The much improvement in special teams and our young contributors. | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

The much improvement in special teams and our young contributors.

juniorseau55

juniorseau55

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In this past offseason people have been talking about shuffling our offensive line but other than all the dissapointing talk about how we were expecting more of a change I would have to say that the dolphins have made a good effort to have a top Special teams Force. When it came to coverage last season it was horrible for any of our returners to break a long one because our blocking was poor in special teams.

We signed Wilkins to give our returns some competition, we signed Chris Atkins from the patriots(outstanding special teams player), we resigned Shawn Wooden, Sammy Morris, Antuan Edwards which if he doesn't become a starter then he would contribute well on special teams. We drafted players like Tony Bua, Will Poole, players that if you go by stats( :) stat junkies) they are special team aces. If you read the Will Poole thread by Ck you would notice that Poole made strides with two different colleges thus showing that he can get us one or two blocked kicks if given the chance. Apart from that we have Eddy Moore returning for us, Corey Jenkings(our emergency qb) which will indeed improve our unit. We have been playing many close games for all these years and we been needing many miracles, this upcoming season you will see us playing special teams at an all-pro level.
 
In this past offseason people have been talking about shuffling our offensive line but other than all the dissapointing talk about how we were expecting more of a change I would have to say that the dolphins have made a good effort to have a top Special teams Force. When it came to coverage last season it was horrible for any of our returners to break a long one because our blocking was poor in special teams.

We signed Wilkins to give our returns some competition, we signed Chris Atkins from the patriots(outstanding special teams player), we resigned Shawn Wooden, Sammy Morris, Antuan Edwards which if he doesn't become a starter then he would contribute well on special teams. We drafted players like Tony Bua, Will Poole, players that if you go by stats( stat junkies) they are special team aces. If you read the Will Poole thread by Ck you would notice that Poole made strides with two different colleges thus showing that he can get us one or two blocked kicks if given the chance. Apart from that we have Eddy Moore returning for us, Corey Jenkings(our emergency qb)
which will indeed improve our unit. We have been playing many close games for all these years and we been needing many miracles, this upcoming season you will see us playing special teams at an all-pro level.

Nice post, I was going to post something similar about our ST unit, and I agree I think we will have the best ST unit in the NFL, I mean we may have lost Hendricks but adding Akins, Bua, Poole etc will more than make up for it and I think we'll finally see a couple big plays out of the ST unit.
 
Flurry's statement as if we have our special teams unit in the league is there, we do have a top unit considering we brought in guys who have contribute greatly in special teams for their past teams. We have guys who are faster down the field, stronger than the last time we had which gives our returners the room to average more long runs than in the past.
 
Our coverage unit is usually pretty solid anyway, but it should be better this year. Can someone please tell me the last time we returned a kickoff for a td? I remember Marion returned one to the 3 yard line a few years ago against the bills(?).
 
What we've been missing on Special Teams for a while, are good returns. I'm not sure that our additions will help with that, but they will improve coverage and kick blocking so, thats a start. We use to make a good living for a while using Trent Gamble and Scott McGarrahan as flyers to make plays down the field and I believe we got two touchdowns doing that (Gamble scared the guy fielding the punt, ball hit his leg, Gamble downed it in the endzone for a TD).

Don't count out Tony Bua for blocks though. He blocked 9 this season in the NCAA which puts him pretty high on the top blockers. Watch out for Derrick Strait who I believe went to the Jets, he's a good blocker too, and so is 4th rounder Nathan Vasher of I think the Texans? I forget.

What I like about the Will Poole situation in this case is that someone at mini-camp (FinsFlurry) noticed that Will Poole was in the backfield a lot in kicking drills FIRST, and THEN we (being me) did the research and realized he'd been doing that in college a lot too...that gives him a head up on guys like Bua, Vasher, and Strait who did it in college but we don't know if they will translate that to the pros until we see some footage of them in mini-camp, training camp, or preseason.
 
U left off john jones too who was a good special teams guy for the ravens.
 
Don't forget about the possiblity of Fred Russell Bowling through special teams tacklers. If he doesn't get a chance at running kicks back, I have to consider it a black mark against our coaching staff. This kid will be a special teams ACE for someone, I just hope it's us.
 
ckparrothead said:
What we've been missing on Special Teams for a while, are good returns. I'm not sure that our additions will help with that, but they will improve coverage and kick blocking so, thats a start. We use to make a good living for a while using Trent Gamble and Scott McGarrahan as flyers to make plays down the field and I believe we got two touchdowns doing that (Gamble scared the guy fielding the punt, ball hit his leg, Gamble downed it in the endzone for a TD).

Don't count out Tony Bua for blocks though. He blocked 9 this season in the NCAA which puts him pretty high on the top blockers. Watch out for Derrick Strait who I believe went to the Jets, he's a good blocker too, and so is 4th rounder Nathan Vasher of I think the Texans? I forget.

What I like about the Will Poole situation in this case is that someone at mini-camp (FinsFlurry) noticed that Will Poole was in the backfield a lot in kicking drills FIRST, and THEN we (being me) did the research and realized he'd been doing that in college a lot too...that gives him a head up on guys like Bua, Vasher, and Strait who did it in college but we don't know if they will translate that to the pros until we see some footage of them in mini-camp, training camp, or preseason.
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I remember Strait blockign punts in multiple occasions during a game.
 
PlowHorse34 said:
Don't forget about the possiblity of Fred Russell Bowling through special teams tacklers. If he doesn't get a chance at running kicks back, I have to consider it a black mark against our coaching staff. This kid will be a special teams ACE for someone, I just hope it's us.
Click to expand...
Agreed, this kid's lightning quick ( and I dont mean speed by that). Has amazing agility, I think he can juke the shizzle out of a lot of those looking to tackle him. Let's hope the FO gives him a chance!
 
Don't forget the kicking game - extremely important part of special teams and a major disappointment last year. Remember Royals' beautiful 5-yard punts? How about Mare missing not one, but two chip shots against New England - a critical loss because of Special Teams.

Matt Turk is a solid punter and a great holder. Mare settled down when Turk came back. Also, Mare really missed Ed Perry last year. We had some outrageous snappers that messed up Mare's timing. This year should be different. Perry, Turk, and Mare are all very comfortable with each other and will have the pre-season to get their timing back. I also think Olindo believes he has something to prove.

I agree with the post, ST may be the lifesaver for us this year. Our offense will need time, new Coordinator, too much change and too young on the O-line, and QB remains a work in progress.

We need to sign Wale and shore up our defense and Keith Armstrong needs to work overtime to bring this ST unit together. Defense and ST are our bread and butter and will help us get through many tight games, while our Offense is developing.
 
You guys hit on a lot of topics on Special Teams. We have a much improved special teams, with a lot of key guys. I mean, blocking wise and coverage wise, we are going to kick A$$. I believe Fred Russel will shine in the 2,3,4 preseason games, and then he will find his way to the Pro Bowl on special teams. Oh, and that is high praise, because Dante Hall is in the AFC too. Dante Hall is a reciever, and Russell is a running back, backs are built much more durable. Just my little input guys. Crossing Fingers.
 
I can't wait to see Russel in Pre-season. It would be funny if he rushes for like 500 yards in the pre-season and "Ricky's career is on the line". Just joking, you know how the media is.
 
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