New York Jets vs Miami Dolphins: Awful special teams drop Gang Green to 6th loss in Week 9
The Jets lost to the Dolphins 27-23 in Week 9. New York drops to 3-6,last in the AFC East. How did Miami beat Gang Green at Hard Rock Stadium?
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Jets vs. Dolphins | Newsday The Jets fell to the Miami Dolphins, 27-23, in a Week 9 NFL game on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016 at Hard Rock Stadium. |
| Source: www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/new-york-jets-vs-miami-dolphins-nfl-pictures-1.12567947 | |
Special Teams
On a day when Ryan Fitzpatrick and the offense was scoring points and Muhammad Wilkerson and the defense was holding ground, one unit failed head coach Todd Bowles: the special teams. Since Week 1, the Jets have had terrible coverage on kickoffs & punts. They always let the return man run the ball back for more than 10 yards, giving opposing teams great field position. Things were no different in Week 9.
In the 2nd quarter at 1:37 minutes, New York’s Lac Edwards punted from inside the Jets endzone to Damien Williams who caught it at Miami’s 43 yard line. Williams returned the punt for 57 yards for a touchdown, putting the Dolphins up 20-13. The only reason the touchdown did not count was because MIA committed a penalty & the TD was called back by the referees. Even though the punt touchdown was negated by the penalty, NY still gave up 57 yards on the return PLUS the TD. The score was Dolphins 14 Jets 13 at halftime.
The Jets poor special teams would come back to haunt them in the 2nd half. In the 4th quarter after the Jalin Marshall 18 yard TD, Nick Folk kicked to Miami’s Kenyan Drake on the ensuing kickoff. Drake returned the kickoff to the Fins 19 yard line but then Antonio Allen of New York was called for being offsides. Folk had to kickoff again to Kenyan instead of pinning Miami at their own 19 yard line with the 1st try. Drake returned the 2nd kickoff 96 yards for the score, which gave the Dolphins a 27-23 lead in the 4th quarter with 5:15 minutes remaining in the game. Because of Antonio Allen’s penalty, NY’s special teams gave up the TD.
Gang Green’s awful special teams has plagued the team all year. They are missing easy field goals and giving up big yards on punts and kickoffs. Special teams have never improved since Week 1 and the unit keeps on getting worse. Special teams have held the Jets back in a number of close games and give opposing offenses chances to score to give them the lead. In Week 9, Miami took advantage of NY’s kickoff team to take the lead and the win over their AFC East rivals.
