Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
A trio of final-round fantasy kickers to target.
There are few things more satisfying in the world of fantasy football than identifying a player or group to break out when your fellow owners don’t. With that in mind, it’s time to look at some possible sleepers for the upcoming season.
A look at Miami’s kicker, punter and long snapper, and the year they had in 2023.
The Miami Dolphins finished their 2023 campaign with an 11-6 record and made the postseason for the second time in as many years under head coach Mike McDaniel. Unfortunately, it came to an end with a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the wild-card round.
While other teams are in the midst of their playoff run, it’s time to do some reflecting on the team in South Florida.
Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be reviewing and evaluating different positions for the Dolphins in 2023. Today, we’ll wrap up with the specialists.
We’ve entered the final week of the regular season, and the Baltimore Ravens have firmly established themselves as the best team in the NFL after dismantling the Miami Dolphins, 56-19.
We’ve entered the final week of the regular season, and the Baltimore Ravens have firmly established themselves as the best team in the NFL after dismantling the Miami Dolphins, 56-19.
San Francisco is the No. 1 overall seed after a 28-10 win over Washington, coupled with the Eagles loss.
At the same time, Dallas is firmly entrenched as the No. 2 seed after a controversial win over Detroit on Saturday night.
Buffalo, Indianapolis, Houston, Jacksonville, and Pittsburgh all maintained their playoff hopes in the AFC.
In contrast, the Rams, Saints, Seahawks, Buccaneers, and Vikings maintained some hope for a Wild Card slot heading into the regular season finales.
With the Week 18 melodrama set to begin, here are the final NFL Power Rankings of the season and the first Power Rankings of 2024.
We’re looking at the Week 18 NFL Power Rankings and the Philadelphia Eagles are falling after another loss while the Ravens are the top team
We’ve entered the final week of the regular season, and the Baltimore Ravens have firmly established themselves as the best team in the NFL after dismantling the Miami Dolphins, 56-19.
San Francisco is the No. 1 overall seed after a 28-10 win over Washington, coupled with the Eagles loss.
At the same time, Dallas is firmly entrenched as the No. 2 seed after a controversial win over Detroit on Saturday night.
Buffalo, Indianapolis, Houston, Jacksonville, and Pittsburgh all maintained their playoff hopes in the AFC.
In contrast, the Rams, Saints, Seahawks, Buccaneers, and Vikings maintained some hope for a Wild Card slot heading into the regular season finales.
With the Week 18 melodrama set to begin, here are the final NFL Power Rankings of the season and the first Power Rankings of 2024.
He’s the sixth Dolphin to be awarded Player of the Week this season.
The Miami Dolphins earned their 11th win of the season on Sunday, as they downed the Dallas Cowboys 22-20 at Hard Rock Stadium, and they wouldn’t have been able to do so without the impressive performance by kicker Jason Sanders.
In the contest, Sanders nailed all five of his field-goal attempts, including three from beyond 50 yards as well as the game-winner as time expired.
For his efforts, Sanders was awarded AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors.
He has the clutch gene. 🧬
Congrats to our AFC Special Teams Player of the Week, @jasonsanderss! pic.twitter.com/tApjyTMnrj
— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) December 27, 2023
This is the fifth time in Sanders’ career, and the first time since 2020, that he’s received this award. Incredibly, he’s the sixth Dolphins to win Player of the Week this year, following Tua Tagovailoa, De’Von Achane, Raheem Mostert, Jalen Ramsey and Bradley Chubb.
There have been many questions about Sanders’ ability in recent years, but he showed up on Sunday and helped Miami secure their signature win to this point in their 2023 campaign.
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Dolphins silence media critics in win over Cowboys.
The Miami Dolphins secured their most impressive win of the season in Week 16 against the Dallas Cowboys, as the 22-20 victory on a walk-off Jason Sanders field goal gives Miami their first victory against a team with a winning record while also clinching a spot in the playoffs.
The narrative surrounding the Dolphins for weeks has been their inability to beat other playoff teams. They came into Week 16 0-3 against winning teams. Many Dolphins, including quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, have made it known they have heard the noise on social media and mainstream sports media outlets. Tagovailoa stated that he “keeps receipts” following his impressive performance against the Jets a week prior.
It appears the Dolphins have used this outside noise as motivation for the whole team. This win over the Cowboys should give some satisfaction to the players, as the playoffs are fast approaching.
“I think it’s really hard to ignore the noise. I think you’re going to hear it,” said head coach Mike McDaniel after the victory. “This is a big win for this team because it’s always big when you do something that internally you know you’re capable of. Nobody on this team thought we were going to lose that game.”
Handling the media is a growing challenge for NFL players, especially with social media increasing the amount of content created daily. Everything going on with NFL teams is magnified.
If the Dolphins didn’t emerge victorious against the Cowboys, the “pretenders” narrative would’ve been a topic of discussion in the sports world ahead of a Week 17 clash with the Baltimore Ravens.
Instead, the win over Dallas will put Miami in position next week to earn the top spot in the AFC heading into the final game of the regular season.
“This team was fully confident, and knew it would take all 60 minutes,” continued McDaniel. “It’s a cool one to be a part of. I think a lot of the guys are happy because their Christmas isn’t ruined.”
