In the midst of a rebuilding season, the Miami Dolphins lead the NFL in two different categories in the kicking game — and not in a good way. And both are related.

The Dolphins are last in the NFL in kickoff return average allowed at 33.6 yards and they also lead the NFL in kickoff touchback percentage.

Fixing the first won't be easy because the Dolphins allowed a full 5 yards more than the next team, the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Dolphins also lead in touchbacks by a very large margin, but that one as an easy fix.

And it says here the Dolphins need to start fixing it now.

THE KICKOFF TOUCHBACK NUMBERS

The Dolphins have produced touchbacks on 12 of their 27 kickoffs (including two onside kicks) so far this season for a 44.4 percentage, blowing away the second-place Baltimore Ravens at 27.0 and the Los Angeles Rams at 25.0. For record-keeping purposes, Tampa Bay is last in that category at 4.4 percent.

The Dolphins have gone the touchback route almost exclusively in the past two games, putting eight of nine in the end zone outside of the one onside kick attempt against the New England Patriots on Sunday.

Through the first five games, the Dolphins' touchback percentage was 23.5 percent, which would rank fourth in the NFL at this time.

The Dolphins have used both punter Bradley Pinion and new kicker Zane Gonzalez on kickoffs the past two games after Gonzalez replaced Riley Patterson, in part because of his failure to get the ball into the end zone.

Of course, the tipping point in the kicking change and the new emphasis on kicking into the end zone was the Week 5 game against the Cincinnati Bengals, which began with the Dolphins giving up a 90-yard kickoff return to Dohnte Meyer and put them in a 7-0 hole barely a minute into the game.

Kicking into the end zone and getting touchbacks obviously eliminates the possibility of getting burned for long returns — the 90-yard return was one of four of at least 45 yards allowed by Miami this season — but the cost is having the opponent start its drive at its 35.

And the reality is that for every long return given up, there's also the possibility of pinning the opponent deep, such as when Meyers went out of bounds at the 4-yard line later in that Cincinnati game or with a penalty, such as when the Dolphins were flagged for holding against New England and had to start at their own 12.

THE CASE FOR KICKING OFF IN THE LANDING ZONE

The best-case (realistic) scenario for kickoffs is having the kick get to the landing zone, then bounce into the end zone for a touchback that gives the receiving team the ball at its own 20 instead of the 35 when the kickoff reaches the end zone on the fly.

Even with the 90-yard return, the Dolphins opponents have started their post-kickoff drive at their 37.25-yard line, barely beyond that 35-yard line marker.

Of the 13 Dolphins kickoffs that weren't touchbacks, only five were returned beyond the 35, meaning the Dolphins would have lost yardage on the other eight. And that includes a kickoff out of bounds by Patterson where a Bengals player was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Also understand that two of those four kickoffs returned for 45 yards or more were the first two of the season, against the Las Vegas Raiders. Of the past 10 kickoff returns, only two have resulted in the opponent starting beyond its 36.

Another argument for kicking off into the field of play is giving the young players on the coverage teams additional game reps, remembering that we're in a Dolphins season that's about player development and evaluation.

The bigger issue here simply is the Dolphins can't let one disastrous kickoff return make them scared of the worst-case scenario.

Who knows, maybe the Dolphins kickoff coverage actually can get better with more in-game practice.

So, yes, it's time to keep kicking into the end zone.