Dolphins 38 - Patriots 13

I don't think it would be possible for me to type that score too much over the next 2 weeks.

And on September 23, what do the Dolphins have in common with the Colts, Chargers, and Jaguars (all teams who were "expected" to be among the top teams in the NFL)?  They all have the same record.  Who would have thought?

Now let's talk a little bit more about Sunday's big win up in Foxborough.

AN IMPRESSIVE DEFENSIVE PERFORMANCE
We talked a lot yesterday about the performance put forth by this offense and, in particular, Ronnie Brown.  But I think that one thing that was overshadowed a bit was the terrific performance by this Dolphins defense.

And sure, they weren't the "Tom Brady Patriots."  But even still, the Dolphins found ways to contain Randy Moss and avoid giving up the big play.  And I think a lot of that has to do with the return of Renaldo Hill to Miami's starting lineup.

Hill was really the "QB of the secondary."  He's the guy who makes sure everybody is in the right spot and he's the guy who will make the coverage audibles at the line of scrimmage, if necessary.  So it's probably not a coincidence that the secondary looked much more cohesive out there on Sunday than they previously had looked.  And Tony Sparano agreed, stating that "the communication was a lot cleaner out there."

Interestingly enough, the Dolphins actually won the coin toss on Sunday and elected to defer until the 2nd half.  They wanted the defense so get onto the field and set the tone.  Says Yeremiah Bell about that decision:

"We wanted the defense out there first, to get some confidence and start the game on the right note. The first two games, we gave up plays we shouldn't give up. If they were going to beat us, we were going to make them beat us."

A bit of a risk?  Sure.  But it paid off, as the Patriots went three and out on their first possession.

But I don't think enough was made of how the Dolphins stepped up on New England's second possession.  The Dolphins, too, went three and out on their first possession.  The Pats them marched down the field, only having to convert one 3rd down to get inside Miami's 10 yard line.

But that's when this defense stood its ground.  Joey Porter picked up his first sack of the game.  That was followed by Phillip Merling's first sack of his career (though it was a little bit of a "gift" from the referee who blew the play dead).  And then the most overlooked play of the game occured when Randy Starks intercepted Matt Cassel on a pass he probably should have never thrown.

It was that interception which prevented the Dolphins from falling behind early and gave Miami the momentum.  On the ensuing drive, the "Wildcat" would makes its debut, Ronnie would go in for the TD, and the rest would be history.  A huge turn of events thanks to a defense that made plays inside their own 10 yard line.

And, quickly, I can't forget to mention the solid run defense by the Fins, holding Patriot running backs to just 55 yards on 16 carries (3.4 ypc).

So let's hear it for the defense - which is now in the middle 3rd of the league in total defense and 11th in the league in rush defense.  Oh, and how's this for improvement?  Last season, the Dolphins were ranked 29th in yards-per-carry allowed.  This season?  Miami is ranked 5th in the league, allowing just 3.3 yards-per-carry.

Not too shabby.

Miami Dolphins 38 - New England Patriots 13

Wow.  I didn't think I'd be typing those words anytime soon.  I'm don't really know if I'm more shocked or more excited.  Luckily, I can be both.  Honestly, I can't remember the last time I've been this satisfied following a Dolphins game.  Damn, it's a great feeling.

Let's get to the headlines.

"WILDCAT" MAKES ITS DEBUT IN A BIG WAY
The entire NFL world was introduced on Sunday to the "Wildcat" formation.  That's what the Dolphins refer to it as.  And as somebody pointed out in the game thread and in a FanPost, it is indeed the same formation that the University of Arkansas ran last season when they had RBs Darren McFadden and Felix Jones - both 1st round picks in last April's draft.  And yes, Dolphins' QB coach David Lee was the offensive coordinator at Arkansas in 2007.

This article really talks more about the birth of the formation - at least as far as the Dolphins are concerned.  Long story short, it was David Lee who worked with Tony Sparano (and Dan Henning, I'm sure) to install this formation and experiment with it.  They practiced it extensively on Wednesday and we all saw the results on Sunday up in Foxborough.

