Glad to see the Dolphins are getting some national recognition as playoff contenders!
http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80c38133&template=with-video-with-comments&confirm=trueWhy the Dolphins are a legitimate playoff contender
Vic Carucci By Vic Carucci | NFL.com
Senior Columnist
Doug Pensinger / Getty Images
Ronnie Brown is just one a number of difference-making weapons in Miami's offense.
After winning at Denver on Sunday, Dolphins players and coaches went to a place that an organization headed by the master of premature-celebration-avoidance wouldn't figure to allow them to go.
Not this early, at least.
But there they were in and around the visitor's dressing room, talking about the possibility of reaching the playoffs. Were they speaking out of turn and risking the wrath of Dolphins executive vice president of football operations Bill Parcells? You know Parcells, the guy who is so fond of telling anyone who gushes over an impressive performance by a young player, "Let's not put him in Canton just yet."
If that were the case, coach Tony Sparano, who functions as a clone of Parcells, wouldn't have been part of any postseason conversation. Nor would general manager Jeff Ireland or the various players who weighed in on the subject. But they were.
It wasn't a case of the Dolphins already putting themselves in the playoffs. They were simply acknowledging that after winning their last two games to go to 4-4, they have a shot at something that seemed impossible after last year's 1-15 finish.
It is possible this season and here's why:
» The Dolphins are only a game behind the three other teams in the AFC East -- New England, the Jets, and Buffalo -- and have beaten the Patriots and Bills.
» They have a smart, efficient quarterback in Chad Pennington running a balanced offense that allows him to utilize a new difference-making weapon each week. In Week 8, it was Ted Ginn Jr.'s 175-yard receiving effort that helped dispose of the Bills. In Week 9, it was Greg Camarillo's 11 receptions that helped sink the Broncos.
» They have a steadily improving defense that has found a new sack master to replace Jason Taylor -- Joey Porter, whose 11.5 sacks are the most by a Dolphins player through the first eight games of a season. Porter's dominant play is a reflection of his tremendous comfort in the 3-4 scheme, which the Dolphins switched to this season.
Author