12/08 — Mike Nugent had himself a great time in Miami last weekend. And for that he gave a shout-out to the Dolphin Stadium ground crew.

"Miami always does a great job with its field," Nuge said. "I'd like to give my best to their field guys. The grass was like a putting green."

And Nugent was like Tiger Woods, one of those athletes he admires, as he assembled one of his best games of professional kicking off the Miami fescue: 4-for-4 on field goals for the second time in three weeks and the fifth time as a Jet, a career-high 16 points and a career-high five kickoffs into the end zone (to the goal line or deeper).

In fact, Mike is in the same kind of second-half groove he was in last year. He's hit 10 field goals in a row and 17 of his last 18, with the only miss coming up just a little short from 54 yards in Game 9 vs. Washington.

"Placekicking's a lot like golf," Nugent told my good friend Mark Cannizzaro, who doubles as the Jets beat writer and resident golf expert at the New York Post. "You watch Tiger and all these pro golfers, they make it look like the easiest sport in the world. Then you get out there and realize how difficult it is."

Nugent is making it look easier than ever on his kickoffs. He'll never be "Sea Bass" Janikowski with his 36 percent touchback percentage for the Raiders, but the Jets' No. 1 continues to show his improvement in his field-position kicks. As a rookie his kickoffs on average went to the opponents' 9.3-yard line, as a sophomore it was the 7.1. This year he's put his kicks on average to the 2.3.

In his first 33 pro games he put 21 KOs into the EZ and had three touchbacks. In this season's 12 games, he already has 20 into the EZ and eight TBs.

Of overcoming early-season dips both last season and this season, he said: "I think the biggest thing is that the most important expectations are what you have of yourself. You've got to have that kind of mindset where you've done it before."

It's unlikely Nugent will kick off in the last four games as he did in the first three-quarters of the season. He's got two home games and likely cold-weather road games at New England and Tennessee. He's had no December touchbacks as a pro and that streak is a good bet to continue. Sunday's Meadowlands forecasrt: 35 degrees, possible cold rain late in the day.

But job one Sunday will be putting his kicks in the best places possible to help control Joshua Cribbs, Cleveland's dynamic returner and the main competition for Leon Washington as the AFC's Pro Bowl kick returner.

"My main goal is to give my teammates the opportunity to make the tackle," he said. "If I hit a low line drive to the 10-yard line, I'm not giving my teammates the best chance to do that."

The Next Murrell in Green

In concluding my Special Teams Saturday Radar entry, I would be remiss in not pointing out that a new number was found on kickoff coverage and punt return for the Jets on Sunday. No. 94, Marques Murrell, made his pro debut more than 14 years after brother Adrian did the same thing as a Jets RB in 1993.

"It was my very first pro game," Murrell said. "It was a lightning-fast experience."

I have to be honest and say I missed Marques' first plays of the Miami game. But I picked up his last plays while watching my video replay. He was in on the last two defensive drives, including every play of the Dolphins' final drive when he lined up not as a linebacker as he's billed but as a down lineman in the Jets' 3-2-6 dime alignment to keep the 'Fins in front of them.

"I played end before with the Eagles [in the preseason], so I've been in a three-point stance," he said. "But I was lined up off the center. I was playing 1-technique, 2-technique, 3-technique. One play we called, I never even heard of, because I'm still learning the system."

Murrell said he thought when he first got here it might be easier to pick up the system, but he realized he's "far behind" so he's been hitting the playbook hard to be ready for the Browns and he said he feels really good for this week.

"I feel like there's a role for me here," Murrell said, "for an expansion of my role this season and for preparing myself for next season."