#miami-dolphins

#miami-dolphins

MIAMI GARDENS - The Miami Dolphins have won three consecutive games and four of the past five after squeaking by the New Orleans Saints, 21-17. They completed an undefeated November (3-0), aided by their last loss being a Thursday nighter on Oct. 30 instead of Week 9's Sunday, Nov. 2 while also having their bye week within the month. Most NFL teams winning at this clip crossing over into December would be firmly in the playoff race.

You can recount the weekly heroics of running back De'Von Achane, or this week's heroics of safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. You can wonder how the Miami Dolphins wavered in those final few minutes, but appreciate how they ultimately held it together. The view from field level is they made the biggest plays like Fitzpatrick's two-point conversion interception and a fourth-down stop to beat the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.

MIAMI GARDENS - The Miami Dolphins appear primed to get cornerback Rasul Douglas back in the lineup for Sunday's game against the New Orleans Saints. "I feel very optimistic," McDaniel said about Douglas' status before the team's Friday practice. "He's eager." Douglas has missed the Dolphins' last two games with foot and ankle injuries and has since had the team's bye week to allow for further recovery.

I have no timetable on James Daniels," coach Mike McDaniel said Monday, as his team returned from the bye week that followed an overseas trip to Madrid, Spain. "I don't want to arbitrarily say he is or he isn't (playing this season), but I don't really know if he will return or not. So that's kind of where I'm at.

The first time that I really noticed Lt. Commander Joe Cardona was when he was doing pass defense drills with the Dolphins linebackers. Cardona, a 33-year-old supply and logistics officer attached to a West Coast-based Navy special warfare unit, seemed to move pretty well for a long snapper. Yes, Lt. Commander Joe Cardona is Dolphins long snapper Joe Cardona, perhaps the most intriguing guy in the locker room. Cardona attended the Naval Academy and is an active reservist in the Navy.

MIAMI GARDENS - The Miami Dolphins signed cornerback A.J. Green from the Los Angeles Rams practice squad on Wednesday and placed cornerback JuJu Brents (foot) on the injured reserve list. Green, 27, has made two starts in 36 career games. The 6-foot-2, 199-pound Green has totaled 26 tackles, two interceptions, seven passes defended and two recovered fumbles. He has 14 special teams tackles.

MADRID - The Miami Dolphins are coming back home from Spain with some momentum. Cornerback Jack Jones intercepted the first pass of overtime and kicker Riley Patterson kicked the winning 29-yard field goal as the Dolphins' trip across the Atlantic Ocean for the NFL's first game in Spain was a successful one, topping Washington, 16-13, early in the extra period. Miami (4-7) has strung together two consecutive wins for the first time all season after last week's scintillating 30-13 win over the Buffalo Bills.

"The way the National Football League is, is you have an outcome, you have different things - the trade deadline right next to a major move from the front office standpoint - and from the outside looking in, it could appear that that's a recipe for distraction. What I can go off of is my feet-on-the-ground observation and relying upon the leaders and the captains of this football team to show me where they're at."

And so in a week where the priority clearly wasn't winning, the owner said the priority is winning starting Sunday against Buffalo at Hard Rock Stadium if jobs are to be kept, starting with coach Mike McDaniel's. Let's fold that demand into recent events: The Dolphins fired general manager Chris Grier (finally), traded their best pass rusher in Jaelan Phillips (smartly) and tried to trade most anyone else on the roster but found no takers (talk about deflating).

Conner was a feel-good story as a rookie, making the team as an undrafted free agent in 2022, Miami's first season with coach Mike McDaniel at the helm, along with offensive coordinator Frank Smith and tight ends coach Jon Embree. Conner was a converted college wide receiver out of Idaho State and seen as a developmental prospect with potential. He played 13 games as a rookie but mostly on special teams and was only targeted three times that season, without a catch.

The Ravens and Bills can offer the Dolphins lessons in the value of being able to win in more than one way, the importance of the trenches, the role of physicality, and the significance of being able to win on the road. The Dolphins' next incarnation should prioritize all of those things in the same fashion that Baltimore and Buffalo have prioritized them. The Dolphins (2-7) must make major changes in strategy and philosophy.