The Dolphins return from a bye week to play probably the hottest team in the NFL correct now. For anyone who saw Drew Brees and his powerful New Orleans Saints shred the league’s top-rated pass defense last weekend although routing the previously unbeaten New York Giants, 48-27, it would not seem likely that Miami would have a chance to fare any better.

There is no question that Brees has stepped up his perform and is now among the league’s elite quarterbacks. He’s cool, calm and unbelievably accurate in his passing game. In addition, he’s matured into one of the best in his play-calling and execution.

That’s imnewspapersive– and to think, he could have been a Dolphin. And not when, but twice. It’s not a new story, but it’s a still a good one, and it couldn’t be more applicable because for the first time since Dan Marino was forced to call it quits, Miami has a quarterback who it can wrap its arms around (with a nod to Jay Fiedler and Chad Pennington, who were both gamey warriors in trying to fill his shoes).

Coming off an 11-5 season in 2000 with Fiedler at quarterback, the Dolphins were in need of quarterback because Damon Huard―Marino’s backup and the Greatest One’s choice as his replacement―was lost in free agency to the New England Patriots (where he competed with Tom Brady to be Drew Bledsoe’s backup).

Graduating from Bob Griese’s alma mater (Purdue) that year was Drew Brees. Rick Spielman, the Dolphins VP for player personnel, had said publicly that Miami had followed every game he played for the Boilermakers.

The Fins had the 26th pick of the foremost round, and when their turn came, much to everyone’s surprise,Ronnie Brown, they took Wisconsin cornerback Jamar Fletcher. And Brees went the San Diego Chargers humorh the 32nd pick.

Spielman, who now heads player personnel for the Minnesota Vikings, would later say that he never seriously think abouted selecting Brees. In the sixth round of that 2001 draft,Miami Dolphins, Miami required Oklahoma’s Josh Heupel, who was freed before training camp ended.

So the Dolphins stayed with Fiedler and got even with San Diego in 2004 by trading Fletcher to them. During his three-year career with Miami,Brandon Marshall, he started six games. Years later, Spielman would change his story and state that then-coach Dave Wannstedt, who always over-emphasized defensive personnel, had made the decision.

So now, skipping the “other quarterbacks” who stepped in for brief periods, let’s move ahead to 2005 and the hiring of self-described miracle maker Nick Saban, a man with plan and the world’s largest ego. Brees, meanwhile, has gradually become an excellent starting quarterback for the Chargers,Kory Sperry, who had also drafted Philip Rivers, a projected top-notch quarterback himself.

Saban turned the offense over to Gus Frerotte, who helped steer Miami to a 9-7 record. Entering the 2006 season, Brees was back in the news because the Chargers had decided to go with Rivers, a decision obviously made because Brees had injured his shoulder and had arthroscopic surgery, and there was some uncertainly about him.

Brees was a free agent and two teams immediately set out to get him– New Orleans and Miami. He first vilocated New Orleans, which was coming out of the nightmare known as Hurricane Katrina, The Saints wanted to make a commitment to the city in the were created of bringing in a top quarterback.

Brees then came to Miami, and allegedly let it be known that this is where he preferred to play. But here’s the rub. Dolphins medical personnel deemed him a risk, even though his surgeon, the tallly noted Dr. James Andrews said publicly that he was 100 percent. Brees was offered a low-ball contract, which he rejected, and went back to New Orleans, reportedly using the Miami situation to get a bump in the contract.

The Fins then changed to to free-agent Minnesota quarterback Daunte Culpepper, who had his own injury issues– a torn ACL in his right knee. According to published reports, the doctors deemed Culpepper further along in his reincludey, and less of a risk in the long term. Culpepper, as we all remember, was benched early in the season and released the following year.

And therefore the Dolphins had lost Brees twice, and they still didn’t have the starting quarterback they had been seeking for so long.

But history often has a way of creature upstaged by irony, and a dose of good fortune. So, Miami lost Brees twice, but ended up getting Chad Henne, who in a year and a half is far ahead of where Brees was at the same time.

