Jay Fiedler: a game, and possible season saving performance

November 25, 2003
Robert Henderson
MDBW Staff Writer

Since the Dolphins win on Sunday night, there have been two types of Dolphins fans: the optimist and the pessimist. Well, this is nothing new you say, but in my opinion, after Sunday night, it's rather annoying that there are still any pessimists. Sure, it was only the Redskins, and sure the Dolphins only won by a point, but the scoreboard and stat sheet do not illustrate the performance.

The first drive, an 88 yard touchdown drive, orchestrated in three plays and capped off by James McKnight's 80 yard catch and run was something Dolphins fans hadn't seen in a while and really did not expect to see.

Well, for the next 47 minutes and 58 seconds. In those 48 minutes the Dolphins offense lived up to their expectations, they were back to their old, sorry 3 and out drives against a Redskins defense that had been struggling to stop anyone.

Ricky Williams couldn't run, Brian Griese didn't have time to even look for his receivers, and to put it frankly: no one was getting their job done. There were two drives that showed the slightest bit of hope: the last drive of the first half when Mare kicked a 51 yard field goal right before halftime, and the drive when Griese threw an interception in the redzone. Great.

Something had to be done, and everyone was thinking that Jay Fiedler would come in and try to provide a spark. He did. He jogged out onto the field into the huddle as he has done so many times before in his Dolphins career. However, there was something unusually different, and absolutely great about this jog than any other. Jay Fiedler received the biggest roar out of a crowd of 73,000 plus that he has probably ever heard. For the first time in his Dolphins career it seemed like he was appreciated. Maybe it was because Brian Griese couldn't pay money to save the offense, but it still was a positive reaction towards Fiedler. And what does he do? He jogs out of the huddle, drops back, and completes a beautiful 31 yard pass to Chris Chambers - a pass that only Chambers could have caught, past two Washington defenders.

Another roar.

A few minutes later Ricky Williams leaped about 5 yards through the air to start the Dolphins biggest comeback in 23 years.

When Fiedler came onto the field, he told the offense in the huddle that they were going to win the game. He provided some sort of magical energy that surged from each player's head down to their toes. Suddenly, this 27th ranked offense was rolling. And why? Because of Jay Fiedler. He did something that Brian Griese couldn't - provided confidence.

The offensive line started to block, the receivers started to get open, and Ricky Williams gave us as Dolphins fans a feeling that it was last year again. He was running with more energy than we had ever seen this season. Jim Brown told him what to do, but it took Fiedler's leadership to give him the confidence.

This is why being a pessimist after a game like that is the same as being a total jerk, a loser, and a freakin' Jets' fan!! I don't care if it was the Washington Redskins because when Jay Fiedler came into that game, the whole team started playing an inferior team how it should have been playing.

The fans finally had something to cheer about: two straight scoring drives of 69 and 71 yards, a defense that was rejuvenated and impenetrable, a special teams with a punter who booted a low snap 57 yards which caused the game sealing turnover, and a crowd that was screaming so loud that Jason Taylor didn't hear the whistle blow and proceeded to yank Tim Hasslebeck down by the facemask. Who cares? It was fire!

The fact is that this is the way the Miami Dolphins, who have more talent than the New England Patriots (9-2), the Indianapolis Colts (9-2), the Tennessee Titans (9-2), the Dallas Cowboys (8-3), the Carolina Panthers (8-3), and the New York Jets (this is just a given), should have been playing against a 4-6, inferior Washington team for the whole game.

Forget the lousy 48 minutes of play because those last 10 minutes, with a quarterback who wins games, were the preview of the rest of this season. Be the optimist!

Robert Henderson can be reached by e-mailing webmaster@miamidolphinsbahamas.com. Or you can talk about this story and more on the MDBW Forums message board!