Dolphins Still In It (Barely)

It's too bad that this year's edition of the Miami Dolphins has experienced some problems, both in terms of their place in the standings and with season-ending injuries to key players. But I'm still with them and admire the gritty, determined manner in which they tackle each game (although they suffered a collective fourth-quarter meltdown against Buffalo last week).

The injuries didn't begin at the beginning of the season, but Miami still couldn't buy a victory, incurring several close losses. Then quarterback Chad Pennington, running back Ronnie Brown, and defensive tackle Jason Ferguson suffered injuries putting them out of action until next year. Backup quarterback Chad Henne, although erratic at times with his accuracy, has generally done quite well replacing Pennington, who in all probability won't be with the Dolphins after this season. Ricky Williams, likewise, has worked very hard, with varying degrees of success, to cover for Brown's absence. One of the big problems with this is that Miami's once-vaunted wildcat offense has thus become much easier to predict and contain with only one star running back in there to cover at a time instead of the great Brown/Williams combo.

These problems notwithstanding, Miami is still, after eleven games, only one game out of wild card playoff contention with a 5-6 record. But they would have to hold off three teams with their same record and pass ahead of three others with 6-5 marks. And next week they play New England, a pretty steep hurdle to cross in itself. Another loss by the Dolphins will pretty much eliminate them from playoff contention, as I see it. Better, I think, to appreciate them from week to week and hope for a .500 season.