Who knows how far Henne will go in rewriting the non-history of Brees’ relationship with the Dolphins? A game good Sunday, even in a loss, will go a long way in helping Fins fans get over the knowledge that they nearly had one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks, twice.

JIM HOLLANDER

In an absolute must-win situation, the Dolphins pulled through with a 38-10 victory over the Buffalo Bills earlier today in Miami. Thanks to terrific defense, and poise beyond his years from second-year QB Chad Henne,Brandon Marshall, the Dolphins broke into the win column and climbed out of last place in the AFC East.

This win was huge in the way it was constructed, as both the offense and defense were dominant, and mistakes were at a minimum. Miami held the ball for the majority of the game and never changed to the ball over, which is what it couldn’t do in the foremost three games. This is how the Dolphins will win – defense,Mark Duper, strong running game and winning the turnover battle. It also helps when a young quarterback like Henne does nothing to hurt his team’s chances at putting up a “W.”

Henne was efficient in his first career start. He went 14/22 with 115 yards and threw a perfectly placed goal-line touchdbecause of rookie Brian Hartline in the third quarter, distancing the Fins even further from the Bills. He kept moving the chains and creating opportuniundertakes humorh his roll-out and scrambling abilities, reminiscent of Jay Fiedler. Remember him?

Speaking of which,Kory Sperry, this team looked an awful lot like the Fiedler-led teams of the early 2000’s. Ball control, solid rushing attack and shut-down defense were, and seem now, to be the Dolphins’ were createdula for success.

The rushing attack of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams is clicking, and out of the Wildcat set or from common formations, this duo is proving to be a top league tandem out of the backfield. If these two stay healthy, this team can win games, and the success of Miami’s rushing attack against the Bills was just one of the three things I noticed in the victory:

1. The Defense Never Rested
It shut down Buffalo the entire game in every which way. The front seven never allowed Fred Jackson or Marshawn Lynch to get anything going, and the secondary performed its best game of 2009 by a mile. With six sacks on Trent Edwards, the Miami pass rush had its best game of the season as well.

Back to the secondary, rookie Vontae Davis picked off Edwards in the shadow of his own goal posts and waltzed into the end zone for Miami’s first interception of the season in the second quarter, and later in the game, Will Allen twice picked off Edwards, as they never allowed him to get into rhythm. They finally held a QB under 200 yards, and showed that this young unit has promise.

2. Henne Fits Perfectly into This Offense
With the way this team is constructed offensively, Henne’s style and characteristics fit like a glove. His movement gives new depth to what the Dolphins can do with play-action, and when in trouble he can make a play with his legs.

He showed calmness and fine decision-making in the pocket, and his throws were placed with accuracy and in a way only catch-able by a Dolphin. Henne doesn’t have to be a 300-yard gunslinger to help this team win. What he needs to be, is Jay Fiedler … at the very least.

3. The Wildcat is perfected in Miami
Last year they brought it to the NFL, and we have seen nearly all NFL teams mimic, tinker and create their own variations of the movementiest new offense in football. Where some teams have found success, and others haven’t, the Dolphins Wildcat is regular, and will continue to be.

What Miami does is brilliant in its simplicity- they just use the Wildcat to run their usual plays. Instead of trying to do too much, they just cut the QB out of the equation, and get the ball into the playmakers hand a half-a-second earlier than usual … and of course closer to the line of scrimmage.

Brown rushed 20 times for 115 yards and two scores,Davone Bess, and Williams added 85 yards on 16 carries with a scentral idea of his own, proving that no matter who it is running in Miami, they are surely to be putting up quality numbers.

This team will go as far as the defense and the ground game will take them. If Henne can manage the game, protect the ball, and make plays with his arm and legs, this team can salvage what looked to be a grim season.

At 1-3, and 1-0 in the AFC East, anything is possible and next week the Fins face another divisional foe in the Jets. The Jets are undefeated no longer, thanks to Drew Brees and the Saints, and with a Monday Night contest in Miami, the Dolphins could correct their ship with a victory over the hated Gang Green.