It’ll be interesting to see how the mainstream media will react to this Dolphins’ win. How will the narrative shift?
The Baltimore Ravens are the New No. 1 team in NFL Powers Rankings after a dominant 33-19 win over the San Francisco 49ers
Philadelphia is looking to move past the controversy and adversity from the past three weeks, and a solid performance on Monday afternoon put this team back on track toward a No. 2 or 3 seed in the NFC.
The Eagles are 11-4 and one step closer to an NFC East title after a 33-25 win over the New York Giants on Sunday afternoon.
Around the league, Detroit defeated Minnesota, 30-24, and clinched their first division title since 1993.
Miami defeated Dallas, 22-20, to clinch a postseason berth for the second consecutive season. The Dolphins win also put Philadelphia back into first place in the NFC East.
Kansas City faces Las Vegas on Monday and can clinch the AFC West with a win.
Five teams recorded the game-winning score in the final two minutes of regulation in Week 16, while Seattle became the third team since 1970 with four game-winning touchdowns in the final two minutes of regulation or overtime in a season, joining the 2004 Jaguars (four) and 2012 Seahawks (four).
Cleveland wide receiver Amari Cooper had 11 receptions for a single-game franchise record of 265 yards and two touchdowns in the Browns’ 36-22 win over Houston.
With the the Ravens defeating the 40ers, here’s an updated look at the Week 17 NFL Power Rankings.
Jason Sanders made five field goals in the victory over Dallas.
Miami Dolphins kicker Jason Sanders earned our ‘Player of the Game’ honors with his heroic performance against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 16.
Sanders came up clutch for a Dolphins team that finally secured a signature win. He came up big for his team every time his name was called upon on this Christmas Eve battle.
The 28-year-old was perfect on Sunday, hitting all five of his field goals, including the game-winner in the closing seconds. Sanders was responsible for 16 of the Dolphins’ 22 points with his five field goals and one extra point.
It’s been a season full of record book mentions for the Dolphins, and Sanders added to it today. Three of Sanders’ made field goals were from beyond 50 yards, setting a new Dolphins single-game record. The distance of Sanders’ three longest kicks were from 57, 52 and 54 yards. However, it was his shortest kick that turned out to be the biggest.
The Dolphins found themselves down for the first time in the second half with 3:27 left in the game. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa methodically led a 12-play, 64-yard drive to set up a game-winning field goal attempt. Sanders effortlessly made the 29-yard field goal, officially guaranteeing the Dolphins a spot in the playoffs with an 11-4 record.
Jason Sanders' 5th FG of the game sends the @MiamiDolphins to the #NFLPlayoffs! #DALvsMIA pic.twitter.com/OTFvcaRlKi
— NFL (@NFL) December 25, 2023
This win over the Cowboys is proof of the value of the kicker. Miami needed every field goal from Sanders to win this game. With all of the swirling narratives about whether or not the Dolphins can beat another playoff team, he delivered maybe the sweetest victory of the season for his team.
Sanders hasn’t had as many field goal attempts as most kickers this season due to the Dolphins high-powered offense scoring touchdowns at a high rate. And, head coach Mike McDaniel also elects often to bet on his offense on fourth down instead of kicking a field goal. He did, however, come into this week leading the NFL in made extra points.
Sunday was a perfect opportunity for Sanders to show he can be trusted in big-time moments in key games. Sanders has now made 22 of his 26 field goal attempts in 2023 and has five made field goals of at least 50 yards out in 2023. It’s encouraging to see him gaining confidence as the playoffs approach.
Who deserves credit, and who deserves criticism for their performances?
The Miami Dolphins earned their 11th victory of the season on Sunday, as they defeated the Dallas Cowboys 22-20 at Hard Rock Stadium.
Mike McDaniel’s team struggled to play their best ball on offense and had some costly penalties on defense, but when it mattered most, they drove down the field and set their kicker up with an opportunity to win the game for them, and he delivered.
As we do after every game, let’s take a look at some of those who deserve credit and some who deserve criticism. for their performances against the Cowboys.
The Dolphins dropped the Cowboys on a last-second field goal by Jason Sanders
Jason Sanders delivered big time for the Miami Dolphins, who earned a playoff spot with a 22-20 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
Sanders’ fifth field goal was a 29-yarder as time expired and it made the difference for the Fish.
Jason Sanders’ 5th FG of the game sends the @MiamiDolphins to the #NFLPlayoffs! #DALvsMIA pic.twitter.com/OTFvcaRlKi
— NFL (@NFL) December 25, 2023
The 12-play, 64-yard drive ate up the final 3:27 of the game.
The Miami score came after Dallas had used 17 plays and 7:39 on the clock to go 69 yards.
Dak Prescott threw a beautiful 8-yard TD pass to Brandin Cooks and after Brandon Aubrey’s PAT, the Cowboys led 20-19.
What a throw. What a catch.
📺: #DALvsMIA on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/UIg1XAk0MB pic.twitter.com/wsTzrDtdTM— NFL (@NFL) December 25, 2023
That set the stage for the Dolphins drive and kick by Sanders that lifted the Dolphins to 11-4.
