Playoffs?

Yes - we really are in the playoffs. It is heard to believe. This is not the Jim Mora interview questioning if we could make it.

Honestly, I was nervous watching the game yesterday. A Dolphins win and they were in the playoffs. There were some misplays and missed plays that had me chewing my finger nails - Ricky Williams dropping the flea-flicker pass, Brown missing a wide open Haynos in the wildcat formation, the long snapper putting it over Fields' head, and the Pennington fumble. However, they played well in a lot of aspects to win the game. It was a great way to end the regular season.

The season was a remarkable turn-around from 1-15 to 11-5 AFC East Division Champions. Some of the things that helped with the turn around included:

• Drafting players like Jake Long, Phillip Merling, Kendall Langford, and others to bring some youth and talent to a team that has drafted poorly the last few years.
• Trading for players like Anthony Fasano to fill in gaps (and without mortgaging future drafts).
• Signing free agents like Justin Smiley (who unfortunately got hurt late in the season) and Devon Bess.
• Younger players like Ted Ginn and Channing Crowder stepping up their games.
• Players returning from injury like Ronnie Brown and Yeremiah Bell to contribute.
• Getting an experienced QB in Pennington after the Jets dropped him. This was probably the single biggest reason for magnitude of the turn-around.

Personally, I thought we would win 5 or 6 games. When we signed Pennington I upped it to 7 wins. To win 11 and the division was unthinkable in my mind back in September. I would have been happy with my prediction considering where the team was last year.

The Dolphins did get some good breaks this year - an easy schedule (thanks to the prior season), Tom Brady getting hurt, the Jets and Bills collapsing mid-season, and of course the Favre trade to the Jets. They also got good production from a lot of players on the roster.



There were some things that did not go as well. FA WR Ernest Wilford did not contribute anything (and will probably get cut). A couple players acquired in trades did not contribute as much as expected. This is to be expected - you cannot expect every deal to work out.

The Dolphins will face a much tougher schedule next season with games against the Colts, Steelers, Falcons, and Panthers. However, I expect the Dolphins to continue improving this team. We will have more draft picks and probably some more free agent signings. We need to continue to improve (and increase the depth) of the lines and edges (WRs and CBs).

With the South Florida economy dominating the news (negatively) with real estate and employment woes, it is nice to have some positive news that most people can get excited about.

Next Sunday's playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens will be fun to watch. We lost to them earlier this season but it was not our best game. They are playing well at the end of the season like the Dolphins and it will be battle to the end.