So when giving credit, I think the entire offensive coaching staff deserves some credit.  Sparano and Lee for devising this formation, and Henning for having the guts to use the formation often.  Now, however, it'll be interesting to see what happens next.  There's no doubt in my mind that teams will watch these plays over and over on film in preparation for the Dolphins.  Will this formation be as effective when teams know it's coming?  Sure, the Pats couldn't adjust to it at halftime, as the formation continued to work in the 2nd half.  But what about with a week to prepare?  We'll find out in 13 days when the Chargers come to South Florida.

DON'T EVER DOUBT RONNIE BROWN
It was pointed out by many of you that the start if last season mirrored the start of this season heading into Sunday's game.  And that's especially true of Ronnie Brown's situation.  Fans again began doubting him.  Last year, he followed quieted the critics by running for 200+ yards and tallying 3 touchdowns.  This year?  He ran for 113 and totaled 5 touchdowns.  What have we learned?  Stop doubting Ronnie Brown.  Just stop it!!

It's amazing what Ronnie can do when he has some lanes to run through.  It's almost a thing of beauty to watch Ronnie run when there's some openings for him to run through.  He runs powerful and borderline angry.  He shows tremendous vision when he's "in his zone" and always finishes his runs with power.

And who knew he could throw a pass like that - especially while on the run and with a defender right in his face?  To answer the question that UPS always asks: Brown can do it all!

OFFENSIVE LINE FINALLY PLAYS UP TO POTENTIAL
You'll remember that one of my "burning questions" was if this offensive line - which was supposed to be the backbone of the offense - would finally play up to their potential.  The answer is a resounding "yes."

Against one of the top defensive lines in the NFL, and one of the most veteran defenses in the league, this relatively young and inexperienced offensive line proved that they can indeed be great.  That's exactly what they were on Sunday.  The continually opened up holes for the running game, whether it was in the "Wildcat" formation or in am ore standard formation.  And they kept Chad Pennington virtually untouched all game, allowing him to have a very efficient day.

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In preparation of Sunday's game between the Fins and Pats, I got the opportunity to exchange 5 questions with "MaPatsFan" from Pats Pulpit, SBN's Patriots blog.  Below are his responses to my questions.  And you can head over to his site to see my responses to his Dolphin-related questions.

The Phinsider: So I have to ask: Do you feel that Bernard Pollard's hit on Tom Brady was a "dirty play"?  And speaking of the injury, what do you think of Matt Cassel's play thus far and how do you see him performing as the season goes on?

Pats Pulpit: No, I do not think it was a dirty hit.  In fact, most everyone on PatsPulpit agrees with that assessment and most of my friends and co-workers here in Chowdah Land agree as well.  As you can imagine, I've watched that hit dozens of times, but the angle the news media got hold of only focuses on Brady; it doesn't show the events that led up to the hit.  Essentially, Patriots' RB Sammy Morris missed his blocking assignment and ended up falling on Chiefs' SS Bernard Pollard to keep him from getting to Brady.  Brady stepped into the pocket to throw to Moss.  At almost the same time, Pollard was working to get away from Morris, moved forward with Morris on his back, and landed on Brady's knee.  I no way, shape or form was Pollard deliberately trying to go after Brady's knee.

As far as Cassel, I'm pleased with his play so far.  With the help of the coaching staff, he's carefully managing the game, not taking too many risks, and winning games.  It reminds me of when Brady took over for an injured Drew Bledsoe in 2001.  Brady had to be managed as well and didn't have nearly the on-field authority he enjoys now.  That level of game management skill only comes with reps in real games.  2 Things Cassel has going for him that Brady didn't have are 1) a better team and 2) 4 years in the Patriots system.  Only time will tell, but so far, he's doing a good job.  As long as the coaching staff continues to carefully monitor what he's capable of, I think he'll do fine.

