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Progress Is Winning Even On An Off Day
ST. LOUIS - Sometimes this game really isn't very complicated. Sometimes, in fact, it is as easy to understand as one quarterback throwing three interceptions and the other throwing none.
That's probably all you need to know about the Dolphins' 16-12 victory Sunday over a very poor Rams team. Chad Pennington didn't make mistakes; Marc Bulger did.
"I've been around this league long enough to know that more games are lost than won," said Pennington. "It isn't great for fantasy points, but it'll sure help you in the standings."
No, this victory wasn't very pretty. No, if style points were a factor, the Dolphins would have had that empty feeling. And no, when Tony Sparano looks back on his first season as coach of the Dolphins, this one won't remain prominent in his thoughts.
But when you were 1-15 the year before and when you have spent many Sundays on the other side of a score like this one, is there really any reason to complain?
A two-point win over Seattle. A two-point win over Oakland. Now, a four-point win over St. Louis.
That's what you call progress. Not the kind of progress teams like the Giants and Titans are making, but major progress for a team that for so long had forgotten how to win.
See, you've got to understand what these Dolphins are all about to appreciate where they are. This is a football team with serious flaws that has managed to disguise those flaws with some creative play-calling, with some timely turnovers, with an All-Pro season from its outside linebacker and with consistently good play from a quarterback who wasn't even on the roster when training camp began.
Sunday against the Rams, three of those four variables came into play, the only exception being that Joey Porter didn't have one of his more memorable games.
The creative play-calling: The Dolphins used a misdirection handoff to the fullback to get some important first downs; they utilized some new pass patterns to undrafted rookie Davone Bess, who started in place of the injured Greg Camarillo and finished with a career-best six catches.
And finally, they almost won the game in the third quarter on a neat double pass that never really came off. Ronnie Brown got a backward pass and was supposed to throw the ball back to Pennington, who was supposed to hit tight end David Martin. But Brown thought Pennington was covered and instead improvised by hitting a wide open Martin, who promptly fumbled away the ball. "That play," said Sparano, "really had a chance."
The timely turnovers: The Dolphins intercepted three second-half passes to seal the deal. First, it was linebacker Akin Ayodele, then it was safety Renaldo Hill and finally cornerback Andre' Goodman. Each time it ended a St. Louis drive.
Goodman's interception came with 30 seconds left as the Rams tried to pull out a last-second win the same way the Houston Texans came back against the Dolphins earlier this season.
"Got to admit that Houston game went through my mind," Goodman said. "We just couldn't let that happen again."
The quarterback: Never discount what Chad Pennington means to this football team. While Bulger was struggling, Pennington was playing with poise. While Bulger was throwing those three interceptions, Pennington was keeping his stat line clean.
Pennington didn't throw any touchdown passes and really didn't make any remarkable throws. But he did complete 13 passes for 166 yards and, most importantly, he kept the Dolphins in position to win this game.
After what we've seen from the quarterback position for the last decade or so, isn't that a refreshing change?
"Sometimes it's easy to be down when your team has an inconsistent performance," Pennington said. "But none of us should ever lose sight of how precious a win is in this league. It gives you hope to come back even better the next week."
And hope is something this Dolphins team certainly has. With a 7-5 record heading into the final month of the season, with three of the remaining four opponents not having a winning record, with the other three AFC East teams losing Sunday, with a rookie kicker who keeps nailing one field goal after another, the Dolphins find themselves in position to complete one of the great turnarounds in NFL history.
A winning record is no longer some pipe dream. It is a very real possibility. The playoffs are also still mathematically possible, but it will probably take winning three of four, and perhaps even four of four.
The Bills in Toronto offer a stiff test this coming weekend. And while the Bills have been struggling of late, it will take a better performance than what the Dolphins put on against the Rams to reach 8-5.
The defense must do a better job against the run and the offense needs to run with more consistency. Those are two things Tony Sparano emphasized a few days before the game and will continue to emphasize this week.
"As long as we keep winning," Sparano said, "we've got a chance to feel really good about ourselves by the end of the season."
Indeed, this season is no longer about taking small steps after the ineptitude of 2007. That feels like so long ago. This season is now about a quantum leap, and if you're going to win some ugly games along the way, well, that really isn't so bad.
Or, as veteran nose tackle Jason Ferguson so aptly put it late Sunday afternoon in the Dolphins locker room: "Each of these victories may look different, but they all taste just as sweet."
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