Sander is a key to Miami reaching the post season in 2022
News is scarce in late June for the NFL and Miami Dolphins, so you know it’s ultra quiet when we are talking about a kicker. Jason Sanders is entering his 5th year in the league, and after being superb in 2020, he ‘got paid’… and then had arguably the worst season of his career in 2021. With the AFC being filled with talented teams, clutch kicks in tight games with be critical.Will Sanders bounce back in 2022 and help the Dolphins get back to the postseason?
They are only kickers until you need a clutch kick
It doesn’t take the best football software to know having a top notch kicker goes a long way to having success in the NFL. Kickers definitely will win you a game or two during the regular season. And occasionally you get the ‘Evan McPhersons’, a rookie kicker for the Bengals last year, who won them multiple games in the playoffs last year.
Kickers are a fickle bunch, and there’s a big mental aspect of their game. Unfortunately, quite often when a kicker misses, it just raises the chances they will miss again more frequently. You have to have ice in your veins and a short term memory to be a professional athlete, especially a kicker.
Last season, Sanders missed 8 field goals on 31 tries and only had a 74.2% field goal percentage, which was the lowest of his 4 years in the league. This was a far cry from the 92.3% field goal percentage he had in the 2020 season, where he only missed 3 field goals out of 39 tries. His biggest issue last year was on field goals of 50 plus yards where he only converted 2 out of 6 tries. Sure, these are the tougher field goals to make. However, whenever you miss one of those long ones, you immediately give the opposing team an excellent starting field position on their upcoming drive. This an ugly double-whammy.
It’s not like he doesn’t have the leg or the accuracy to get the job done. In 2020 Sanders was money from 50 plus yards, where he made 8 out of 9 tries. So, Sanders bouncing back is the expectation and not the long shot.
Sanders has had hot and cold seasons
Miami needs Sander to shake off last season and play like he did in 2020. Sure that is simple to say, but kickers who struggle can have a hard time maintaining confidence and getting back to prior higher quality form. But, Sanders has a very interesting trend to his career that gives hope he’ll knock it out of the park in 2022!
Sanders had a very good rookie campaign making 90% of his field goals in 2018, but the following year his performance went down and he only made 76.7% of his field goals. Sanders bounced back in 2020 to have his best year as a pro with a 92.3% field goal percentage, but then slumped the next year in 2021 with a 74.2% field goal percentage. If Sanders continues this trend then he should have a better season in 2022! However, it would be nice if he could be more consistent and string together back to back years with a 90% or higher field goal percentage because dropping 14% to 16% in field goal percentage after each high performance year is not ideal.
Whatever he does in the future though isn’t as important as what he does this season. Sander must nail 2022 because it’s so critical for the Dolphins to have success this year to avoid another downward spiral and regime rollover!!!
What are the rest of the Miami Dolphins news fans thoughts about whether or not Sanders can bounce back in 2020?
