For the second straight week, Miami tried to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Last week it was Chad Henne's interception on the wrong side of the field, and this week it was the defense softening up in the 4th quarter, letting Carolina get close enough to try and tie the game with a TD pass. But like last week, Miami walked away with a victory.
The story this week was the loss of Ronnie Brown to the IR list. Would the run game suffer? Would the offense as a whole? Apparently not. It looks like some mandatory time off and a vacation in Canada has left Ricky Williams with some gas in his tank. Sitting out most of 04, 06, and 07 for various reasons, Ricky still runs with authority in his 30s, something a lot of NFL backs can't do. His 138 yards, 119 on the ground, and 3 total TDs served notice to the rest of the league: Miami may be down, but they certainly aren't out.
For the most part, the defense played well. Joey Porter rebounded from his benching last week to notch two sacks in a game for the first time this season, and until the 4th quarter Carolina was not having much luck with the passing game. And for what it's worth, Chad Henne played turnover-free ball this week, avoiding putting the defense in bad spots.
It was a solid road win, putting the Dolphins at .500 for the first time all season, and ahead of the imploding and probably overrated Jets, at least until Sunday. Four winnable games, a rematch with the Pats, and a season-ending matchup against a Pittsburgh team that should be resting players for the postseason means that after this win, the playoffs are still very much a possibility. In fact, an 11-5 finish and a division title are still on the table. The pressure is now on New England to stop giving games away.
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