Allen Eyestone/The Palm Beach Post

Through 13 games, Reggie Bush has a career-high 770 rushing yards on 4.6 yards per carry. He needs to average 76.7 yards over his last three games to reach 1,000 for the season.

By Ben Volin

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

DAVIE —
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross officially gave up on this season after firing
coach Tony Sparano on Monday after his team dropped to 4-9. The focus now
for Ross, General Manager Jeff Ireland and Dolphins fans for the final three
weeks of 2011 is on finding next year’s head coach.

But the Dolphins still have three games left to play, starting today at
Buffalo, and a few milestones to achieve. A look at five things the Dolphins
still have to play for:

1. Reggie Bush’s quest for 1,000 yards.

If the notion of Bush being an every-down running back seemed like a
ridiculous idea in pre-season – he missed 20 games because of injuries in
the previous four seasons, and averaged just eight carries per game – the
thought of him rushing for 1,000 yards was even more absurd. And six games
into this season, he had totaled just 232 rushing yards on 3.9 yards per
carry.

But Bush has proven everyone wrong during the past seven weeks. He enters
today’s game with a career-high 770 rushing yards on 4.6 yards per carry,
and needs 230 yards in his final three games (76.7 yards per game) to reach
1,000.

Bush, who has rushed for 100 yards in back-to-back weeks, said he isn’t
focused on individual milestones. But his offensive linemen want to make it
happen.

The Dolphins have had just two 1,000-yard rushers since 2004 – Ronnie Brown
(1,008 in 2006) and Ricky Williams (1,121 in 2009).

“It’s out there, it’s a goal, and it’s something to keep us motivated for
the last three weeks,” left guard Richie Incognito said.

2. Milestones for Brandon Marshall and Jason Taylor.

Most of the attention on Marshall this season has been on his dropped
touchdowns (at least five) and his battle with Borderline Personality
Disorder. But he enters today’s game just 63 yards short of his fifth
consecutive 1,000-yard season, giving him the chance to be the first
Dolphins receiver with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons since Irving Fryar
did it in 1993-94.

Marshall also is averaging 14.0 yards per catch, his highest average since
becoming a full-time starter with the Broncos in 2007.

Taylor, who has six sacks this season, is steadily climbing up the all-time
sack list. With three games remaining (perhaps in his career), Taylor has
138.5 sacks, three behind Michael Strahan for fifth in NFL history. Taylor
had two sacks last week against the Eagles, passing Richard Dent for sixth
on the all-time list.

3. Setting team record for “big plays.”

Ross’ demand this year was for a more exciting offense, and believe it or not,
the Dolphins have delivered.

The Dolphins have connected on 30 passing plays of 25-plus yards this season,
good for sixth-best in the NFL. It’s also just 10 short of the team record
of 40, set in 1993.

The Dolphins average 2.3 such passes per game, so the team record is within
sight.

4. Avoiding team record for sacks allowed.

Not all of the milestones the Dolphins could reach this year are positive ones.

The Dolphins have allowed a whopping 44 sacks this season, second-most in the
NFL and nine short of the team-record (53, set in 1969). They will tie the
record by allowing three sacks in each of their final three games, and have
already allowed three sacks in a game eight times this season.

In fact, they could tie the record today. The Dolphins allowed nine sacks to
the Eagles last week, and may be playing without left tackle Jake Long (back
injury).

5. Messing up the AFC East race.

The Dolphins play three familiar opponents to close out the season – the
Bills, Patriots and Jets, all AFC East rivals.

The Dolphins may not be in the playoff hunt, but they’ll have their say in the
matter.

“It presents an opportunity to mess things up in this division, and help
ourselves one week at a time,” former coach Tony Sparano said on Monday
before being fired.

The Patriots have a two-game lead for the division crown, while the Jets hold
the sixth AFC playoff spot. But neither will clinch their goals until they
have to go through Miami.

DAVIE ——

Dolphins running back Reggie Bush has downplayed the fact he is closing in on 1,000 yards for the first time in his NFL career.

His teammates, however, have made a bigger deal about it. Bush is just 230 yards from reaching the barrier. He needs to just average 77 yards the remaining three games.

“He hasn’t talked about it at all,” running back Daniel Thomas said. “We need to make sure he gets it. It would be good to add that to his legacy.”

Center Mike Pouncey echoed those statements, saying it would provide a sense of accomplishment despite enduring a disappointing season. The Dolphins will finish with a losing record for the third straight year.

Bush, who has already surpassed his career-high for rushing yards in a season, would celebrate the feat more if it were accompanied by wins.

“It just means that I rushed over a 1,000 yards, that’s it,” Bush said. I think that more importantly for me is that I want to win these last three games. I want to do it for Coach [Tony] Sparano just because he’s not here and I think that it would mean a lot to him.”

If he makes the plateau, Bush said he will view it as a team honor. Ricky Williams was the last Dolphins player to run for 1,000 yards in a season, gaining 1,121 in 2009. Bush would become the franchise’s seventh 1,000-yard rusher, joining the likes of Larry Csonka, Ronnie Brown and Karim Abdul-Jabbar.

“If I do rush for over 1,000 yards that means we did it as an offense,” Bush said. “It’s not just about me. It’s about all 11 guys out there who helped make that happen so that’s pretty much it.”

Bush could also dispel the notion of him being unable to play as an every-down back. He’s fought the label since entering the league in 2006. This year, he proved he could run between the tackles while carrying the offensive rushing load.

He has rushed at least 10 times in all but one game. His durability has been noticed by teammates. Some have even referred to Bush as “cannonball” because of his tough running style.

“I tell you one thing that I really respect about the guy,” safety Yeremiah Bell said. “He’s not the big 230-pound back yet he runs inside with the best of them. People always say he can’t make a full season. If you look at him through this year, he’s still ticking.”

Long questionable

Left tackle Jake Long (back) practiced on a limited basis Friday, and was listed as questionable on the injury report. Interim coach Todd Bowles said a decision won’t be made until the team flight to Buffalo Saturday.

“Jake’s a warrior,” Bowles said. “He wants to play and if he can play and is healthy, he will.”

In other injury news, Bowles said quarterback Matt Moore (concussion) threw the ball better and remains a game-time decision. He is expected to start “if there are no lingering effects.” Tight end Anthony Fason (ribs) and guard Vernon Carey (ankle) are also listed a questionable.

Linebacker Koa Misi (shoulder) has been ruled out for Sunday.

srichardson@tribune.com

What a difference a schedule can make.

Had the Philadelphia Eagles traveled to sunny South Florida to meet the Miami Dolphins in the first half of the season, the Eagles would have been massive favorites to return with a win.

The Dolphins opened the season looking like they were playing for the
No. 1 draft pick rather than a Super Bowl, losing seven games in
succession. After a brutal overtime loss to Denver in October that kicked off the Tim Tebow carnival, Miami stood 1-10 in its last 11 home games and seemed ready for an utter collapse.

But since then, Miami is 4-1 — and the loss came on the final play at Dallas — and confidence is soaring among the Dolphins.

“I think this team, we definitely haven’t played up to our capability,” Miami running back Reggie Bush said.

The same could be said about the 4-8 Eagles, of course, but this may be a case where Miami’s on-an-upswing 4-8 record looks a lot better than Philadelphia’s slumping 4-8 as the teams meet today (1 p.m.) in a must-win for the Birds to keep their faint playoff hopes alive.

Quarterback Michael Vick will return for the Eagles after missing three games in which Philadelphia went 1-2, but Vick is 3-9 in last 12 games as a starter.

The quarterback situation may be more significant for Miami. Since quarterback Matt Moore has found his touch after taking over for the injured Chad Henne, the Dolphins seem to have found the unity of purpose that has eluded the Eagles for much of 2011.

“I think we’re a lot stronger, a lot better team than what we’ve been able to show and what we showed early on,” Bush said. “And I think when you see when we’re are all on the same page and clicking you can see how dangerous we can be from the receivers, to the tight ends, running backs, quarterback, everybody across the board and then you throw the defense in there and they’ve been doing a great job of really limiting the other team from scoring touchdowns this past month or so. So I think all across the board when we focus down and we focus on the task ahead which is just being aggressive, attacking the whole game. I think that’s what we do best when we’re all on the same page. And when we do that we’re a force to reckon with.”

Bush’s play has been a spark for Miami, with 332 yards rushing and five TDs in the last five games.

“You talk about a spark plug for a team and he’s the guy,” said Moore,
who has thrown eight touchdown passes and just one interception in the Dolphins’ five-game turnaround. “He’s just been doing a heck of a job. You got to give a lot of credit to Reggie but you got to give a lot of
credit to the offensive line as well. They’re doing a good job for him
and opening up holes. I think naturally Reggie is just seeing it. He’s
got a great instinct for the game and he’s doing what he does best. He’s taking it outside when he needs to but he’s just been doing all the
right things. It’s nice to see a good guy play well and do those things
for a team. He does a ton in the locker room as well. He’s a leader and
a veteran guy. He’s doing it right.”

Eagles’ defensive end Trent Cole said the same about Moore.

