Special Teams. Ugly.

[gtexan02]

Terrible returns, missed Fg, allowed a punt return TD, etc
If it wasn't for turnovers our field position would have been awful

Disappointed with our ST all afternoon

[TimeKiller]

You said it. D really picked up the slack that teams was giving to the fishies.

[Doppelganger]

Originally Posted by gtexan02

Terrible returns, missed Fg, allowed a punt return TD, etc
If it wasn't for turnovers our field position would have been awful

Disappointed with our ST all afternoon

To be fair, the missed fg was a 52yarder. Cant expect to always get them. Outside of that I agree with everything else you said.

[Showtime100]

Agree. Where would this team have been without the defense.

[CloakNNNdagger]

Originally Posted by Doppelganger

To be fair, the missed fg was a 52yarder. Cant expect to always get them. Outside of that I agree with everything else you said.

You would hope that on a miss, the ball would at least traveled that distance.

[CloakNNNdagger]

Originally Posted by Showtime100

Agree. Where would this team have been without the defense.

I believe better stated, where would this team have been without Tannehill's ill-thrown passes?

[Showtime100]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

I believe better stated, where would this team have been without Tannehill's ill-thrown passes?

Yeppers. I love little baby ducks, old pick-up trucks, slow-moving trains, and rookie QB's.

[Dutchrudder]

2012 Trindon Holliday looked like 2011 Trindon Holliday.

[gtexan02]

At some point when do we look for a new ST coordinator? I can't remember the last time ST was a strength.

I forgot the shanked punt also

[Scooter]

it's been talked about for no less than 2 (going on 3) years now. everybody loves coach joe, i certainly do. he needs to be replaced however, as i unpopularly said last year. we have too much talent thrown into our ST unit to be mediocre at best (and a spectacular failure today).

[gtexan02]

Originally Posted by Scooter

it's been talked about for no less than 2 (going on 3) years now. everybody loves coach joe, i certainly do. he needs to be replaced however, as i unpopularly said last year. we have too much talent thrown into our ST unit to be mediocre at best (and a spectacular failure today).

I totally agree. This isn't a knee jerk reaction, as its been a trend for years now. I dont see any major changes happening though. I hope they can turn it around

[dream_team]

Originally Posted by Doppelganger

To be fair, the missed fg was a 52yarder. Cant expect to always get them. Outside of that I agree with everything else you said.

I would have been ok with it if he at least got the distance.

[Scooter]

embarrassing was the tv review of the dolphins' punt return touchdown. there's poor coverage, and then there's what we exhibited. heck, embarrassing would be kind, that was sad. i'm fully versed in personnel failure, but that was a mess beyond lane assignments. 2x2 players were sitting on top of eachother fully confident in their role.

our kicker can barely get it to the endzone on kickoffs, and shorted a 52 yarder on indoor grass with no wind. our perfect snapper was uncharacteristically wild all day. we didnt protect our punter in obvious rush situations inside our 30. our fan favorite return specialist is still more excitable than trust worthy. our kick returns ended at the 13 yard line, the opponents' started at the 29.

there was no positive on special teams today, and outside of holliday's returns (while ignoring his muffs), we've been pretty bad again during preseason.

[NitroGSXR]

Originally Posted by gtexan02

I totally agree. This isn't a knee jerk reaction, as its been a trend for years now. I dont see any major changes happening though. I hope they can turn it around

His decline was immediately ignited by the wedge rule change. He has been terrible since.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by gtexan02

Terrible returns, missed Fg, allowed a punt return TD, etc
If it wasn't for turnovers our field position would have been awful

Disappointed with our ST all afternoon

Terrible coverage, don't forget terrible coverage & kicks in addition to allowing the return for a TD, Thigben had the Dolphins starting at the 27 or better.

I love Marciano, but it may be time to move on.

[Wolf]

I am concerned with our kickoffs. seemed Thigpen had a running start everytime he caught the ball on the kickoffs

I am knee jerking right now but wonder if Brett could do better after his suspension(if healthy)

I think he had a 4.6 hangtime on his kickoffs if I recall

[wtp]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

You would hope that on a miss, the ball would at least traveled that distance.

At least it would have went in if it had the distance.

[Bulls on Parade]

Are you guys concerned at all that we don't have a kicker with a serious leg? We haven't in quite some time. As much as I like Graham, anything 52 yards or more I just doubt he has the leg to make on a consistent basis. While other teams have guys who can hit up to 60 yards and even a little longer. I don't recall the FG Graham missed yesterday (was short by a yard or so) but I think it was around 52 yards or so.

And that's just the kicking aspect. I think we have a so-so punter for that matter. On the coverage area we let one go to the house for a Touchdown yesterday. On the return game, Trindon Holliday hesitated far too often and when he didn't do that he was calling for a fair catch every other time. This wasn't the same player who was aggressively returning them back in the pre-season.

I'd give our special teams an F, F, F and F grade all around for yesterday's performance. Thankfully we didn't need them to beat the Dolphins. But looking ahead to a brutal schedule on the way (after the Jaguars game, we should be 2-0 easy), the Special Teams will have to perform a lot better.

Special Teams and our Red Zone efficiency on offense (scoring more TDs and not settling for Field Goals). Those seem to be areas we can show a lot of improvement in. The right side of the offensive line played reasonably well in the first game.

I was real pleased with the turnover battle. Winning it 4-0. Getting 24 points off those 4 Miami turnovers. Most of the time you win by doing that. I guess that sort of makes up for the bad Special Teams play and some offensive shortcomings in the red zone.

[Corrosion]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

You would hope that on a miss, the ball would at least traveled that distance.

Thats what I was thinking .... Man it was ~5 yards short (maybe more?) The trajectory was very flat , he should have had the distance .... I think thats what troubled me the most about the attempt. If he had put too much air under it , I could understand the distance not being there ....


Akers of SF drilled one from 63 .... So what if it hit the crossbar and bounced over. It tied the longest FG in NFL history.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Wolf

I am concerned with our kickoffs. seemed Thigpen had a running start everytime he caught the ball on the kickoffs

He crossed the 20 several times before there was a Texan within 5 yards of him. That could be a function of hangtime, I don't know. But moving the ball to the 35 I'd have thought we would have a guy who could put the ball on the back end of the endzone... at least.

On our kick-off returns, the Dolphins were inside our 20 yard line before Trindon came out of the endzone.

Then there was that 30 yard punt

& on that punt return for a TD, Nading was right there, he had him. But it looked like he pulled up. Like he thought maybe Thigpen called for a fair catch.