Dolphins hoping to find new legs with Feely, Fields

By Matthew Hocking  |   Tuesday, August 21, 2007  |  Comments( 7 )

Miami Dolphins
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With so much focus on offense and defense, special teams often goes ignored in the NFL. But ask any Buffalo Bills fan about Scott Norwood's kick or New England Patriots fans about having their hopes resting on the steady leg of Adam Vinatieri for so long, and it becomes clear that the league's oft-ignored positions are vitally important.

The Miami Dolphins face the unique situation of having to replace both their kicker and punter this year, and the preseason has made it quite clear that they have a long way to go.

For a long time the Dolphins had relied on Olindo Mare, an excellent kickoff specialist with a career field goal average of 82 percent. The Dolphins, however, decided during the offseason to send Mare to the New Orleans Saints for a sixth-round draft pick and start over with Jay Feely.

Feely's career field goal rate is 79.6 percent, but he's known to be streaky and doesn't have the same kind of pop as Mare on kickoffs and long field goals. Feely hasn't really been tested this preseason, kicking field goals of 26 and 30 yards, but he will need to prove his consistency with an unproven Dolphins offense on the field.

Last season, Dolphins punter Donnie Jones was ranked in the bottom half of the league with 42.8-yard per punt average, but he was among the better punters in the league at placing the ball out of bounds inside the 20. Jones, however, accepted a free-agent deal with St. Louis in the offseason, and he left the Dolphins are in need of a new punter.

The inside track is owned by Brandon Fields, with Ryan Flinn struggling at training camp. But Fields has yet to take an NFL snap, and he has been inconsistent thus far, kicking as many shanks as he has high deep punts. Given that the Dolphins will need to play a field position game this season to complement their defense, Fields needs to get his directional punting in check.

The return game looks much better this season with Ted Ginn, Jesse Chatman and Ronnie Brown sharing duties. However, for Miami to have a good season it needs to show more consistency on offense and special teams, and turnover at both punter and kicker might spell trouble for a unit that was one of the Dolphins' strengths last year.

If Fields can get his leg under control and Feely can avoid the up and down seasons of his past, the special teams might win a few games for Miami. Still, that might be too much to expect from the Dolphins' two new specialists.
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