Turning Over A New Leaf

You are what you’re record says you are. Except when you are not.

Consider the Miami Dolphins. They’re 3-3 going into Thursday night’s AFC East meeting with the New England Patriots, who are 6-0. The Patriots obviously are what they’re record says they are, but the Dolphins? Uh, no.

They were 1-3, lifeless and merely going through the motions on the football field, when Joe Philbin lost his job as head coach. Under interim coach Dan Campbell, who personifies energy and emotion, the Dolphins are 2-0. They’ve outscored those two opponents 82-36. They’re not what they were.

“Dan’s enthusiasm and passion for the game, his energy and competitive drive is just contagious and it’s transferred over to the team and we’ve been really playing that way lately,” quarterback Ryan Tannehill says.

Playing no longer seems like a labor of, well, labor. Philbin weighed on the team, while Campbell lifts it. Playing for him is simply playing.

“It’s fun, it’s exciting and I think that energy has transferred over to the team,” Tannehill says. “He’s a guy that we can relate to, he was in our shoes not too long ago as a player, it’s easy to relate to him and his approach to the game is just so energetic and filled with so much passion. It’s easy to latch on to that.”

The two wins under Campbell came against the Tennessee Titans (1-5) and Houston Texans (2-5). Those teams are not the NFL’s measuring stick. That is still the Patriots, the defending Super Bowl champions. Playing them on the road with a short week of preparation is the Dolphins’ first true test under Campbell.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .