In the face of adversity, the Miami Dolphins pull through

For the past two seasons, the front office has proclaimed that the Dolphins were close to being a playoff team. That line of thought was ripped to shreds after the first five games of the season. Yet, by week 6, all has changed. Optimism has returned.

Journalism is a funny game. When the team wins one or two games, the picture is perfect. However, when things go bad, the media can often turn their head; I'm even guilty of it myself!.

Of course this just isn't just about the Miami Dolphins. In a recent CBS article, it was proclaimed that since 2009, the Pittsburgh Steelers have recorded 14 losses against teams have records that are 25-87 combined.

Yet only two weeks later, an article released by the same news outlet suggested that the Steelers were at the top of their game in the AFC.

This is not intended to be a crusade against media outlets, but it does go to show how temperaments among fans, the media, coaches, players and even owners can change on the toss of a coin. We are all humans after all.

This all puts things into perspective. When Adam Gase walked through the doors in Davie on another bright, sunny day in Florida, he was hailed as the guy to bring the good times back to Miami....and to help Ryan Tannehill become the quarterback that everyone could be proud of.

Indeed, it was only back in August, Gase confidently stated, "...here's a guy that is close to getting over the hump a couple of times where they almost made the playoffs."

Fast forward time to only a few days ago, just before the Steelers game, and fans were calling for Tannehill's head, as if it were a gladiatorial battle, in favor of second-string quarterback Matt Moore. The ship appeared sunk.

Yet something changed against the Steelers.

For one, the secondary looked like a respectable force. Perhaps Gase should be commended for benching Byron Maxwell. Maxwell played very well against the Steelers, posting a joint-best 5 tackles and 4 passes defended.

The same happened to Jay Ajayi. Earlier in the season he was benched. Gase made him work hard to regain his place back on the team. Slowly, but surely, he showed signings of promise until....you guessed it....he enjoyed a breakout game with 2014 yards and 2 scores.

Even the offensive line appeared miles better than the lethargic group of players dressed in Miami jerseys just one week earlier. Did anyone actually consider this was because this was the first time the starting players were actually on the field at the same time, for once? It's therefore no accident that Tannehill played well, and looked respectable, even though he didn't knock it out of the park. Sometimes managing a game is all that is needed to win a game.

And there I digress....

This tirade wasn't meant to be an epic of great proportions; far from it. Instead it was designed to get across a message: in the face of adversity, the Dolphins pulled through.

Gase, the players and the coaching staff should be commended for that, if only a week.

After all, next week things could very well change...

Alex Parish is an Associate Editor at The Phinsider. Be sure to follow me on Twitter@AlexParish89.