FINS WIN AGAIN!

                                            Miami 14 San Francisco 9

                                                      Who???? Joey Haynos that's who!

The Miami Dolphins won today and that is all that matters. The win was so typical of this 2008 season where when the Dolphins didn't play well but somehow just will themselves to victories even on days when they are not the best team on the field. Today it was a defense that bent beyond my comfort and allowed the 49ers to grind out long time consuming drives. But they didn't break and held San Francisco out of the end zone. This makes three straight games that Miami has gone without yielding a touchdown. Chad Pennington came out slinging the ball around the field and started the scoring with an incredible throw to David Martin who made an even more incredible  catch and then shimmied away from the defender and took it to the house for a 61 yard touchdown play.  Miami's other score came in the second quarter when Pennignton found third string Tight End Joey Haynos for a touchdown as the 49er defense probably didn't recognize him as a member of the Dolphins roster...I know I didn't. After that the game went into kind of a bizarre cycle of long 49er drives that ended with great Dolphin defensive stands in the redzone that allowed only 49er field goals. Then Miami would look flat on offense punt it away and the cycle would start again. That was pretty much the pattern until Miami closed the door with a Joey Porter sack on 4th down with just a minute left in the game. Case closed...Dolphins win.

There will be people who say we looked bad and that we are not playing well on the offensive line. That is true, but this 49er team just beat Buffalo and the Jets back to back. So this game was no cake walk and Miami had to fight out yet another close victory. Any win in the NFL is a quality win and the nay sayers can deal with it.  On a final note I want to salute the passion of this team. Wether it is Porter ranting and firing up the defense or Chad on the sideline pumping up the offense, this team plays with so much heart. We have nto seen that in Miami in years. It is a reflection of Coach Sporano and his staff and it shows up in so many ways. Late in the game when Miami needed to chew up the clock there was Ronnie Brown digging deep and ripping off super human runs that were all Ronnie as the blocking was horrible. That was heart and that personafies this Miami Dolphin team.

We are still tied with the Jets as they squeaked out a win against Buffalo (damn it!) and we are still in the hunt for the division and the playoffs. All we have to do is win two more games and we win the division.  And no matter what team you are a fan of you have to like the prospect of a year ending game featuring  Miami versus New York for the division and the playoffs. That is just great football drama. We are one road victory against a suddenly improved Kansas City team away from that scenario and I can hardly wait to see how it plays out.

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