The First-Place Miami Dolphins?
The ultra-volatile NFL is finally smiling on Miami this year.
That’s right. The Miami Dolphins, a 1-15 nightmare last season – are in first place. They’ve won six out of their last seven, and If they win their last three games, they win the division. The Fish still need to beat the Jets in the Meadowlands on 12/28 (and two games before it) to make it happen.
What is behind America’s greatest pro sports turnaround this season? Where do we start?
Bill Parcells: When Dolfanland heard that the Tuna was coming out of retirement to work the Dolphins front office, we were overjoyed. He fired the flailing failures and brought in stronger minds. In fact, it reminds me of another high-profile transition of power happening right now.
Jeff Ireland: Although bad QBing has been the primary focus of Dolphin failures since Marino retired, the personnel rot went deeper than that. Jimmy Johnson was a great talent evaluator, and it’s telling that the best players on the roster that Ireland inherited were JJ’s draft picks, given that JJ retired 10 years ago. Dolphins drafts ranged from mediocre to disastrous, and the interior lines were given especially short shrift. It’s telling that Ireland found more solid undrafted rookies than Nick Saban or Randy Mueller found in the draft.
Chad Pennington: He is simply the first competent Dolphins QB in a decade, or longer if you count Marino’s career after age 35. Pennington’s arm and aim are amazing. He throws in three dimensions better than any QB I’ve ever seen, lofting balls over zones and spreading the ball to all corners of the field. And he’s vastly outperformed Brett Favre, for whom the Jets jettisoned Pennington.
Davone Bess: He’s the new Wes Welker. The guy’s gone from undrafted Hawaii run-n-shooter, to NFL starter. He runs great routes, he gets open underneath, and he catches everything tossed in his direction. He seems to have a tendency to run backwards after the catch, but you gotta love the little guy. Hopefully they don’t trade him to New England.
Dan Carpenter: Undrafted rookie kicker has been a marvel.
Turnovers: The Dolphins are #1 in the NFL with a +12 turnover margin. They’re on pace to set a record for fewest giveaways in a 16-game season.
Pass rush: Led by Joey Porter and a scheme that often blitzes DBs, the Dolphins are #8 in sacks.
Yeremiah Bell: Unheralded SS has no picks, but makes innumerable big tackles.
Beating crappy teams: The Dolphins have had an enviably easy schedule, having run a circuit through the NFC West and AFC West. But unlike the 2007 version of the team, the Dolphins have won the winnables.
It’s hard to envision this 8-5 team winning a playoff game against the Steelers, Colts, or Patriots. (Maybe the Titans. Something feels one-dimensional about them.) But it’s nice to be caring about December games for the first time in forever.
Go Dolphins.