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A Team Filled With Great Stories
This unreal season lives on.
The Miami Dolphins are AFC East Champions.
Think about that. Think hard. A year ago at this time we were talking about a long, arduous rebuilding project. We were talking about years, not months, to get back to where this franchise once was. We were wondering if this team would ever find a quarterback to get them out of this mess.
Now, the Dolphins have that quarterback. They have been rebuilt faster than anyone could have predicted. They are legitimate, the real deal.
They are kings of the AFC East for the first time since 2000.
Improbable. Unbelievable. From 1-15 to 11-5. Wow! A season that will go down as one of the remarkable in the history of this proud franchise.
To do what this team has done, to travel as far it had to go, to win nine of its last 10 games and then to cap it off by beating the New York Jets on their home turf Sunday afternoon, well, this is stuff for the movies. And even then it would be hard to believe.
Sure, this season would have been a success had the Dolphins lost to the Jets instead of beating them 24-17. Everyone would be saluting a tremendous accomplishment. But now? This goes beyond that. This is the greatest single-season turnaround for a one-victory team in NFL history and ties for the greatest single-season turnaround ever.
This is a story of a gritty first-year coach, a quarterback who got off the scrap heap and a bunch of players who just kept believing. And now, the Miami Dolphins are headed to the playoffs to take on the Baltimore Ravens.
Imagine that. The Dolphins get to play a 17th game at home, no less, and the New England Patriots aren't even in the playoffs. Tell me you saw this coming. No way.
Who knows what to expect from here on out? But after what I've seen over the last two months, I can honestly say that anything with this group is possible. Who could possibly doubt that now?
In so many ways, the victory over the Jets was a microcosm of the entire season. So many players stepping up. So many huge plays. So many riveting moments.
But through it all, there was always Chad Pennington. Can a victory possibly be sweeter for a player than this one was for Pennington? Coming back against his old team, in his old stadium where he played for eight seasons. Sticking it to them with a great performance. Outplaying Brett Favre at every possible turn. Making throws he wasn't supposed to be able to make.
Just like Dan Marino was once the face of this franchise, that distinction now belongs to Pennington. The Dolphins turned the ball over 13 times this season. No team in the league in a 16-game season has been so proficient. Pennington deserves so much credit for that.
But you look at this victory over the Jets, you look at the way this team was prepared by Coach Tony Sparano for a game of this magnitude, and how can you not marvel over how many players other than Pennington came through.
There was Ted Ginn Jr. with two huge catches. Is there any doubt now that he was worth that high draft pick? There was tight end Anthony Fasano with a twisting, turning touchdown grab. How does that trade with Dallas look now?
There was Ronnie Brown running the Wildcat to near perfection and a relative unknown in Charlie Anderson blocking a punt and a rookie kicker from Montana, Dan Carpenter, knocking a huge 48-yard field goal through the heart of the uprights. There was rookie Phillip Merling returning an interception for a most improbable touchdown and there was Andre Goodman picking off two passes of his own.
Special teams? This was the weakness of this team at midseason and on Sunday against the Jets, all they did was make plays.
The list goes on and on. Didn't Dan Henning do a masterful job calling the offensive plays? It seemed like he emptied the playbook for this one.
For a while, it looked like the Dolphins were going to beat themselves. A few senseless penalties. A Ricky Williams dropped pass. A Pennington fumble. You had this uneasy feeling how this game was unfolding.
But these Dolphins just never quit. A remarkable bunch, they are.
And they are led by a coach who should be selected NFL Coach of the Year - and if he isn't, there should be an investigation. Sparano is the glue of this team. He knows which buttons to push and when. He knows what to say and when to say it.
You read his resume and you wonder how he managed to wind up in this position. But you listen to him talk and you watch him work and you swallow the way he does things and you quickly understand why his players love him and why he has been so successful in his first season as an NFL head coach.
Pennington. Sparano. Joey Porter. There are great stories everywhere on this football team.
But the greatest story of all is the sum of these parts. The Miami Dolphins are no longer some punch line. They are now the ones delivering the punch. And Sunday at the Meadowlands was the exclamation mark.
The Miami Dolphins are AFC East Champions.
It has been an incredible journey. And, as amazing as this sounds, it's not over yet.
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