This time last week, all of us Dolphin fans were sitting here in despair, wondering if the Dolphins had just blown their shot at an improbable playoff birth.  One week later, we all feel rejuvenated - even after a classic "ugly" win by the Fins in St. Louis.

IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW YOU WIN
This seems to be a reoccurring theme for the 2008 Miami Dolphins.  Some of their best wins have come in excellent performances against good teams.  But others have come in "different" performances against teams in which the Dolphins were actually heavy favorites.  The Seahawks and Raiders games come to mind.  Well you can also add to that list Sunday's game against the Rams.

The offense struggled.  Against one of the NFL's worst defenses - statistically speaking, the Fins were only able to find the endzone one time.  Chad Pennington was only able to complete 56% of his passes and didn't even top 170 yards through the air.  There were some dropped balls by receivers.  Running backs simply tripped before the line of scrimmage from time to time.  And on one of the most exciting offensive plays, a play that saw Ronnie Brown take a toss, scramble, and throw a completion on the run to David Martin, the end result was a turnover when Martin fumbled the ball away to St. Louis.

Of course, the offense wasn't all bad.  The running game really did get going, with the backs combining for 134 yards on 32 carries.  We also found out that Davone Bess can indeed be a key part of the offense and help take up some of the slack created by Greg Camarillo's knee injury.  Bess made a number of plays, catching 6 balls for 84 yards - including 2 key receptions on 3rd downs.  One converted a 3rd & 9 on Miami's only TD drive - with Ronnie Brown taking it into the endzone just 2 plays later.  The other was on a 3rd & 2 and kept alive a drive that would end with one of Dan Carpenter's field goals.  Let's hope for continued production from Bess.

But it was the defense - despite allowing chunks of yards to Steven Jackson on the ground - that really deserves the credit for Sunday's win.  They exemplified the old "bend but don't break" cliche - never allowing the Rams into the endzone - which includes 2 drives that saw the Rams inside Miami's 20 only to have to settle for 2 field goals.  It wasn't a dominating performance by any means - no matter what the 3 interceptions and 12 points against would lead you to think.  But they did enough in a game where they needed to step up and carry a sluggish offensive unit.

The bottom line?  The Dolphins went on the road, committed 10 penalties, converted just 33% of their 3rd downs, allowed the Rams to convert 50% of their 3rd downs, and lost the time-of-possession battle by 3 minutes.  But they found a way to win.

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Well I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  Now it's back to work and time to turn our attention to the St. Louis Rams.  And the Rams, despite their 2-9 record, are not a team to be taken lightly.  This is a team that knocked off the Redskins (in Washington) and the Cowboys in back-to-back weeks.  And that Dallas game was also the last time both Steven Jackson and Marc Bulger started together.  Well it seems like the Rams might be healthier than we thought on Sunday - with Bulger, Jackson, and Orlando Pace all back at practice this week.

Onto the burning questions:

How will the Dolphins respond after last week's letdown?
This is the question on everyone's mind.  We all witnessed a total collapse lat week during the final quarter and a half against the Patriots.  We saw fights break out, dumb penalties being committed, dropped passes left and right.  We watched the Dolphins' best defensive player directly disobey his coaches and their most productive wide receiver suffer a torn ACL.  It wasn't a very pretty thing to witness.

And now, with this young team coming off a devastating loss to a division rival in their biggest game of the year, the Dolphins have to head into St. Louis to play a team that, on paper, isn't very good.  Oh, and let's not forget that looming ahead next week is another big game against a division rival in Toronto.

This is a true test for both the coaching staff and the players.  Will they take out their frustrations on a team that is down and out?  Or will they let last week's game linger and cause the team to crumble?

Will the Fins be able to run the ball?
The Dolphins exploded two weeks ago against the Raiders for 200+ yards on the ground.  But last week, the Dolphins only ran the ball 17 times (not including Pennington's scramble) for 59 yards.  And with the season entering the month of December and the Dolphins having some cold-weather games remaining in KC and in NJ, it's going to become more and more important that the Dolphins get back to running the ball effectively...out of their base offense.

Listen - I love the Wildcat.  And I still hope to see it run a few times per game.  But it's getting to the point where this offense has got to be able to simply line up in a normal formation and pound the ball with Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams.  To do so, the onus falls on the offensive line.  To say I've been disappointed with their play this year would be an understatement.  I had high hopes for an offensive line that I thought we be a bulldozing unit that created running lanes for our backs.  But it hasn't really happened consistently yet.

