Not heavily talked about: Mare's Revival | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Not heavily talked about: Mare's Revival

ckparrothead

ckparrothead

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Olindo Mare struggled a little bit as a rookie, with a 77.8% FG percentage...but after that he took his place among the league's best kickers with consistent 80+ percent accuracy, with 90+ percent accuracy in 2000 and 2001.

But starting in 2002 Mare's accuracy numbers dipped below the 80% mark for three straight years. At first I remember in 2002 it was labeled as a problem with his foot...but in 2003 he was the same and in 2004 he was the same and he got injured as well.

The problem as I recall was actually his short game...he kept missing those 30 to 40 yarders.

I believe the real issue was Doug Blevins, the old kicking coach in a wheelchair that use to coach Mare before 2002. Blevins doubled as a mentor for other NFL kickers, I believe he ran a professional kicking camp every year. He was told by the NFL that this was a conflict of interest and that he could no longer take on both roles...either one or the other. He chose being an instructor of many kickers over being the coach of one.

I think the loss of Blevins shook Mare's confidence...but somehow he regained it in 2005 because he went 25 of 30 (83.3%) with 33 XPs. Lord only knows how many touchbacks, that's always been a specialty of his.

I kind of wonder...why the turnaround? I know Nick Saban's brought in like a billion coaches, maybe one of them has helped Mare with his kicking? Perhaps Scott O'Brian?

Whatever it is...I think it's something to be grateful for.
 
I just think he regained his confidence and realized that he needed to get back to the type of kicker he once was. I think he'll have a solid year this upcoming season. Nice points though. I never knew he had a parapalegic as a coach that should be a Dolphin Trivia question or something lol. (with all due respect of course)
 
Dolphan23 said:
I just think he regained his confidence and realized that he needed to get back to the type of kicker he once was. I think he'll have a solid year this upcoming season. Nice points though. I never knew he had a parapalegic as a coach that should be a Dolphin Trivia question or something lol. (with all due respect of course)
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it's actually a great story, IMO, I hold Doug in VERY high regard.
 
ckparrothead said:
Olindo Mare struggled a little bit as a rookie, with a 77.8% FG percentage...but after that he took his place among the league's best kickers with consistent 80+ percent accuracy, with 90+ percent accuracy in 2000 and 2001.....
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Nice post. I remember Blevins. Loved that guy.

I'm a big Olindo Mare fan. Just one more thing Saban is doing right. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Mare's recent success has a lot to do with Saban and his coaching staff.
 
I'll be a part of that revival service after he nails 4 out of the 4 poss. game winning boots this year. Ever since Stoyo missed that playoff FG vs KC years ago, I have likened our kickers. I would really like to love one of them ( in a high five, toast your beer while hollarin' sort of way ) but I haven't been able to. I think that Mare can do it; I just won't commit until I see results.
 
also i believe a reason he was struggling was because the team was always putting him in a tight spot...they would be losing and he would go in there and everyone would expect him to put some points on the board to get the team some points and he couldnt deal with the pressure.
im just glad he got on the right track last year
 
A lot of times with kickers its not how many you make but when you make them. I mean look at Vanderjagt, the most successful kicker in history as far as percentages go but he always choked on the big ones... thats why he was booted out of Indy. The same goes for Vinatieri, while he has good percentages he is more known for the BIG kicks that won SBs and the snow game against the Raiders. Mare just hasnt had that chance in the last few years because of the Dolphins underachieving. I believe this year he will have that chance and I am confident the Olindo will get the job done.
:dolphins:
 
jclary566 said:
also i believe a reason he was struggling was because the team was always putting him in a tight spot...they would be losing and he would go in there and everyone would expect him to put some points on the board to get the team some points and he couldnt deal with the pressure.
im just glad he got on the right track last year
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That's part of the problem though, not part of the excuse. The man was CLUTCH until 2002. I fully believe that in 1999, 2000, or 2001, he could have repeated what Vinatieri did in the S.B. He was that clutch, didn't get a whole lot of chances to prove it.

But in 2002 if the pressure was getting to him...he wasn't clutch anymore.
 
I think it has to be coaching, Donnie Jones sucked with Seattle his rookie year, that was a year ago and led the league in punt lengths this year so yes it must have something to do with coaching, by the way Im so glad we have Donnie, I have gotten sick of Turk, I remember he was one of the worst punters in the league and when Saban cut him he said "Well he is m issing in the bets punter in the league", that was hilarious, its amazing how NS has improved this team in very single position, even punter, we went from having a 40 yo. loser to have a 24 yo. winner...
 
FRESHNESS said:
I'll be a part of that revival service after he nails 4 out of the 4 poss. game winning boots this year. Ever since Stoyo missed that playoff FG vs KC years ago, I have likened our kickers. I would really like to love one of them ( in a high five, toast your beer while hollarin' sort of way ) but I haven't been able to. I think that Mare can do it; I just won't commit until I see results.
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From 1998 through 2001 Mare made some killer clutch kicks...made some pretty damn clutch ones in 2002 through 2004 too. I still get goose bumps about this one 50+ yarder to win a game against Denver a few years back.

He also had a beautiful last second 49 yarder in swirling wind to beat the Patriots in Foxboro in 2000 during the final game of the regular season. I can't remember but I thought that win sealed the division title for us that year.

I think usually when he misses it has always been chip shots early in the game and then afterwards we all point to the miss and say if we would have had those 3 points we would have won...or something like that. I don't ever remember a single clutch kick he's ever missed.
 
ckparrothead said:
From 1998 through 2001 Mare made some killer clutch kicks...made some pretty damn clutch ones in 2002 through 2004 too. I still get goose bumps about this one 50+ yarder to win a game against Denver a few years back.

He also had a beautiful last second 49 yarder in swirling wind to beat the Patriots in Foxboro in 2000 during the final game of the regular season. I can't remember but I thought that win sealed the division title for us that year.

I think usually when he misses it has always been chip shots early in the game and then afterwards we all point to the miss and say if we would have had those 3 points we would have won...or something like that. I don't ever remember a single clutch kick he's ever missed.
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The only time I was in Miami was the New England game when he missed 2 short field goals to win the game, those were clutch misses.

I am still a Mare fan though as their are a lot worse kickers
 
wpgfishfan said:
The only time I was in Miami was the New England game when he missed 2 short field goals to win the game, those were clutch misses.

I am still a Mare fan though as their are a lot worse kickers
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I like Mare. Not only is he at least a decent kicker, he is amazing at kickoffs. Another thing that is good about him is the fact he is practically a safty back there. Where most kickers are just the last line of defense, this kicker got an unnecessary roughness penalty for smashing a guy out of bounds. I kind of like the feeling of not having dread due to the fact that Mare is going to have to make the tackle. You can say that about what? 2 other kickers maybe.
 
ckparrothead said:
I think usually when he misses it has always been chip shots early in the game and then afterwards we all point to the miss and say if we would have had those 3 points we would have won...or something like that. I don't ever remember a single clutch kick he's ever missed.
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The NE game a few years back.

Other than that though its like you said...."Damn man, if Mare makes that kick in the [insert number] quarter we win. :fire: "
 
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