Despite getting fewer chances than he would have under the old kickoff rule, when the ball was spotted at the 30-yardline instead of the 35, rookie Clyde Gates continues to make big strides. His 77-yard kickoff return to open the second half last week against Oakland sparked the team and came 10 days after he returned one 39 yards at Dallas and was one tackle away from taking it the distance.

“Hopefully, we just continue to keep getting and better and hopefully I’ll take one to the house,” said Gates, who is averaging 24.9 yards on 26 returns this season. “It felt good to actually get to the second level and up front the guys did a real good job of blocking.”

Last season under the old rules the Dolphins returned a total of 56 kickoffs over 16 games, with Nolan Carroll returning 27 and Patrick Cobbs returning 23. This year the number of touchbacks are way up, so that has limited the number of times Gates gas gad to break a long return.

Fellow wide receiver Brian Hartline, who still takes his fair share of snaps on special teams, has been impressed with Gates’ development. He also sees how Gates and the guys blocking each other can feed off of each other.

“I think Clyde wants to get to the point where he can have returns like that one (against Oakland) on a consistent basis,” Hartline said. “With all of the speed he has a lot of it comes down to his teammates needing to help him because he’s not doing it on his own. If anything his teammates are seeing it and understand we’ve got a guy back there that the more we can help him the more he can help us. It just comes down to getting better every week.”

Head Coach Tony Sparano admits that the new rule may be stunting Gates’ development a little bit but is pleased with what Gates has shown in recent weeks as well as the entire unit. He has seen the return lanes open up for Gates thanks to the blocking of the other 10 guys out there with him.

Special teams as a whole has improved considerably this season and the play of the coverage units on kickoffs and punts has been well documented. But what Sparano is seeing now from Gates and the return unit is important.

“That’s the phase of the game that really from a special teams standpoint we had to improve,” he said. “Our coverage units have done a pretty good job to date but we can get better. That’s the phase that we needed to make a few plays, start a couple of drives on the other side of the 50-yardline and he (Gates) now has two games where he’s created a good play for us.”

Next up are the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday at Sun Life Stadium and they have a pretty dangerous returner of their own DeSean Jackson. Gates would like nothing better than to steal Jackson’s thunder in front of the home fans.

“It’s just a combination now of us as a return unit seeing the overall picture,” Gates said. “We need to identify the guys we’re supposed to identify, making the blocks and staying on the blocks and me making the right decision as to which hole to hit and me trusting the guys and them trusting me. It’s a trust thing, and when I hit that second level I feel I can take it to the house. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened yet.”

INJURY UPDATE: For the second straight week Miami’s injury report was pretty light with just two players showing up on it. Strong safety Yeremiah Bell (foot) and right guard Vernon Carey (ankle) both were limited. … For the Eagles, wide receiver Jeremy Maclin (hamstring/shoulder) and cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (ankle) were limited. … Quarterback Michael Vick (rib), cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha (concussion/knee), offensive tackler King Dunlap (concussion) and Todd Herremans (biceps) and defensive tackle Trevor Laws (knee) participated in a full practice.