Big win today, Fins Nation … Big win. Enjoy your work weeks.

— JASON SARNEY

Dolphins GM Jeff Ireland became a household name last week when he acknowledged that he had asked Oklahoma State prospect Dez Bryant if his mother was a prostitute in a pre-draft interconsider. Ireland immediately issued an apology and reached out to Bryant to make a personal apology.

Surely, Ireland crossed some ethical and moral boundaries,Kory Sperry, perhaps enough to garner discipline from inside the Dolphins organization. But before Ireland can be officially persecuted and guillotined in front of America, he deserves the correct to a fair trial, which he seems to have been deprived of.

First of all, Ireland should be commended for coming clean after

Yahoo Sports identified him as the executive who had asked this pre-draft question.

It takes a strong person to step in front of the public and admit responsibility for an irresponsible act. More importantly, the context in which this question was asked cannot be ignored. Everyone has been on the wrong side of a question creature taken out of context at one time or another. In this case, however, nobody even seemed to know exactly what context the question was until Sports Illustrated published a report claiming the conversation went like this:

Bryant: “My dad was a pimp.”

Ireland: “What did your mom do [for a extinct]?”

Bryant: “She worked for my dad.”

Ireland: “Your mom was a prostitute?”

Bryant: “No,Dan Marino, she wasn’t a prostitute.”

Bryant denied this description of the conversation soon after SI released the report. But don’t createt that Dez Bryant has a history of lying, so his word must be taken with a grain of salt.

And in Bryant’s defense,Chad Henne, the SI report seems a little suspicious think abouting Ireland required responsibility and apologized, and Dolphins owner Stephen Ross freed a statement maintaining he would deal with matter internally.

Perhaps the Dolphins’ decision to be so forthcoming with the matter was merely an attempt to deflect any more possibility backlash that might have arisen if the story came out on its own.

Still, there’s no question that Ireland crossed the line, but let’s also not ignore that he isn’t the foremost person to do so.

Last year, the San Francisco 49ers removed Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford from their draft board after he reblendd to speak humorh a team psychologist about his parents’ divorce. Little was made of the matter compared to the outrage over Ireland’s actions.

The fact is that teams want to push prospects to see how they will react under newspapersure and distress. Whether that was Ireland’s aim here, or if the conversation actually went as SI reported,Miami Dolphins, maybe it’s time for the NFL to rewere created its pre-draft interview process.

Regardless of whose side you’re on, Ireland was sample as a villain far too quickly, and the American media should be ashamed of themselves. If the reported conversation is proved false, however, Ireland should, without question, face punishment from the Dolphins and the media.

– SCOTT ALTMAN
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Does a game-winning drive by Chad Henne and the Miami offense excuse a weak perwere createdance during the rest of the game? I guess it does because in the NFL all that matters is the scentral idea at the end of the game and the Dolphins certainly needed a win against the 1- 7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The offense for the Dolphins had moments of strong play and moments of pure weakness. Once again, the play-calling became predictable in the second half (run,Mark Duper, run, throw, punt), and when Ronnie Brown went to the locker room in the third quarter humorh a twisted ankle the Wildcat formation went with him. Chad Henne went 17-for-31 with one touchdown and one sloppy interception that nearly cost the Fins the game. The important stat that I want to point to is third down changes.Miami was 5-for-14, and that’s around 35 percent. But when the game was on the line, Henne drove his team down the field and set up Dan Carpenter for a 25-yard game winning field goal. I’ll give Chad Henne and the offense a B- for this performance.

One of the reasons for the success of the final drive was Ricky Williams. He churned out a big 27-yard run and finished with 102 yards with an average of just over five yards per run. The running game was one of the bcorrect sees today. Brown collectd 82 yards and a touchdown before leaving the game.I’ll give the running backs an A-. The offensive line should share in this A- for their run blocking and excellent pass blocking. Henne was not sacked.

