Arizona Cardinals: Five keys to winning NFC West

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Oct 23, 2016; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers kicker Phil Dawson (4) kicks a field goal against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the San Francisco 49ers 34-17. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

Special Teams

The Cardinals special teams was anything but special in 2016 unless you want to consider especially bad. It was a season to forget for the unit.

They had issues at kicker, punter, long snapper, kick and punt return teams. At one point or another all of them struggled.

The Cardinals started with a rookie long-snapper but he was less than stellar and by saying less than stellar I mean bad. Kameron Canaday is not a name many Cardinals fans will forget and for the wrong reasons.

The Cardinals also had a kicking problem, names the aforementioned Catanzaro. He missed three game winning or tying kicks. If you want to be technical it was four, but who’s counting, right?

Catanzaro was jettisoned out of Arizona and is now with the New York Jets. The Cardinals need Phil Dawson to be the kicker Catanzaro wasn’t last season. The 19-year veteran was signed as a free agent in March. Let’s hope distance doesn’t become an issue.

As for punter, that job is in the air. There will be competition between Matt Wile and Richie Leone in training camp.

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