'Fins chase history; Jets QB issue; Vikes' RB mistake

IRVING, Texas -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight while watching as the Duel in Dallas threatens to suck up all available oxygen in the NFL's Week 6 ...

• Thirty-five years later, I'm beginning to think there may be another perfect season in the making in Miami. But not the kind that will conjure up competition for the 1972 Dolphins, they of 17-0 fame. After Sunday's 41-31 loss at Cleveland, this year's Dolphins are now an embarrassing 0-6, and I see no apparent end to the free fall. Miami plays host to the unbeaten Patriots next week, then plays the improved Giants in London in two weeks.

If they lose both of those, as I expect they will, the Dolphins would be 0-8 heading into their Week 9 bye. Then comes maybe their best chance to win a game all season: A home game against Buffalo and the injury-decimated Bills defense. If Miami doesn't take care of business in that one, 0-16 will be a distinct possibility.

The Dolphins' final seven games are at Philadelphia, at Pittsburgh, against the Jets, at Buffalo, against Baltimore, at New England, and against Cincinnati. Will they be favored in any of those? Maybe at home against the Jets, but it's no slam dunk.

How hopeless must Dolphins fans feel these days? At 0-6, rookie head coach Cam Cameron is making the good folks of South Florida pine for the Nick Saban era, brief as it was. By comparison, Dave Wannstedt authored a dynasty in Miami.

Nothing makes a team look worse than bad quarterbacking, but the Dolphins' problems extend a lot further than just their post-Marino slump at the game's most pivotal position. The Dolphins' aging defense got shredded by a Browns offense that looks a little more dangerous all the time, and Cameron and his staff have been anything but difference-makers in year one.

Slimy exit and all, maybe Saban knew what he was doing.

• Sunday had the feeling of a last stand for Chad Pennington in New York, and from this vantage point, he didn't make much of one with an 11-of-21, 128-yard, one-pick showing against the Eagles. It's time to see what Kellen Clemens can do with a full-time starting shot, Eric Mangini.

Pennington's lack of arm strength has shrunk the field to a ridiculous degree for the Jets, and the offensive rhythm the Jets displayed last year hasn't been seen at any point this season. At 1-5, New York needs to start finding out if Clemens is their guy in 2008 and beyond.

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