Didn’t mean to eavesdrop inside the Miami Dolphins locker room after Sunday’s 30-23 win against Buffalo, but it is kind of my job.

Couldn’t help but hear a somewhat private conversation Mr. Kevin Burnett was having with Karlos Dansby when he boasted: “We must be the best team to start 0-7 (in NFL history).”

Not sure about best, but the 2011 Miami Dolphins have proven they are pretty good the past month and a half, which featured the Dolphins winning five of the last seven games.

During that stretch of wins the only losses were a come-from-behind fourth-quarter loss to the Dallas Cowboys, and a beat-down the Eagles gave Miami, tooking advantage of a bad offensive line that was missing Pro Bowl left tackle Jake Long.

This team has played some pretty good football during that span of games, and they’ll have a chance to show exactly how much improvement has been made on Saturday when Miami faces the New England Patriots.

The Dolphins players are well aware of how some of their fan base feels about the recent success.

 They know a large portion of the team’s supporters can’t get enough blood (Tony Sparano’s firing isn’t enough), and want the team to lose the final three games to improve the franchise’s draft position.

They know many of the team’s supposed fans aren’t pulling for them, and are disappointed by each victory.

Truth is that painful reality has unified these Dolphins, who have not only endured their tough start, but the dismissal of their beloved coach.

“We needed a win after what we went through this week. We needed it bad,” said Dansby, one of the team’s four captains. “We have what it takes. It’s just a matter of going out and executing and taking it to another level.”

Most of the players believe IF the 2011 Dolphins had an offseason program, and a training camp to grasp the new offense, IF they have Chad Henne compete with Matt Moore for the starting quarterback spot during thre summer, IF they had time to implement the newcomers to the offense and defense this would have be a totally different season.

The team has some evidence to back those claims up considering it took seven games for many of these pieces to get going, used properly.

But from their standpoint, being late arrivers is better than never showing up.

“We’ve proven we’re a tough, smart and relentless bunch of guys,” Dansby said.

Hard to conclude that’s a bad thing to show the next head coach.

G.G.A.T.G.

Allen Eyestone/The Palm Beach Post

Reggie Bush slides into the end zone at the end of his 76-yard touchdown run in the third quarter of the Dolphins’ 30-23 win over the Bills on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011.

We thought it was going to be bad when Chad Henne went down in the fourth game.

We didn’t know what “bad” is.

“Bad” is getting your hide peeled off 26-10 by a bad Eagles team right in your own ballpark.

“Bad” is 4-9 on the season and still facing games at Buffalo and New England and then back here against the Jets.

“Bad” is scoring your lowest total in the past eight games.

“Bad” is giving up 24 points in a second quarter. Or any quarter. This just happened to be the second.

“Bad” is having your whole offense go sour after losing tackle Jake Long in the second quarter. He’s a great player, but your offense shouldn’t stand or fall on one lineman.

Yes, this is a really bad Miami team.

I say that with a certain affection — you get that way when you’ve been covering a team for nearly half a century.

Besides, it has been a while since I had to say anything like it. Four years, actually, since those poor guys went 1-15.

I hate giving up on a season. I thought we said goodbye to that at the end of the 1960s. And heaven knows everybody from coach Tony Sparano down to his lowest scrub is busting his hump out there. But everything still keeps coming up snake-eyes.

And it’s hard to imagine any big turnaround from here.

Brandon Marshall might have offered the most realistic, if inartistic, guidance.

“It sucks that we’re not going to be in the playoffs,” Marshall said. “All we can do is approach these next three games with fire and passion.”

That would be a start. Eagles defensive end Trent Cole said something bearing upon it when he commented, “Eagles football … we all stay strong until the end.”

But it isn’t just something you say. You do it. Or you don’t.

Now, for just a second, let’s go back to something Houston’s Eric Winston said even after the Texans beat the Dolphins 23-13 way back on Sept. 18. “I really believe the Dolphins are going to be there at the end,” is what he said.

Be where, Eric? At 4-12 after entertaining brief visions of an 8-8 season?

No, that’s not at all what Winston meant. He thought they were going to be good.

They’re not good. It’s impossible for them even to be as good as .500 at the end. Their only hope is to perform respectably the rest of the way and wind up 7-9, which would still be just as bad as the 2009 and ’10 seasons.

Nothing in Sunday’s game would indicate that respectability is just around the corner.

