There is but 1 team in the NFL besides the Jets that really makes me mad.  Most would think that it would be one of our other division mates; the one that everyone hates in the NE Patriots, but it's not.  It's the Texans.

Although I don't have any beef with their coaching staff or players (although it was classless to stand over a knocked out Trent Green during last year's ill fated game when he was concussed for the second time in as many seasons), I do have a huge beef with the fact that WE ARE THE ONLY TEAM IN THE NFL THAT HAS PLAYED THE TEXANS AND NOT YET BEATEN THEM.

I will say that again for those who thought they may have read that last sentence wrong.

We are the only team in the NFL that has played the Texans and not yet beaten them.  We've come close, and there are a couple of games that we should have won, but one simple fact remains; we have not yet beaten what can be considered to be the worst team in the NFL since their inception in the league.  It never mattered that we were up against David Carr and the worst OLine that the league had seen in a long time.  It never mattered that they never had a running back that could do anything substantial.  It never mattered that they had a defense that could seemingly be scored on by pop warner teams.  It never mattered that their best linebacker before Ryans was a cast off Miami Dolphins backup in Morlon Greenwood.  We would still find ways to lose.  Heck, we likely invented new ways to lose when it came to playing the Texans.

Hopefully that losing mentality has left the building. Hopefully Sparano has coached into this team the utter importance of simply taking care of business.  Hopefully he has instilled in this team the idea that we should beat bad teams rather than finding a way to play just as poorly. 

Hopefully we can finally beat the Texans. 

The Dolphins have just beaten the defending AFC Champion New England Patriots, and their opponent in that AFC Championship game, in San Diego. In both of these games, Miami has out-muscled, out-hustled, and out-classed 2 very talented football teams. In two games where Miami was supposed to be man-handled, they were the ones who did the man-handling, both in the trenches, and on the box score. But just how good are we? The Patriots were Brady-less, and we did come off a bye to play a banged up Charger team.

In the last two games, Miami has put up a combined 851 yards, compared to 417 allowed. Pennington by himself put up 37 more yards than that 417 mark, and Ronnie Brown had 3 times the TDs than the entire Charger and Patriot teams combined. The Dolphins have out-scored last year's AFC's bests 55-23, (that's a 22 point margin, for those of you who weren't that good in math;-)). Joey Porter by himself has 4.5 more sacks than the Dolphin offensive line allowed.

Ok, so you get it. The Dolphins have been dominant. They have not only been dominant, but they have been fun to watch, turning the wildcat into the buzz of the NFL. Their running game is fantastic, and is what we expected coming into the season, maybe better, the passing game has been efficient, thanks to the most accurate throws we have seen out of a Dolphin QB since Marino himself; the defense has improved tremendously, and is a very good unit, stuffing the run, putting pressure on the QB, and not allowing many big plays.

Special teams is an area in which we definitely have room for improvement. Sproles is one of the better returners in the game, and we did hold him to a 23.7 yard kick return average, which is not great, but it is not bad either. However, for the most part, our coverage units have been sketchy at times, and have allowed a couple of big returns, luckily none for 6.

Whatever happened to Ginn returning the football since his days at OSU, and even since last year, is beyond me, and is concerning me. While Bess is a fine return man, especially on punts, he just does not seem to have the speed to bust through a crease and take it to the house. Ginn is such a threat, and he reminds me a little of Eli Manning in his first couple of years. I always thought that Eli was trying to hard to do everything mechanically right, and not make a mistake, rather than just play football. That is I think what is happening to Ted Ginn. He is trying to not make a mistake, instead of letting his natural talent and instinct take over, and just play football. He was drafted to be an electrifying returner, a game changer, for his big play ability, but all we are getting is a timid returner, and a WR who is afraid of contact.

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