Dolphins’ special teams unit fails miserably throughout Bills game

Written by Matthew Cannata | Twitter: @PhinManiacs
The Miami Dolphins’ special teams unit was a disaster on Sunday against the Bills. They allowed a punt to be blocked early in the game, allowed a 102-yard kickoff return and also muffed a punt later in the game, which the Bills recovered.

Joe Philbin talked about the various miscues during the game.

"We have to do better. We have to protect the punter, number one. We got beat inside. I don't think we touched Spiller. We may have, but we didn't have a good clean shot at him so they must've blocked us well. And we need to catch the ball."

Newest linebacker Kelvin Sheppard and Jamar Taylor talked about the kickoff return and what happened during the play.

"It's a tremendous blow, just absolutely unacceptable. And I'm sure with the team that we have here it will be corrected," said Sheppard. "If C.J. gets an opening, he's gone. You can't allow that."

Taylor added, "C.J. is one of the fastest dudes in the league. You've got to be able to hit him right away. If you've got anybody going down the wrong lane, he's going to be able to take off — that's on special team or on offense. It was a big one."

Jarvis Landry was the one who muffed the punt late in the game and despite the fact that the Bills missed the field goal after not getting into the endzone, it swung some momentum and took some more time off the lock.

"Just missed an opportunity to make a play. Took my eyes off the ball," said Landry, who said his teammates offered encouragement on the sideline. "I have to go out there and am expected to make plays, and that's one thing the guys want me to do."

The Dolphins gave up 10 points on those three miscues and without them, the game would’ve been much different. They will need to improve quickly if they want to make an impact on special teams each week.

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