“We have to play better … and finish …” center Mike Pouncey put it.

People blocking somebody would be one way to start.

Nine sacks! Giving up nine sackeroos!

They were that bad just once before, in ’99 against the Patriots. But that team finished 9-7. This one can’t.

Again, we thought it was going to be bad when Henne went down and left it all to Matt Moore, who is doing his best.

But this bad?

No way.

In brutal fact, the Dolphins have seldom been this bad since the 1960s, which is hardly what Stephen Ross had in mind when he extended Sparano’s contract in the offseason.

It isn’t that one game makes such a difference. It is one game, and then another game, and then another, and pretty soon you’re up to your shoulders in alligators.

Which is exactly where the Dolphins are now.

Just remember this. Henne coming back next season doesn’t mean instant salvation. The Dolphins were 0-3 when he went down.

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

DAVIE –—

Miami Dolphins coach Tony Sparano has often used the term “now” to describe how the team has approached the past few games.

It’s his way of saying the Dolphins only want to focus on the present instead of the future or past. So there’s no point in asking him about next season’s plans for quarterback Matt Moore.

They are content with his current play and would prefer not to discuss if they feel Moore is a “franchise” quarterback.

“Right now, I’m worried about one thing, this game Thursday,” Sparano said of the Thanksgiving Day game against the Dallas Cowboys. “You guys can figure that out somewhere else down the road.”

Moore has put up solid numbers while leading the Dolphins to three straight victories. He is 3-3 as a starter since replacing the injured Chad Henne, but Moore has completed 51 of 72 passes for 613 yards with six touchdowns and one interception during the win streak. Still, as the case much of the season, fans and media have focused on the long term.

Is Moore talented enough to be the quarterback of the future, or does that search begin with next year’s NFL Draft? It’s a question Sparano will deal with when the time comes. Until then, the Dolphins will revel in the success of Moore.

“Matt’s done a tremendous job right now, and it’s all about what you do with your opportunities in our league,” Sparano said. “As of right now, he is doing a nice job with his opportunities. Matt will be the first to tell you that we need to continue to get better.”

XXX

Sparano listed third-down play as one of the main reasons for the improvement on defense. Last week Buffalo was 0 for 12 on third downs, and failed on both fourth-down attempts. Washington the previous week converted just 5 of 14 third downs.

“Well, we’re getting people off the field right now on third down at a much higher rate,” Sparano said.

Sparano also singled out more touchdowns in red-zone situations and the offense’s improved numbers on third downs.

“I think on offense we’re scoring touchdowns,” Sparano said. “We’re not getting field goals. I think we’re converting more third downs on offense and we’re making better plays.”

XXX

Sparano said he is still fond of the Cowboys staff that remains from when he was an assistant there from 2003-07.

This will mark the first time he’s returned to face his former team during a regular season game since he was hired by the Dolphins in 2008. Miami played Dallas at Sun Life Stadium in the preseason.

Cowboys assistants Wade Williams, Skip Peete, John Garrett and Hudson Houck and coach Jason Garrett were all on the Dallas staff with Sparano.

“Those people were really good to me,” Sparano said. “I mean, the (Dallas owner Jerry) Jones family and the fans there were really good to me so we spent a lot of time there obviously. And obviously I know a lot of players there too still that’s it. It’s a business trip. If I want a vacation in Dallas I can do that some other time.”

srichardson@tribune.com

Consider the next sentence carefully because it comes bearing good news but is also fraught with danger and the ability to derail the Dolphins’ future:

Matt Moore has done a wonderful job as the starting quarterback this season and has earned much respect and a future with the Dolphins.

That’s it. That’s the sentence.

And if you think there are only good tidings in those words, consider how teammate Reggie Bush sums up Miami’s quarterback to understand where danger lies ready for ambush.

“He is everything you need,” Bush said at one point during his Sunday news conference following the Dolphins’ 35-8 stampeding of Buffalo. “He is everything we need him to be. He is doing a great job. He’s a huge, huge, difference-maker.”

Stop right there, please. Moore has been good and, at times, very good.

He’s been a pleasant surprise. But he is definitely not everything the Dolphins need at the position.

Let us, amid the Dolphins nice three-game winning streak, not lose our perspective. More importantly, let’s not lose our minds.

Moore has proven in his seven Miami starts that he belongs in the NFL. He’s proven he’s a wonderful substitute when the starter goes down.

He’s even shown he has a spark and ability that Chad Henne, Miami’s starting quarterback the past two seasons, showed only in frustratingly rare glimpses.

But is he elite?

Moore has led the Dolphins to 11 touchdowns in their past 16 red-zone trips. Moore has led the Dolphins to three consecutive wins including two rare home wins in a row, with Sunday’s thrashing the latest of the bunch.

Moore also has led the Dolphins from the precipice of a winless abyss to some joy for the folks in the locker room and entertainment for the folks in the stands.

But when next April comes around and the Dolphins are deciding how to best improve on 2011, the general manager must draft a quarterback he thinks will become elite.

And that better happen in the first round because that’s where history screams most elite quarterbacks are selected.

That’s not an insult to Moore.

That’s just reality.

No matter how much Moore improves — and one might predict he’ll continue getting better because that’s his current trajectory — the Dolphins shouldn’t allow themselves to believe they have solved their decade-long quarterback riddle just yet.

The Dolphins obviously are not worrying about this now. We honestly have no clue who will be running this team next April, anyway. Moore is similarly free of that concern. But does he think he’s Miami’s long-term answer at quarterback?

“Yeah, I just want to keep playing well and keep winning,” he said. “Wherever that gets me or takes me, so be it. My main focus right now is just to win ballgames, spread the ball around, move the offense and win.

“That’s all I care about.”

The Dolphins brass cannot afford such a happy-go-lucky approach. The people that run the organization already are scouting every draft-eligible quarterback, including some who might not declare, with the idea they must find a quarterback.

That’s the right approach.

But that approach cannot somehow include the idea of picking a quarterback in the second or third round because, after all, Moore has shown himself to be good enough.

Allen Eyestone/The Palm Beach Post

Dolphins tight end Anthony Fasano stretches for the goalline for a touchdown in the first quarter against the Bills at Sun Life Stadium.

PORT ST. LUCIE — Bob Griese says the answer to the Miami Dolphins’ problems is rather simple — their defense needs to take the ball away more.

Griese, the Jupiter resident and former Miami Dolphins star quarterback, was the guest of honor for the VanDuzer Foundation’s Blood Bowl trophy presentation at the Legacy Golf and Tennis Club on Thursday.

Griese, a long-time TV football announcer, is now in his first season as an analyst with the Dolphins Radio Network.

He talked about the Dolphins, top quarterbacks in the college game and his former teammate and good friend, Jim Mandich, who passed away last April.

Q: Why are the Dolphins now winning?

A: I don’t know, but they ought to bottle it and sell it. Really, I just think after Chad Henne got hurt, they had to get used to a new quarterback and I think Matt Moore is playing well now. Plus, the defense is playing like they did last year. They haven’t allowed a touchdown in the last couple of games and the offense is finishing off drives. Think about it, they could have won three or four of those games they lost. They just weren’t finishing at the end. They lost at the end to Cleveland and they lost at the end to Denver. And the Giants came back on them in the second half. Now, I think, they are a lot more confident, too.

Q: What was missing in the first seven games — all defeats?

A: When Miami was 11-5 back in 2008, when they went to the playoffs, they consistently took the ball away. They were first in the league (plus 17) in turnover margin and (Chad) Pennington was the quarterback and he didn’t throw interceptions. If you don’t give it away and you are taking it away a lot, you are going to be right up there. This (2011) defense had only two interceptions in the first eight games, then they had two last week. They don’t seem to take the ball away much and they need guys that can come in and make those plays.

Q: Who are your Super Bowl teams?

A: You have to say (9-0) Green Bay, and hopefully they will lose a game — or two — and you know what I’m referring to there (the 17-0 1972 Dolphins). On the other side, every team in the AFC has lost at least three games, which to me is surprising. But when push comes to shove at the end of the season, I think the Patriots — because of (QB Tom) Brady and that offense — will be the best team in the AFC. Defensively, I don’t think (New England) will be strong enough to beat Green Bay, or even a San Francisco, who is playing well right now. But if I had to pick two teams for the Super Bowl, it would be Green Bay and New England.

Q: Outside of Stanford’s Andrew Luck, who are the top college quarterbacks?

