The excitement surrounding the Miami Dolphins’ recent 3-1 stretch of play to return to .500 on the season could easily be pointed in a number of different directions. We could talk about the offense and how it averages nearly 28 points per game, or we could talk about a defense that is quite suddenly among the tops in the NFL in scoring defense. But there is a third component to the game of football that is often overlooked. But it shouldn’t be, at least not for this Miami Dolphins team.
Sure, you know all about Jason Sanders, the kicker who has started the season a perfect 15/15 kicking field goals for Miami. But how about Dolphins punter Matt Haack? Haack is enjoying the best stretch of his pro career as the Dolphins’ punter thus far this season, accentuated by his performance against the New York Jets as Miami felt content to play the field position battle with the Jets.
Miami, who jumped out to an early 21-0 lead, saw Haack take the field for seven punts on Sunday — which is as many kicks as his previous three games combined. And on those seven punts, Haack offered the following results:
- 6 fair catches
- 5 punts inside the Jets’ 20-yard line
- 3 punts inside the Jets’ 10-yard line
The Dolphins effectively dared the Jets to move the distance of the field against them and asked Haack to keep the Jets pinned deep. Not only did Haack oblige, he thrived. For a player whose kicking resume has been scattershot in recent memory, getting as good of performances as Miami has gotten from Haack this season is a huge development and a huge upgrade.
Miami will look to continue to piece together ideal “team” efforts — but team efforts aren’t complete unless the special teams units tie it all together. On Sunday against the Jets, Haack did his part to keep the screws on the Jets and help Miami climb back to .500 on the season.