If 10 wins is required to get the last team in--and Miami better hope it does, because if 9 wins does it they'll most assuredly lose every tiebreaker--then doesn't everything for Dolphins hinge on 1) going 4 - 1 in their remaining conference games--at the very least, and 2) beating the Jets in NY? Hard to see them having a chance without both those things happening. While not technically impossible to pull those things off, considering their pathological habit of committing (or is it emitting) brain farts and digging themselves into huge holes early, it's hard to be optimistic about them having even a slight chance when they're operating with so little margin for error.So the good:
Miami's schedule looks less daunting than it did when it was first released. The Cowboys will have Romo back this week in Miami, but the Colts, Ravens, and Chargers are all much worse than initially anticipated. Miami needs to get hot to have any chance of making the playoffs. 5 of their last 7 games are at home. It's still far-fetched, but certainly not impossible to get that 6th spot.
That said, the most pleasant surprises to me yesterday were the emergence of an effective run defense and, surprise, surprise, the strong contribution by several non-starters. Who knew their "depth" would turn out to be a strength--if only for a week. The bang-your-head-against-a-wall component of the game: getting abused yet again by a tight end.