Well, if people weren’t impressed enough with the Dolphins last victory over the Patriots, they certainly will be now. The Patriots were missing Tom Brady, but the Chargers weren’t missing anyone and the Dolphins quite easily shut down a very potent offense. The defense held arguably the league’s best running back to 35 yards and 0 TDs, and held one of the top passers in the league to a mere 159 yards and 1 TD.

The Dolphins offense on the other hand again was firing on all cylinders, and the single wing was in effect again this week. Ronnie Brown had another stellar performance rushing 24 times for 125 yards and 1 TD. The Dolphins’ offense employed the single wing or direct snap formations 11 times netting 49 yards and the games winning TD. Other formations were successful too. Chad Pennington was 22-29 for 228 yards and 1 TD. Greg Camarillo and Ted Ginn Jr showed improvement, catching 6 balls for 68 yards and 7 balls for 55 yards respectively.

The Dolphins 2nd victory this season, which doubles their total from last season, was their 2nd straight. This is the first time since November of 2006 that the Dolphins have won back to back games. After a shaky start to the season, the Dolphins appear to be gelling as a team and discovering that which works for them and that which does not. Most importantly, the offense and defense are playing good football at the same time.

The name of the game for the Dolphins this season may be ball control. The Dolphins had control of the ball for 13 1/2 more minutes on Sunday than the Chargers. In the post-Dan Marino era of Dolphin football, defense has never been the problem, the problem has always been lackluster offenses hanging their defense out to dry and leaving them on the field TOO long. The defense may have looked bad to start the season, perhaps hitting an early rock bottom in Arizona, but they have bounced back two games in a row now holding powerful offenses under 13 pts each. The offense, for its part, is holding the ball and keeping opposing offenses off the field and giving their defense time to rest.

The Dolphins once again should keep in mind lessons learned from this game and apply them going forward. They appear to have a winning formula together, control the clock and control the game. Its an old fashioned approach to football often overlooked by the teams blessed with superstars and high powered offenses. In the absence of those things, the Dolphins can succeed if they continue to employ their own brand of football.