A: Well, I think there are several. I think the (Landry) Jones kid out of Oklahoma is going to be good, and so is the kid out of Oklahoma State, (Brandon) Weeden. And that Houston quarterback, (Case) Keenum, too. But you know the one who I think would be really good, if he were three or four inches taller, is the Wisconsin quarterback, (Russell) Wilson. This is his first year at Wisconsin, as he was at N.C. State before and was a baseball player there, too. He’s only 5-10 and I remember covering him when he was at North Carolina State. As a quarterback, he can run, he can throw and this kid is really good. If only he were a few inches taller, he would be going in the first round (of the NFL Draft) for sure.

Q: What’s wrong with the Big 3 — Florida, Miami, Florida State?

A: Well, it’s hard to stay at the top forever, especially when you change coaches. It’s a new system for all three of them and the kids have to learn a lot of new terminology from these new coaches. It will take them a while, but I do think Miami has a great coach in (Al) Golden.

Q: Your thoughts on Jim Mandich?

A: “Mad Dog” (Mandich) always had a smile on his face and something intelligent to say. He was a lot brighter than he acted. He liked to go crazy at times, but he was a really great guy.

BOB GRIESE

Born: Feb. 3, 1945 in Evansville, Ind.

Resides: Jupiter

College: Purdue (two-time All-American QB, also played for Boilermakers’ basketball and baseball teams; inducted into College Football Hall of Fame in 1984)

NFL: 1st-round (4th player overall) pick of Miami in 1967 — played all 14 seasons for Dolphins, passing for 25,092 yards (192 TDs), running for 994 yards (7 TDs); was a two-time Super Bowl champion, six-time Pro Bowl selection and six-time Dolphins MVP

Broadcasting: Has worked as football commentator for ABC, ESPN and NBC. Now in first year with Dolphins Radio Network, replacing former teammate Jim Mandich.

Did you Know: The Dolphins had the highest winning percentage of any professional sports team in the 1970s with Griese at quarterback.

MIAMI – Ah, the memories. John Beck’s rookie season with the Miami Dolphins stirs images of bumbling, stumbling, fumbling and losing, a lot of losing.

When he dropped back, the entire offence would follow suit. In four starts, all defeats, Beck failed to lead his team to a single touchdown. He tripped and fell for a sack. One especially hapless fumble was returned for a score. Fans jeered and stand-up comedians poked fun until a merciful demotion sent Beck to the bench as a bust.

But there must also be some fond memories of playing in Miami, right, John?

“Not that I can think of, first hand, off the top of my head,” Beck says.

Maybe on Sunday there will be something to savour. Beck’s back in town to play against Miami for the Washington Redskins, who have given him a second chance as an NFL starter.

This could be his last shot. Beck’s career record is 0-9, including 0-7 as a starter.

“You never know if you’re going to get another opportunity,” he says. “I just continue to try to work hard.”

Plenty of players on both teams are struggling to keep their jobs. The Redskins (3-5) are tied for last in the NFC East, and a defeat this week would give Mike Shanahan the first five-game losing streak of his coaching career.

The Dolphins (1-7) ended a skid of their own last week at Kansas City, but they’ve dropped seven in a row at home since last November and remain contenders in the Andrew Luck Sweepstakes.

This is the Dolphins’ worst season since 2007, when they lost their first 13 games and finished 1-15. Beck, a second-round draft pick from BYU, started games 10 through 13 and could do nothing to salvage the season.

“He was thrown to the wolves,” Miami linebacker Jason Taylor says. “He was thrown out there and told, ‘Go make something happen. You’re a second-round pick, and everyone wants to see what you have, so go do it.’ He was kind of put into an unfair position a little bit and not really given all the tools he needed to succeed.”

The Dolphins used the 40th overall choice to draft Beck — still the highest pick they’ve devoted to a quarterback since taking Dan Marino in 1983. But the Bill Parcells regime took over in 2008 and quickly decided Beck wasn’t their quarterback of the future.

Parcells drafted Chad Henne and signed veteran Chad Pennington, and Beck was released after watching the entire 2008 season from the sideline. He spent one year with Baltimore and never played, then joined the Redskins in 2010.

Now Beck’s a 30-year-old survivor. His leadership, accuracy and decision-making remain in doubt, but he says his comfort level has increased.

“As a rookie you’re wide-eyed, especially when you’re going through the tough situation that we were in back in 2007 where we hadn’t won a game and you become a starter,” Beck says. “I feel like I’ve definitely improved, just getting what experience I can. There’s not the wide-eyed look any more.”

