Well another week has gone by and another victory added to Miami's improbable season of "rebuilding". The weekly NFL power rankings have been released and I am a bit surprised by ESPN's rankings of the Dolphins.

Below is the link for ESPN's Power Rankings and below that is the quick analysis of Miami's position:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/powerranking?season=2008&week=14&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1

16 (14)

Dolphins

7-5-0

Their lackluster victory over the Rams was the only Week 13 triumph among AFC East clubs, putting them one game out of first place. (TG)

Now I know we didn't exactly "blow out" the Rams, which people were expecting we were capable of and we've played rather close games against the lower ranked teams but to win this game and be the ONLY AFC East team to do so and drop two spots in the rankings is an attrocity.

I would assume that I am not the only one who feels this way? Ok, maybe jump up one spot or even stay even but to say that we are "two spots worse"? I find that very puzzling and yet another testament to the lack of respect that this team has from the media.

As stated before, this really shouldn't matter and what others may think about our club is usually irrelevant but I really believe that we have earned better recognition and just aren't getting it.

FoxSports rankings has us at 15, having dropped "one" spot and says this:

"The last team to win 10 games in a season one year after winning just one game was the 1963 Raiders from the ol' AFL days. 45 years later, Miami has a real shot at performing the feat, but a lot rides on their two remaining division games against Buffalo this week and at the Jets in the season finale."

At least there is something good written about Miami on the AFC East blog section of ESPN that is a testament to Miami's turnovers this year:

Through the first 12 games of a season, no team in NFL history has turned over the ball less frequently than the 2008 Miami Dolphins.The Dolphins have an NFL-low 10 giveaways. Chad Pennington has thrown six interceptions, and they've lost four fumbles.Only three other teams had 10 turnovers through 12 games: the 1992 Kansas City Chiefs, 2004 New York Jets (also with Pennington as quarterback) and 2007 New England Patriots.
All of them made the playoffs.
Miami is on pace to shatter its previous franchise record for fewest turnovers. It committed 20 of them in 1997.

So, what are your thoughts about the lack of respect that the Dolphins seem to be continually getting? Should we care? Does it really matter? All I can say is that we're sitting in a great position right now to do something pretty amazing and that's win the division. If that happens, then I'm sure all of this will change but we've got to get there first and it all starts this weekend, up here in Toronto!