Thoughts During the Bye

Like everyone else, I was absolutely stunned by the 38-13 destruction of the mighty New England Patriots. The Dolphins came out fired up and completely dominated both sides of the ball. Sure, Tom Brady was out, but the NFL MVP doesn't play defense.

I absolutely loved the Wildcat offense. Our Canes tried it against the Aggies last season and it worked well despite not being a frequently used part of our offense. It was pretty surprising to see that sort of formation work so well against such a well-taught defense at the professional level.

I wouldn't take too much from the game, as now it is unlikely that we'll be able to use that formation to that extent, at least successfully, for the rest of the season. I also think the Patriots just got caught in a snowball effect. We aren't 24 points better than anyone, much less the Patriots. Still, it was extremely exciting to see some production out of the offense and some big plays out of Joey Porter and the defense.

Chad Pennington proved that he deserves to stay the starter with a sparkling 17/20 performance. Henne can learn a lot from the veteran. Pennington can keep us competitive in most games. Expect to win 5 or 6 games at most, however. This team is still too young and has too many questions at too many positions to make a run at the postseason, even in the weakened status of the AFC East.

My favorite part of the victory was Ronnie Brown's return to his high form. Last season, Brown was a fantasy superstar, leading the NFL in total yards before getting hurt. He has looked like anything but a guy coming back from a career-threatening ACL injury. Besides his dedication and hard work, I credit the fact his injury came while trying to chase someone down, not getting tackled. It had to help.

Ricky also looked great, coming just 2 yards short of 100. I just hope the front office isn't holding his debt to them against him. I would think he deserves some sort of lenience, and if he continues to do his job and produce, that they would just waive the debt. It never made much sense that he owes the Dolphins 8 million that was paid to him by the Saints anyway.