“The quarterback’s stepped it up,” Cole said. “I think that’s a big part of the reason that whole team is doing what they’re doing now. They’ve been playing well and the quarterback has contributed a lot to their team.”

The Dolphins have scored 139 points in the last five games after managing just 107 in the first seven games, and while Moore’s improvement and Bush’s nose for the end zone have helped, Miami is getting it done up front.

Miami won the John Madden Protectors Award for boasting the best offensive line in Week 13 in last week’s 34-14 rout of Oakland, where the Dolphins ran for a 2011-best 209 yards and allowed just one sack. During that 0-7 disaster of a start, Miami allowed 27 sacks and scored just two rushing TDs. Since then, the Dolphins have surrendered just eight sacks and run for eight TDs.

“I think our communication has really improved,” Miami left guard Richie Incognito told the Miami Herald. “I think as the season has gone on we’ve really grown together. We’ve taken our growing pains together. Now, we’ve played against a lot of defenses, seen a lot of looks and it’s nice to have all five of us on the same page.”

Miami coach Tony Sparano, on the hottest of hot seats in October, said
the miserable start made him change his ways to keep his locker room
together.

“I wouldn’t say it challenged how I lead as a coach, but I would just
tell you that it force me to re-evaluate some things that I’ve done,”
Sparano said. “Obviously, I have my own way of doing things and the way I kind of have been brought up in this business. It forced me to look at some things a little bit differently, that’s all. And made some changes and made some changes that I think that were relatively dramatically changes compared to what I was comfortable with. Also, I listened to some of my players. I’m fortunate to have good veteran players here on this team and they had some input in some of this and it worked out well for us.”

Miami’s turnaround is precisely what Eagles fans had hoped for when the Birds beat Dallas … and it didn’t come. And then beat the New York Giants … and it didn’t come. Sparano says it still might.

“I see dynamic players all over the place (on the Eagles),” he said. “They have obviously a ton of talent, but I was 0-7 here people watching my film and I felt strong about the talent I had too. So it’s just where we are right now so both teams are at 4-8 going into this game. We can’t change where we are, at least I can’t.”

But Sparano and the Dolphins changed enough to to turn their season around — something the Eagles seemingly cannot do.

“It makes it tough anytime you lose because you put so much into it,”
said the Eagles’ ex-Miami running back Ronnie Brown. “And of course we didn’t have an offseason like we usually do for everybody to get close and get a camaraderie or whatever. So I think as a team the way that we worked during camp we put a lot into it, and to come and not be successful that’s always tough because you know how much you put into it as far as two-a-days. And to know that we could have had a couple of games here and there, and of course it didn’t work out. And I don’t think a lot of games we played the way we’re capable of playing as a football team.”

BIRD SEED: Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin (hamstring), the Eagles’ leading receiver with 46 catches, was downgraded from probable to questionable for Miami. He has traveled for the game.

Brad Wilson can be reached at 800-360-3601 or bwilson@express-times.com.

DAVIE —

The development of rookie tight end Charles Clay has the Miami Dolphins one step closer to their goal of a two-tight end offensive set.

Coach Tony Sparano said the combination of Clay and veteran Anthony Fasano is closing in on the effectiveness of Dolphins’ best duo at the position. That distinction belongs to Fasano and David Martin in 2008 when they caught 65 passes for 904 yards and 10 touchdowns.

“Well, I would say that, close,” Sparano said. “David was a veteran player that had seen a whole lot more than Charles. That’s not a knock on Charles, he’s just a young guy. Every week he goes out there and sometimes something different happens.”

Fasano and Clay have combined for 36 catches, 557 yards and five touchdowns. The numbers could be higher considering Clay was inactive the first two games because of a hamstring injury. The tight ends also seemingly became a bigger part of the offense once quarterback Matt Moore replaced the injured Chad Henne as the starter in Week 5.

Since, the tight ends have caught 27 passes.

“I know that our stats aren’t really up there, but we’re an important part of this offense,” Fasano said. “We’re trying to make plays when they come our way and also be key factors in the running game.”

Clay’s growth is the key if the Dolphins want to reach their goal. Clay said he’s learned while playing alongside Fasano. According to Fasano, Clay is starting to learn the mental aspects of the game and allowing his ”abilities to just take over.”

Clay has proven he can be an impact player at tight end or H-back. His progression is why the Dolphins are showing the two-tight end look more often.

“It’s been a little more gradual as the season progresses,” Clay said of the two-tight end sets. “Earlier in the season, we were mostly a three-receiver team.”

