Only hours after the Miami Dolphins special teams had one of the biggest meltdowns in the history of the game, the team fired their special teams coach, John Bonamego.
Assistant Darren Rizzi was promoted to the head of the lowly unit in the wake of the firing.
"It's a hard decision to make," Sparano said. "I know how hard this guy works. Nobody works harder than him at what he does."
The special teams was the main reason for the Dolphins embarrassing collapse on Monday night, as they allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown, a blocked kick returned for a touchdown, and a blocked punt, which led to a touchdown. That's 21 points right there that changed the game for the Dolphins, and put the offense and defense in some difficult situations.
The special teams put the offense in such a hole that there was no chance that they could come back. In a game where the Dolphins actually outgained the Pats in the amount of yards, and gained over 400 yards for the second straight game, you would think that the Dolphins would come away with a victory, but it simply couldn't be done because of the poor play of the special teams.
The biggest mistake that this team made this off-season was releasing core special teams players such as Reggie Torbor, Charlie Anderson, and Erik Walden.
With a team that has put an emphasis on the play of the special teams, for the past couple of years Miami's special teams play has ranked close to the bottom of the pack during Bonamego's short tenure in Miami, which started in 2008.
The team undoubtedly needs to pick things up, and find a solution to their special teams woes, but how they do this with the level of play that our players are putting out on the field, and how unorganized our team looked on Monday, at this point in time, special teams is a serious concern, and after what I witnessed on Monday night, special teams very well could be our own worst enemy, and be the main component that keeps us out of the playoffs.
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