PP: I'm concerned with Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris, 3.7 and 2.9 respectively.  For our "starter" backs, they seem to be starting a little slowly.  Watching the Jets in Week 2, I felt like both of them were tentative at the line, bouncing off the linemen looking for holes.  In contrast, Maroney put up 100 yarders in 4 out of the last 6 2007 outings.  The real wildcard here is LaMont Jordan.  In a heartbeat, I would've given him offensive MVP for the game against the Jets.  Granted, he only had 68 yards, but he had a 5.2 average and the yards were just at the right time.  Oddly enough, all his carries were in the second half and I've heard this is how Jordan was used by his former team, the Jets.  That is, wait until the second half when the opposing defense is tired and hand the ball to a fresh Jordan.  At 5-10 230 lbs, he's a bowling ball with legs and pretty tough stop.  While Maroney and Morris sometimes bounce off the line looking for holes, Jordan creates holes with his size and strength.

PP: Watching the Jets, I was rather perplexed as to why there was no pass rush.  In fact, many PatsPulpit commentors made the same observation during the game thread.  OLB's Adalius Thomas and Mike Vrabel appeared to be hanging back.  And then I realized why - Belichick was shutting down Favre's targets, trying to get him to force a pass.  By keeping OLBs in pass coverage mode, it made Favre's job of finding an eligible receiver more difficult.  We were also using a lot of nickel packages which helped shutdown the passing attack as well.  Then, at the end of the second quarter, we turned on the pass rush to mix it up a bit.  Our OLBs started going after Favre and shooting the gaps.  That strategy seemed to work.

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Now it's time to look ahead to Sunday's game against the Patriots.  And like I often like to do when talking about the upcoming game, let's look at 5 "burning questions" that face the Dolphins this week:

Will the offensive line finally play up to its ability?
This Dolphins' offensive line was supposed to be a strength of this team.  But so far, the play of that unit has been nothing but a big disappointment.  And this week, things don't get any easier.  The Patriots' defensive line is one of the league's very best.  How will Jake Long play this week?  The Patriots' will surely try to confuse the rookie and disguise their blitzes.

But the biggest match-up along the offensive line is probably center Samson Satele against Patriots' nose tackle Vince Wilfork.  Satele has struggled against the likes of Kris Jenkins and Bryan Robinson.  Now he faces his toughest challenge yet.  Last week, Satele was consistently pushed back, whether he was run blocking or protecting the QB.  We all thought Satele was a budding star after last season, but things have changed.  Now it's time for Samson to step up and play like we all thought he would.

Can the Dolphins continue to stuff the run?
After struggling at times to stop the run against the Jets, the Dolphins held Arizona's ground game in check for most of the game, allowing just 81 yards and an average of just 2.6 yards per carry.

The Patriots, notoriously a passing team last year, now rely on the run more following the injury to Tom Brady.  This season, they average 115 yards per game on the ground.  For the Dolphins to keep this game close, they have got to stuff New England's rushing attack and force Matt Cassel, making just his 2nd career start, to beat them through the air.  Granted, he has the weapons to do so (Randy Moss and Wes Welker).  But forcing the Pats into 3rd & long situations will be critical if the Fins want to even think about winning this game on Sunday.

Can the Dolphins contain Randy Moss?
Let's face it: the Dolphins cannot match up with Randy Moss.  He's the most physically gifted receiver to ever play the game, at least in my honest opinion.  And last season, in 2 games against the Dolphins, Moss tallied 9 receptions for 172 yards and 4 touchdowns.  And don't tell me that because Matt Cassel is the QB, things will be different.  All a QB has to do is throw the ball up to Moss and he's more than likely going to come down with it - at least against this team.  Anyone remember those ridiculous catches he had last year against the Fins?  In particular, when he came down with a TD using one hand despite being double-covered?  How do the Dolphins plan on defending him this time?  I'd imagine Will Allen will be assigned the task of covering Moss - but he'll obviously need help over the top.  But will that even be enough?

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There's a new, unconfirmed rumor making rounds on the internet this afternoon.  NFL Juice is reporting via a tip from a writer for some newspaper that Patriots QB Tom Brady could miss between 2 and 4 games to start the season with an injury.

Why am I talking about this on a Dolphins' site?  Because the Dolphins, you'll remember, play the Patriots in week 3.  Could they actually have lucked out now?  Are they going to really be playing against Matt Cassel instead of Brady? 

We'll see what happens as this rumor makes its rounds all over the 'net.  But the site does note that the last tip that this "source" gave them was indeed spot on.  So we shall see...