The Rams are very bad at defending the run - ranking 30th and surrendering 162 yards per game on the ground.  And their 4.9 yards per carry against is the 2nd worst figure in the league.  So this week is the perfect time to get back to the basics and build some momentum on the ground for the rest of the stretch run.

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I know I've used this title regularly for Tuesday posts.  But this week, this title is really perfectly fitting.  There's going to be a few big things to monitor this week stemming directly from Sunday's game.

Before I address 2 of them, I just want to say that it still makes me a little ill when I watch Drew Brees play as a member of the Saints.  Passing on him not once, but twice, is still eating away at me inside.  I know our situation at QB has gotten better, but it's hard not to imagine what might have been if the Dolphins either drafted Brees like they should have or signed him instead of trading away a 2nd round pick for Daunte Culpepper. Ugh!

WHAT HAPPENS WITH PORTER?
I touched on it quickly in the recap post, but I feel this warrants a little bit more attention.  We all saw Joey Porter melt down for 2 personal foul penalties in less than a minute late in Sunday's game.  We also know that Porter directly defied the coaching staff's decision to replace him with Charlie Anderson on the field after he committed those penalties - instead waving Anderson back to the bench.

Now we need to see how Tony Sparano will handle this situation.  On Monday, Sparano told the media that whatever he will do about the situation will be handled between just he and Joey, behind closed doors.  I like that approach.  But it's important that something get done and Porter me reprimanded.

This is the first real test for Sparano as head coach.  He hasn't had to deal with a situation like this with a key member of the team before.  I think that how Sparano deals with this situation will be critical to how Tony is perceived by his team from this point on.  If he lets Porter off the hook for insubordination during a game, then Sparano is going to look like the tough kind of coach we all think (and hope) he is.  Of course, he won't be a spineless coach, either.  But it would certainly cause his players to wonder just how Sparano will handle these kinds of situations as this team moves forward - which is never good.

I think most here would agree that Sparano has to do something.  But I think that suspending Porter is the wrong answer.  He has 14.5 sacks and is the only consistent pass-rushing threat this team has.  And if they are going to continue their push for the playoffs, they are going to need Joey on the field.  Suspending Porter would be one of those classic situations of "cutting off their nose to spite their face."  Why hurt the team because of one player's brief moment of stupidity?

A stiff fine does the trick - in my opinion.  That, and one of those "do it again and you're grounded" kind of warnings.

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For the second consecutive year, the Dolphins have lost a key player to injury for the season against the New England Patriots.  Last year, it was Ronnie Brown.  This year, it's Greg Camarillo.

Camarillo suffered a left knee injury during the 2nd half of yesterday's game.  Today, Tony Sparano said at his day-after press conference, "Camarillo is not good - he's done." 

So the Dolphins lose their leading receiver and will look to replace him in the starting lineup with Davone Bess, Brandon London, or Ernest Wilford.  My money is on Bess.

Either way, this is a crushing loss to a team that still has playoff hopes.  It'll be interesting to see how the team responds.

First off, let the record show that this game was far closer than the final score would lead you to believe.

With that said, it was sure tough to watch those final 8 or 9 minutes.  But the first 3 quarters were entertaining - and it felt good to be playing a big game this late in the season once again.

Onto some of the headlines:

TWO BIG TURNING POINTS
When I think back to the "ebb and flow" of the game, there are two key turning points that really stand out.  The first one was towards the end of the 3rd quarter with the Pats leading 24-21.  It's the drive in which Jake Long hurts his ankle and has to leave.  The Dolphins had gotten down to New England's 27 yard line.  But a holding penalty by Samson Satele and a sack by Richard Seymour (who was quiet most of the day when Jake Long was in) would put Miami back at NE's 41 and force them to punt rather than tack on 3 with a Dan Carpenter FG, which would have tied the game.

The other key turning point, the biggest of the game, came 3 drives later.  With the score 31-28 Patriots, and with the crowd as loud as they've been in years, the Dolphins had New England in a 3rd & 10 situation at their own 42.  A stop on that play would have forced NE to punt and would have kept momentum squarely on Miami's side.  However, Jabar Gaffney caught a 23-yard pass in front of Jason Allen from Matt Cassel for a first down.  Randy Moss scored his 3rd TD just 2 plays later and the Dolphins would never get back into this game.  You know - if Jason Allen can't defend Jabar Gaffney on one of the most important plays of the season, then what good is he?

