  |   Wednesday, September 23, 2009  |  Comments( 2 )

Miami Dolphins
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Lost in all the doom and gloom surrounding Miami's loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Monday was the promising play of the Dolphins' oft-beleaguered special teams unit. Here are a couple of highlights and stats that help paint the full picture:
-Dan Carpenter had three of his five kickoffs reach the endzone and actually forced a touchback on the game's opening kickoff
-Miami's punt coverage team nearly blocked a punt midway through the first half
-Miami's kickoff coverage team gave up just 90 yards on five kick returns and did not allow a single long return
-Brandon Field's lone punt of the night was a well-executed "coffin corner" punt that pinned the Colts well inside their own 20
-The lone penalty for the unit was an offsides call on a kickoff
-Lex Hilliard displayed the type of disruptive kick coverage that has mainstream publications singing his praises

Now granted, Patrick Cobbs and Devon Bess did little on punt and kick returns (Bess had one punt return for 8 yards and Cobbs had four kick returns for 22 yards) which suggests that there's still a lot of work to be done in terms of creating running lanes on returns. Still, all in all, it was a solid outing and something to build on as the season progresses.
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About Hugo Guzman

Trying to bring an objective approach to NFL analysis.
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