Give credit to Tony Sporano for keeping the ship afloat during the Miami Dolphins' 0-7 start to the 2011 NFL season. When Las Vegas sets your over/under win total at 7.5 at the outset of the year and you lose your first seven games, obviously there's the potential for disaster in the locker room. But as was noted by Sun-Sentinentel reporter Omar Kelly, the Dolphins have remained loose and confident throughout their early-season struggles. And after finally winning their first game of the year in Week 9, a 31-7 shellacking of the Kansas City Chiefs, the Dolphins feel like they're ready to compete consistently for the remainder of the season.
They'll try to win their second consecutive game this Sunday when the reeling Washington Redskins come to town. Banged up and searching for answers, the Redskins come to town riding a four-game losing streak. The Dolphins, meanwhile, are as healthy as they have been in weeks.
Cornerback Nolan Carroll, who has been battling an on-again, off-again hamstring injury, appears to be the only player whose participation was limited.
That means Daniel Thomas and Vontae Davis’ hamstring injuries are healing, or appears to be.
Sparano said Davis, who was suspended last week, will start against the Redskins.
Thomas played against the Chiefs last week, but his participation was limited.
It's exceedingly rare to see a team's injury report be so thin at this stage in the year, but Miami's is just that. Everybody was in practice again on Thursday, and as noted above, CB Nolan Carroll was the only one to even be limited. All told, the Dolphins appear ready to salvage what's left of their season and play themselves out of the Andrew Luck Sweepstakes with a successful second half of the season.
Kickoff between Miami and Washington is 1 pm local time from Sun Life Stadium in South Florida.