WOW- well, I predicted we would need to pass to beat the Patriots, but I was pretty wrong about everything else (*ahem* including that we would fail at trying to outpass them).  And boy, I have never been happier to be wrong in my life.  Playoffs or no, this will go down in Dolphins lore as a huge one.

This game looked like it could get ugly at the beginning, with the Pats going up 14-0 by early in the 2nd quarter- including some “more of the same” in the Pats putting the ball right over the top of our defense for an easy score right off the bat of the game.  The offense was pretty stagnant early too, with 0 points put up in the 1st quarter.  There was also a bad interception by Henne, who dropped it right into Brandon Meriweather’s hands.  The icing on the cake was when Pat White was put in for a play and had an option pitch tipped for a huge loss.  But this team, that looked like it quit in Buffalo, that folded like Superman on laundry day in 4th quarter after 4th quarter- hung in the game, and actually OWNED the 4th quarter for once.  Lets take a look at some of the keys from the game.

• Perfect Chad Henne? OK- not perfect.  He did have a few off throws- he put a bit too much zip on a throw that made it too tough to catch.  He overthrew a WIDE open Lou Polite who had a mile of open field in front of him.  He had an INT on a long pass.  But when push comes to shove- he made critical throw after critical throw.  A perfect throw in the back of the endzone to Hartline, a clutch 4th and 6 conversion that otherwise would have given the ball back to the Pats with only 2 minutes to go, throwing from his own endzone- when push came to shove, he put the ball right on the money.   All in all, Dan Henning had Henne chuck it an amazing 52 times! Those are the kinds of numbers you see only on losing NFL teams, or winning Texas Tech teams.   Not coincidentally, he also had a career high 335 yards, and 2 TDs.   Watching him march the team down for the game winning field goal was like watching a master artist at work.  The way he stands in the pocket without fear, shuffles around would be tacklers, seems to oblivious to pain after getting hammered, and puts the ball on the money are just so fun to watch in a Miami QB again.  Of special note- did you see how he demolished their blitzes?  They sent the house at him on what seemed like every third and long, and hung in there and more often than not, got the ball to where it needed to be.  If he can keep doing that, he is going to be a very dangerous QB for a long time to come.
• O-line steps up. Of course, Henne doesn’t have his day without the line.  They are still playing without starting center Grove, and Smiley is still nursing a bum shoulder, but man oh man did they play there hearts out today.  Only one sack on over FIFTY pass attempts.  That is pretty amazing.  They also allowed Ricky Williams to go for over 4 YPC, though the team average is a bit lower.
• Davone Bess and Co. Davone Bess is the highlight of the receiving corps with 1o catches for 117 yards and TD.  Pretty good numbers, but even they don’t really express what he meant to the team.  He repeatedly turned short passes into long gains, including a huge 1st down conversion where he broke the tackles of TWO defenders who were trying to tackle him at the same time.  He also juked his way past a few guys and into the endzone for his first TD of the year.  But really, the whole receiving corp in general did a great job.  8 different receivers caught passes today- with Anthony Fasano, Brian Hartline, Greg Camarillo, and even Teddy Ginn (who did a great job to get two feet down on a tight rope catch on the sideline) made big plays and huge 1st down conversions.  Ginn was also on his game today returning the ball, and Brian Hartline was absolutely demolishing fools in the special teams phase of the game.  It was really nice to finally see some YAC today more than anything.
• Defense finally steps up! How can I say they stepped up today?  No sacks.  A 58 yard TD to Moss, an 81 yard TD to Sam Aiken, and Wes Welker repeatedly busting our coverage to the tune of 1o catches for 167 yards?  Well, the Moss TD was pretty bad- but the Aiken TD was a fluke of a freak catch.  Sean Smith had that ball, but Aiken got away with roughing him up from behind him, and snatched it somehow.  Welker also repeatedly abused us early in the game, but instead of letting him explode in the 4th quarter, they completely bottled him up.  Also- for me anyways, Vontae Davis made the play of the game.  It looked like the Pats were ready to put us away.  They drove right through the heart of our D right down to the goal line, and looked like they were going to score the icing TD.  Instead, Davis comes up with it in the endzone and its Dolphins ball on the 20.  Without that INT, we have absolutely no chance- HUGE, very clutch play.  And as for the no sacks stat- look no further than Cameron Wake on the last play of the game.  After the Dolphins took their first lead of the day off of a field goal, the Pats were looking to move into field goal range to win the game.  Cameron Wake absolutely FLEW into the backfield, and made an amazingly athletic move to reach back for Tom Brady and bring him down- only instead of going down, he throws the ball up for grabs, right into the waiting arms of Channing Crowder (for his first career INT) that put the game away.  Also, don’t overlook the Dolphins owning the Pats run game.  Brady had a bum finger, and the Pats were looking to run the ball early and often, but they stuffed Laurence Maroney for only  3.2 YPC (3.8 for the team overall)- and forced the Pats into passing the ball more than they would have liked.
• Coaching Were there still some boneheaded calls?  Check (the Pat White option play comes to mind. . .).  Was there some time mismanagement?  Check ( 2 wasted timeouts due to confusion in the second half).  But some plays are bound to go bad, and Sparano is still learning to be a head coach.  But getting this team amped up for this game, keeping them from getting depressed and giving up when they were down 2 TD’s early, and FINALLY stopping someone - a potent offense like the Pats no less - in the 4th quarter, was masterful coaching.  You can teach someone time management, but you cannot teach someone to inspire men like Tony Sparano inspired his team.
• Last but not Least, Special Teams! Of course a ton of credit is going to go to Dan Carpenter for nailing that super clutch 41 yard field goal (his 19th of the year, making him 19/20- #1 for %age in the NFL).  And he should get a lot of credit too- anything over 40 yards is no gimme, even in the NFL and he split it right down the middle.  That guy must have ice in his veins because he didn’t look bothered or sound surprised at all after the game.  You can’t overlook the rest of the guys though.  The coverage team was spectacular, limiting the Pats to under 20 yards per kickoff return, and held Welker to a long of 12 yards in the punt return game.  And how can you not love Brian Hartline?  He was smashing heads in coverage, and he absolutely loved it.  Having guys like him on your team can make the difference between watching football in January and playing it.  Ted Ginn also stepped up again, averaging almost 27 yards a kick return, including a long of 51.

Was this game perfect?  Absolutely not.  There were still some missed tackles, busted coverages, and bad throws.  They should still have plenty of material to go over in the film room.  But we still have a chance now.  Our destiny is no longer in our hands per se, but if lady luck in on our side, the playoffs can be in our future again, and if we keep playing like we did today, we might even get out of round one.