Dolphins Need Special Teams Resurgence

The Miami Dolphins came in near the bottom of Rick Gosselin's annual special teams rankings

There were a lot of things that went wrong down in the final two weeks of the regular season for the Miami Dolphins, and right near the top was a major special teams fail each time.

On the flip side, the Dolphins put themselves in position to defeat the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs last season despite missing their top two quarterbacks in part because of a long punt return that set up a score.

Given the fact they're on the road again for another playoff game and they have major injury issues on defense, it better be more of the later and less of the former for the Dolphins when they face the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday night.

THE SPECIAL TEAMS BREAKDOWNS

The Dolphins ended up 31st (out of 32 teams) in longtime NFL writer Rick Gosselin's annual special teams rankings, compiled by tabulating where each team ranks in 22 different statistical categories.

Only the Los Angeles Rams scored worse than the Dolphins, who were dead last in the NFL in kickoff return average allowed (30.5) and opponent starting field position (26.6-yard line).

And the Dolphins were among the worst in the league in kicks blocked (2) and points allowed (2).

The special teams failed miserable in the final two games of the regular season, most notably with the game-changing punt return for a touchdown allowed in the 21-14 loss against the Buffalo Bills last Sunday night. That came a week after a 78-yard kickoff return allowed to start the second half at Baltimore put the Dolphins into a bigger hole from which to try to climb back.

The Dolphins earlier this season gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown, but that came late in the 70-20 dismantling of the Denver Broncos, so it really didn't matter very much.

In this game, it would be huge.

The Dolphins didn't allow a long return in the meeting against the Chiefs in Germany in Week 9, but Mecole Hardman does have a 50-yard return on his resume this season, so the Dolphins will have to be on point while covering returns.

PERFECT TIME FOR DOLPHINS SPECIAL TEAMS TO STAND UP

In his first season with the Dolphins, Braxton Berrios has been very reliable and productive, playing well enough to earn All-Pro votes as both a punt returner and a kickoff returner.

What Berrios wasn't able to do, though, was break a long return.

The Dolphins, in fact, were one of only two teams in the NFL without a punt return of at least 20 yards and a kickoff return of at least 35 yards — the other was San Francisco.

But that was the exact same situation heading into the playoffs last season when the 2022 season-long punt return was only 15 yards and the season-long kickoff return was only 31 yards and then — boom — Cedrick Wilson Jr. had a 50-yard punt return in the second quarter.

The Dolphins unquestionably could use one of those game-changing plays Saturday night. At the very least, they just need to avoid being on the wrong end of one.

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