What the formation allows is the Dolphins to create personnel mismatches. The two-tight end set is one of the reasons New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been so effective over the years. Sparano said the matchup problems are limitless.

“If they bring little guys in the game, you can create matchup problems in the run game that way,” coach Tony Sparano said. “Having the ability to have that personnel, it helps.”

Wake, Incognito fined

Linebacker Cameron Wake was fined $15,000 for last week for roughing the passer against the Oakland Raiders. He hit Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer in the head and neck area.

Offensive lineman Richie Incognito was fined $7,500 for unnecessary roughness for striking an opposing player late.

Welcome back Ronnie

Former Dolphins first-round pick Ronnie Brown returns for the first time since signing with the Philadelphia Eagles in the offseason. Brown rushed for 4,815 yards in his six seasons in Miami.

His role has diminished with the Eagles, gaining 67 yards in 19 carries. He has just one touchdown, a four-yard run against the Chicago Bears Nov. 7.

“We all love Ronnie [Brown],” defensive end Jason Taylor said. “Unfortunately, he’s not here with us, but he’s was one of those who was special from day one. A good guy, really good in the community and a good teammate. So it would be good to see him even though he’s in the other color. We’ll try to beat him, but we’ll give him a hug at the end.”

srichardson@tribune.com

Paul Soliai was a rookie who barely knew how to put on his pads properly back in 2007, so imagine how difficult it was for a then young nose tackle to understand why he wasn’t playing.

Or why his new teammates didn’t respect their rookie head coach Cam Cameron. Or why his team was winless until a Week 15 overtime victory over the Baltimore Ravens, which kept the Dolphins from entering the ranks of the NFL’s winless teams, keeping the 1-15 Dolphins from becoming a sports trivia question.

What Soliai does remember is how painful that season was, and how mediocre they became due to injuries and poor quarterback play.

“I been there before and I don’t want to go back,” Soliai said, referring to that team’s three-month stretch of losing.

It appears the 2011 Dolphins, who are 0-7 heading into Sunday’s road game against Kansas City, are on a similar crash course. But take it from someone who was a passenger on that rough ride, there’s no comparing those two Dolphins squads, because the ’11 team has nearly twice as much talent.

Zach Thomas was among the team’s seven starters who ended up on injured reserve in ’07. The talent drop off was so bad, Channing Crowder lead the team in tackles (78) despite missing the final six games with a knee injury.

The only season-opening starter this team’s lost for good is quarterback Chad Henne, but safety Chris Clemons and cornerback Vontae Davis’ absence hasn’t helped.

Cleo Lemon was the ’07 team’s leading passer, throwing for 1,773 yards and six touchdowns as the replacement for an injured Trent Green, and a struggling John Beck, the rookie who wasn’t prepared to start.

This year Matt Moore, a five-year veteran who has started 16 games, replaces Henne.

Jesse Chatman handled the most carries in ’07 after Ronnie Brown suffered a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury in week seven. The Dolphins also needed a ton of average backs — Lorenzo Booker, Samkon Gado and Patrick Cobbs — to make it through that season, which saw the Dolphins average 4.0 yards per carry and score 14 rushing touchdowns.

Reggie Bush has started every game this season, and even though Daniel Thomas has been limited by a troublesome hamstring injury, the ground game (4.3 yards per carry) is one of the bright spots.

At the trading deadline in ’07, Chris Chambers, a seven-year starter, was dealt to San Diego for a second-round pick, which figuratively waved the white flag to the players inside the locker room.

Marty Booker finished that season leading the team with 50 receptions for 556 yards and scored just one of the team’s 12 touchdowns through the air.

Brandon Marshall has just about trumped those totals (38 receptions for 538 yards and one touchdown) in seven games.

The Dolphins needed seven safeties — Yeremiah Bell (injured in the season opener), Renaldo Hill and Cameron Worrell (both tore their ACL in Week 7) — to make it through that dismal season.

In ’07 an injury-depleted defensive line — which saw a seventh-round pick named Rodrique Wright start nine games — allowed opponents to rush for 2,456 yards (4.5 a carry) and score 18 rushing touchdowns.

Wright never started or played in another NFL game after that season. This defense features five linemen who could start on half a dozen teams.

So any time someone wants to start comparing that talent-strapped ’07 team to this underachieving ’11 squad, remind them that the talent level, and the circumstances they were under, cannot and should not be compared.

However, the lessons learned in ’07 better be utilized.

“You have to take on the mind-set of whatever you’ve been doing, you better do it better,” said punter Brandon Fields, a rookie in ’07. “However hard you’ve been working you have to work harder till you finally get that payoff, a win on Sunday.”

okelly@tribune.com