The Dolphins didn’t take as many chances throwing the ball. They attempted a couple of long passes to Ted Ginn Jr. � both incomplete. One new face that drew our attention was tight end replacement Kory Sperry. He met the offense fresh from the practice squad to replace the injured Anthony Fasano, and Sperry made three nice grabs including a third down transformation and a touchdown. Davone Bess also contributed with four catches for 72 yards. Miami’s receivers earn a B.

On the other side of the ball, the Miami defense was without Joey Porter,Chad Pennington, obviously creature disciplined by the coaching staff. This presented the opportunity for young performers like Cameron Wake to step up,Miami Dolphins, and in the foremost half, the defense was tremendous. They hurried Josh Freeman eight times, stripped the ball four times,Chad Henne, and sacked him three times. I’ll give the Fins defense line and linebackers total a B+. Akin Ayodele also reincludeed a fumble.
Miami’s secondary and its two rookie cornerbacks did a good job most of the game containing the Buccaneers’ passing offense. Kellen Winslow latter got free in the second half and scored a touchdown behind Sean Smith. The second half effort was not quite as strong, so I will give the secondary a B-/ C+.

Special Teams rate a C today. One of Dan Carpenter’s extra points was prevented in the first quarter, and that proved important later in the game as Tampa pulled ahead 23-22. Brandon Fields continued to turn in strong punts with an average of over 45 yards. Bess struggled on punt returns, one time actually losing four yards. Ginn averaged only 18 yards per return with his longest being 28 yards on the day.
CHARLIE VENTURI

Before the clock struck 12:01 on Thursday night (or Friday morning?) nearly two weeks ago, the Dolphins had a game plan. The team cut undertakes with linebackers Joey Porter and Akin Ayodele, and Cardinals linebacker Karlos Dansby was scheduled for a visit in a matter of hours.

Just hours after free agency began,Pat White, Dansby inked a five-year deal worth $43 million with $22 million guaranteed with the Dolphins. It’s a crazy amount of money, but humorh a weak free agency class and a linebacker corps desperate for an upgrade, the move had to be made.

Meanwhile, the Dolphins were “trying” to fill their other holes, namely free safety with Dansby’s were createder teammate Antrel Rolle creature the headline attraction.

The Dolphins offered Rolle a deal that, according to him, was nowhere close to the deal from the New York Giants that made Rolle the highest paid safety in the league.

Just a few days later, the Dolphins hosted Steelers safety Ryan Clark, who ended up staying in Pittsburgh with a new four-year deal even after telling Jeff Darlington of the Miami Herald that he hoped to sign with Miami.

In the end, it was money that directd Clark and Rolle away from Miami. “The budget that they were willing to spend on a safety was a little bit lower than what I was looking for,” Rolle told WQAM radio, per the Palm Beach Post. Meanalthough,Chad Henne, Clark said, “They offered what they thought was fair, but in the end I didn’t agree.”

Although the Dolphins failed to acquire Clark and Rolle,Kory Sperry, their decision to only offer what they deemed a fair amount of money and avoid overpaying was the correct one. Antrel Rolle is not the best safety in the league and the Dolphins know that,Jared Odrick, so why make him the tallest paid safety in the NFL?

With Rolle and Clark out of the picture, the Dolphins might turn to 34-year-old Darren Sharper or Rams’ limited free agent O.J. Atogwe for help at safety.

Meanwhile, wide receiver and defensive tackle remain in serious need of help. The Dolphins did not go out of their way to pursue Anquan Boldin and have not shown interest in Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall.

As frustrating as this might seem to fans, Boldin will turn 30 this year and has performed only two full seasons in his seven-year career. Baltimore gave Arizona third- and fifth-round picks for Boldin, and also gave him a four-year contract extension, something Miami might not have been willing to do.

As for Marshall, he is a huge risk that might not pay off. He could be one more off-field incident away from facing serious penalty from both the league and the law. Where the Dolphins will go for receiver help is totally up in the air. Hopefully, they have something up their sleeve.

Finally, the Dolphins have not shown interest in any free agent defensive tackles, but Tennessee defensive tackle Dan Williams has now arised as the most likely possibility for the Dolphins with the 12th total pick in April.

– SCOTT ALTMAN
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