DEFENSIVE PLAY IS OFFENSIVE
I seriously am offended with how this Miami defense performed on Sunday.  The Patriots drew up the perfect gameplan and executed it beautifully.  The Dolphins had no answer.

Did anyone really expect the Pats to line up in the shotgun right from the beginning with 4 and 5 receivers?  Is the "spread offense" something you thought Bill Belichick would use?  Clearly, the Dolphins didn't think so.  Both Jason Ferguson and Yeremiah Bell said after the game that they were surprised.  But what worries me more is how the coaching staff failed to adjust to New England's offense at halftime.

This was the first time that I would say this coaching staff got out-coached.

And what was with the one-on-one coverage on Randy Moss?  He's the game's best receiver.  You don't cover him one-on-one?  Sure, we can complain about how Jason Allen was put on Moss for much of the game.  But when Andre Goodman lined up to cover him, the results weren't any better.  The bottom line is that you need safety help over the top of Randy at all times.  Moss even said that he felt "disrespected" by being matched up with a corner one-on-one.  Disrespected.  Well 125 yards and 3 touchdowns later, there's nothing left to say.  The coaches blew this particular matchup - and it was costly.

Oh - and I'm not buying Yeremiah Bell's theory here.  He said that doubling Moss would have created holes elsewhere because of NE's use of the spread.  That's true.  But you need to take away the opposing team's best player.  Teams stack 8 in the box to stop Ronnie Brown against us.  And we should have doubled Moss all day and took our chances elsewhere.  Would the results have been different?  Probably not because this entire secondary really played like crap.  But I just hate getting beat by the one player that you can't let beat you.

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Make no mistake about it: this one was ugly.  But in this league, you never, ever apologize for a win.  You simply take the "W" and move on to the next game.

And that's what the Dolphins will do.  Despite the nail-biting, and nearly heart-breaking conclusion to this game - another game where the Dolphins, as favorites, failed to ever pull away - the Dolphins simply won a game that they had to have.  And in the process, they set up a huge game next week against the Patriots.  I know this phrase has gotten thrown around a lot, but next week's game is probably the biggest game the Dolphins have played in years. 

But let's not go there just yet.  There's plenty of time for that in the coming days.  For now, let's just talk about some of the headlines from Miami's win over the Raiders:

SHOWING US SOMETHING NEW
So by now, all of us knew that this Dolphins team has the ability to to put together that key game-ending drive to either kill the clock or score the proverbial game-clinching TD.  We've seen that happen a few times already in '08.

But this game - and this late-game drive - was different.  The Dolphins had just surrendered the lead with about 4 and a half minutes left on a 93-yard punt return for a touchdown.  The Dolphins found themselves trailing despite only allowing 177 yards of offense and 6 offensive points.  I don't think many of us would have been too surprised to see this Dolphins team wilt away under these circumstances - especially considering the demoralizing way the Dolphins gave up the lead.

Instead, Chad Pennington and company showed the kind of character this team possesses, marching down the field and into field goal range.  They came out firing - rather than playing conservative.  Starting at their own 20, Pennington quickly completed two passes and the Dolphins found themselves at the Raiders' 40 yard line.  But 4 plays later, the Dolphins faced a tough decision: 4th & 5 from Oakland's 35.  Do you trust the rookie kicker?  Do you trust the veteran QB and the weapons at his disposal?  Tony Sparano made the right decision, and Ted Ginn made the reception - probably the biggest 7 yard reception Teddy has ever made.

Three more runs got Miami in position for a 38 yard FG - the first "critical, pressure-packed" kick that rookie Dan Carpenter has ever had to attempt this year.  And Carpenter effortlessly knocked the kick home - giving the Dolphins their 2 point lead with 38 seconds remaining.

Clearly, this is a resilient and confident team.  And both of those things bode well for us as the Fins enter the home-stretch of the regular season.

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In a game that was a lot closer than most would have hoped, the Miami Dolphins held on, made just enough plays, and escaped with a 2 point victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

It was a very entertaining game - if by entertaining, I mean a stressful, "too close for comfort" kind of game.  But a win is a win - and in this league, you take wins however you can get them.

