Miami Dolphins Kicker Dan Carpenter Named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week

The Miami Dolphins' special teams unit has been quite troublesome over the past few weeks, but now one of its players has been singled out for a league award.

Dolphins' placekicker Dan Carpenter was named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for Week 6 after converting all three field-goal attempts against the Green Bay Packers, including the 44-yard game-winner in overtime.

Carpenter, who converted both extra-point attempts against the Packers, also had a 41-yard field goal and a career-long 53-yarder at the end of the first half, which came as a result of a Lydon Murtha holding penalty on Carpenter's initial attempt.

This marks the third time Carpenter has earned the award with the Dolphins, having done so once in each of the 2008 and 2009 seasons. He was also named to the 2010 Pro Bowl roster as an injury replacement for the Chargers' Nate Kaeding.

Now in his third season after going undrafted out of Montana in 2008, Carpenter has converted 8-of-10 in five games this season, with one of the misses coming on a block against the Patriots in Week 4.

An 85.7-percent kicker in his professional career, Carpenter signed a three-year extension through the 2013 season.

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Chris J. Nelson majored in journalism at Georgia State University and is currently a programming coordinator for Turner Sports in Atlanta. He operates his own Miami Dolphins website, The Miami Dolphins Spotlight, and he can be followed on Twitter here.