Even so, Beck has struggled since replacing Rex Grossman three weeks ago. He has two touchdown passes, four interceptions and 15 sacks, and his 72.1 passer rating is second-worst in the NFC, ahead of only Grossman.

The injury-plagued Redskins have scored 31 points in the three games started by Beck. They haven’t held a lead since Oct. 2.

“The goals that I had coming into the season that you work so hard for — it has been kind of hard to accomplish those with the situation that we find ourselves in now,” Beck says. “It’s hard to say exactly where I’m at, but I just know that I’m still working at it.”

Perhaps Beck can draw inspiration from his counterpart Sunday. The Dolphins’ Matt Moore, eager to show he can handle the No. 1 job, was chosen AFC offensive player of the week after throwing three touchdown passes at Kansas City.

Moore struggled last year in Carolina, signed with the Dolphins as a free agent and became the starter when Henne was sidelined by a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 4.

“I just wanted a shot somewhere to be a backup,” Moore says. “I’ve only been in the league four years, but I think that’s long enough to understand that you don’t have to be the starter to play.”

But to keep playing you must play well, as Moore and Beck both know.

___

AP Sports Writer Joseph White in Washington contributed to this report.

It’s interesting how this Miami Dolphins’ season mirrors the seven stages of grief, which are the emotions we experience morning a loss.

After producing a 76-92 record over the past decade, it’s clear this franchise is lost in the wilderness of NFL mediocrity. At some point, Dolfans need to come to terms with this.

Stage 1. Shock and Denial

Shock provides emotional protection. It’s a defense mechanism, one we experienced after Tom Brady sliced and diced Mike Nolan’s unit for 622 yards and five touchdowns in the season-opening loss to the Patriots. There’s no way the sixth-ranked defense from last season could be that bad?

There was also denial about a repeat of last year’s constantly sputtering offense courtesy of the 390 passing yards and two touchdowns Chad Henne produced against what’s turned out to be the NFL’s worst secondary.

2. Pain and Guilt

The Dolphins lost a winnable game to Houston because the team’s execution wasn’t crisp on both sides of the ball. But more troubling was the fact the coaches weren’t putting players in positions to be successful.

Jason Taylor called an early players-only meeting to address the team’s practice habits. The players bit the bullet for the coaches, but it didn’t result in improvements to the team’s performance. The offense continued its red-zone sputtering, and the defense blew a fourth-quarter lead to Cleveland the next week.

3. Anger and Bargaining

In the Week 4 loss to the Chargers, the Dolphins lost more than the game. The team lost Henne to a season-ending shoulder injury, and players lost their composure. The struggles were everyone else’s fault. The media was out to get them, supposedly turning the fan base against this 0-4 team.

The bye week would provide breathing room, and a victory over the hated Jets could have silenced the critics. But neither came.

4. Depression, Reflection and Loneliness

Losing 18-15 in overtime to Tim Tebow, who mounted a comeback in the final five minutes of regulation, was rock bottom. The Dolphins had just been embarrassed by the NFL’s worst quarterback.

At 0-6 the “Suck for Luck” movement gained momentum because it represented hope for the future. So outside of the team’s family members and friends, few were pulling for wins on Sundays, and a fourth-quarter collapse to the Giants followed.

5. The Upward Turn

That’s where we are after pummeling the Kansas City 31-3 last Sunday. The Dolphins nearly played a flawless game, and the win reinforced the theory this roster has talent.

The Dolphins could realistically win the next four games, beating Washington, Buffalo, Dallas and Oakland. Each unit is playing better, and the coaches have finally figured out how to properly use the team’s personnel. A little late, but that’s better than never.

6. Reconstruction and Working Through

No matter how the Dolphins finish the second half, the damage is done. The fan base is angry, if not apathetic. Confidence in this coaching staff is lost. The job General Manager Jeff Ireland has done building the roster is under scrutiny. Owner Steve Ross has tough decisions to make.

7. Acceptance and Hope

The last four years hasn’t been a total waste. We discovered what can be done with a competent quarterback (Chad Pennington), who led the Dolphins to an AFC East title and the ’08 playoffs. After back-to-back 7-9 seasons, it appears this franchise is ready to bottom out.

The second half of this season will likely determine who stays and who goes. Its management’s job to give South Florida reason for hope.