Let's talk about some of the headlines:

A LESSON LEARNED
If nothing else, here's what we, as fans, learned about the Dolphins: don't ever "expect" a win.

I don't think the players themselves took this game for granted - mainly because I don't think this coaching staff would ever let them - but I know I was one of many fans who probably did think of this game as an easy win.  But we learned today that nothing about this potentially improbable season will come easy.  Somebody said during the game thread that the Dolphins are the kind of team that these struggling teams will really get up to play against - and I agree 100%.  These struggling teams will certainly circle the Dolphins on their schedule as a potential win - and might be a bit sharper against the Fins than against a team that is clearly better than them.  That makes these teams even more dangerous against the Dolphins than some of the better teams that this Fins team has played or will play.

And though it isn't likely that the players would ever admit it, it sure does seem like the Dolphins either play up to their competition (when they face good teams) or down to their competition (when they play the not-so-good teams).  But this shouldn't come as any shock to us Dolphin fans.  In fact, this game on Sunday was the 6th straight time that the Dolphins - as favorites - failed to cover the point spread.  And all that shows is that when the Dolphins are "supposed" to win, they tend to struggle a little bit more than typical "Vegas favorites."

But I think this game will prove to be beneficial to the Dolphins in the long run.  It was a game that they could have easily lost - but they stepped up when they had to.  For a team that is learning how to win, games like these tend to be invaluable to the rebuilding process.  And this game will also likely prove to be a benefit in terms of preparation for upcoming games.  I fully expect the coaching staff - despite the win - to really chew this team out and get on them in practice this week.

Let's just hope the players themselves learned from this game - just as the fans did.

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We're all very excited about where this Dolphins team stands and how far the team has come in just a half of a year.  But now the 2nd half of the season is upon us and the playoffs are in this team's sights.

So let's turn our attention to Sunday's game against the Seahawks and talk about 5 questions that I have that will be answered on Sunday:

Can the Dolphins win a game that they are expected to win?
There really is nothing like being the underdog and winning a football game that many people expect you to lose.  And that's what the Dolphins have done for their 4 wins this season.  Now, however, the Dolphins face a different challenge.  The Seahawks, who are just 2-6 and are injury-riddled, will be flying across the country to play these Dolphins.  And for the first time in a long, long time, the Dolphins are 8.5 point point favorites to win this game.  Can anybody remember when the last time was that a Dolphins team was favored to win by so many points?

That's the challenge that lies ahead for these Dolphins.  They've gotten themselves into the middle of the playoff race at the midway point of the season.  But they can't let up.  They can't get tripped up in one of these "trap games" leading up to the game in two weeks against the Patriots.  And Tony Sparano says it best:

''I want to see absolute attention to detail and focus right now. We've been down this road before. We've won two games and we kind of drank the Kool-Aid a little bit and then we lost two of them. Now we've won a couple, so we can't do that. We can't worry about everybody telling us `what a good job you did' right now. We need to keep our head down and really keep swinging.''

On Sunday, we'll see how the team responds to this particular situation.

Is this the week that the running game finally gets going again?
This was one of the hot topics last week.  Most of us thought that last week against Denver's poor run defense that the Dolphins would finally get back to having success on the ground.  But the Broncos made it a point to stop Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams.  Luckily, Chad Pennington was up to the task.

But at some point, the Dolphins are going to have to be able to consistently move the ball on the ground.  Will it be this week?  The Seahawks' defense does rank 21st against the run, allowing 115 yards per game.  But they only surrender 3.8 yards per carry (tied for 10th) and allowed Brian Westbrook to pick up just 61 yards on 20 carries last week.  So it's not going to be an easy task for Ronnie and Ricky - but it's an important one nonetheless.

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Is it a good thing or a bad thing to not be able to single out any one player or any one unit and blame them for this loss today?

I'm not sure.  But I will tell you that this game wasn't won or lost on any one play - or one drive.  No - it was a collection of drives.  And it's a tough loss because of how winnable this game was...if the Dolphins had brought their "A" game.

But right from the beginning, things didn't seem right.  The Dolphins didn't come out with the same kind of intensity that the Ravens did.  And the Ravens simply came out, hit the Dolphins right in the mouth, and the Fins didn't respond.

Let's talk about some of the headlines.

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES AGAIN A THEME
For the second game in a row, the theme of the day was missed opportunities.  The Dolphins left too many points out there on the field while failing to capitalize on some opportunities defensively to make a big play and prevent the Ravens from putting up some points.

The very first drive, to me, set the tone.  The Dolphins were able to drive down the field, converting two 3rd downs in the process, to get inside Baltimore's 10 yard line.  But the Dolphins were unable to to get into the endzone despite having 2 plays from inside the 5 yard line.  Miami settles for the FG and the Dolphins leave 4 points on the field.

Then, following the terrible interception return for a TD by Terrell Suggs, the Dolphins had a chance to bounce right back and tie the game up.  In just 4 plays, the Dolphins were suddenly at Baltimore's 11 yard line.  But following an incomplete pass on first down, the Dolphins got conservative and ran the ball on 2nd & 10 and 3rd & 11 - settling for a FG rather than being aggressive and going for the endzone through the air.  Obviously some questionable play-calling - and 4 more points left on the field.

Defensively, the Dolphins missed opportunities as well.  The biggest was on Baltimore's final possession of the 1st half.  The Ravens had the ball at Miami's 11 yard line on a 2nd & 9.  Joe Flacco stared down his receiver and Will Allen jumped the route.  But he failed to make the interception - not an "easy" catch but one that good cornerbacks make to change the game.  On the next play, Flacco found Derek Mason wide open underneath and Mason got into the endzone.  That's 7 more points left on the field.

The Dolphins lost by 14.  I just highlighted a net of 15 points that might have changed the game.  Missed opportunities indeed.

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I wanted to take some time to talk about the Dolphins' passing attack through 5 games - which, by the way, is ranked 11th in the NFL.

Bur first, just a quick final thought on the trade that sent Roy Williams to Dallas.  What the Cowboys gave up is a ton.  But for the Cowboys, it works.  Those who were hoping against hope that the Dolphins would make a play for Williams shouldn't have actually expected it to happen.

First off, the Dolphins were never even mentioned as a possible suitor for Williams.  It was all a media-driven craze created by the writers of the 3 major Miami-area newspapers who thought raising the idea of a potential trade would generate more hits to their websites and blogs.  It worked, didn't it?

But more importantly, the Dolphins shouldn't have even considered it - and fans should never have expected it.  We knew from day one that this new regime in Miami would build through the draft - with some free agents sprinkled in.  They are still in the business of collecting draft picks, not trading them away, despite their early season surprise success.  The important thing to remember is that Bill Parcells, Jeff Ireland, and Tony Sparano are building some here - something potentially special.  It is, without question, a three year process.  So trading for a big-time receiver and surrendering draft picks during year one was probably never an option.

Just be patient - our patience will be rewarded.

Now onto the Dolphins' 11th ranked passing attack.  Who would have thought?  Did you know that if the Dolphins were to end the season in the top 10 in passing, it would be the first time they've accomplished that feat since 1998?  It's been a while.

And how about the season Chad Pennington is having!  Right now, he ranks 3rd in the AFC with a passer rating of 98.8.  He's completing 68.6% of his passes and is averaging 8 yards per attempt, both of which rank 2nd in the AFC.  If he keeps this up, could Chad be Honolulu bound?

I think that part of the reason for Chad Pennington's success through the air is thanks to some solid play calling on 1st down.  Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams have combined for 66 rushing attempts on first down and are averaging 5.1 yards per attempt.  This has opened up the passing game for Pennington because defenses are thinking too much about the run.  Pennington, on 1st down, has completed 35 of 50 passes (70%) for 411 yards - an averaging of 8.2 yards per attempt.  What this tells me is that I'd actually prefer to see a little more passing on 1st down - but not too much.  You can't forget about Ronnie and Ricky.  That would be a sin.

Of course, the knock on Pennington has always been his arm strength.  And this season, he's only thrown the ball more than 20 yards in the air 7 times - completing 2 of them.  But I honestly have been pleasantly surprised with how strong his arm has seemed when he throws the ball between 11 and 20 yards through the air.  In that range, Pennington is 20 of 37 for 325 yards (8.8 ypa) and 2 touchdowns.  More importantly, his throws have had good zip on them - for the most part.

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