Flippin' the birds (and the fins)

A year ago, Miami was the laughing stock of the league, struggling to achieve a mere 1-15 record. In that same year, hell broke loose in Atlanta as star quarterback Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months prison-time for his part in an illegal dogfighting ring and Falcons coach Bobby Petrino abandoned Atlanta late in the season to take a job at Arkansas.

Looking at these teams this season, 2007 seems like a long time ago.

The Dolphins are 11-5 and AFC East Champions after their victory against the New York Jets (aka NY Bretts) on Sunday and the Falcons are playoff bound in Mike Smith's first year as head coach, not to mention Matt Ryan's rookie campaign.

Who would've thought right?


The two big reasons for both turnarounds are simple.

Good head coaches... solid quarterbacks.

Matt Ryan has done an outstanding job not just getting the Falcons to an 11-5 record, winning his last three straight, and a spot in the playoffs which seemed like an incredible longshot in the beginning, but he has put back the fans belief in the Atlanta Falcons team itself... all in his rookie season.

His 3,280 yards passing and 15 touchdowns should make him a lock for NFL Rookie of the Year, but it's the magnitude of his quick success is what makes his story special.

Everybody thought after the Mike Vick incident that the Falcons would need about 3-4 years to be back towards the top, but Ryan, along with runningback Michael Turner (aka LT's former backup in San Diego) completed the turnaround in just one season.

The 2007 Dolphins were probably worse than the 2008 Detroit Lions. Their only win of the season came against the Baltimore Ravens in overtime as Cleo Lemon's (who?) pass to Greg Camarillo (again, who?) gave the Dolphins their first and only win, and put Ravens head coach Brian Billick out of a job.

Their turnaround started when they signed hall of fame coach Bill Parcells as their general manager and continued when they hired Tony Sparano to be the head coach.

However, it was the aquisition of quarterback Chad Pennington that made this possible.



Pennington was released from the Jets in August after they signed Brett Favre midway through preseason and was signed by Miami a day after.

Pennington played well with the Fins throwing for 3,453 yards and 19 touchdowns leading the Dolphins to an 11-5 record, winning their last five straight games and an AFC East championship (yes, over that pesky New England team).

Both teams were longshots to make the playoffs, maybe even longshots to finish at .500, but both will be playing in January, despite the critics original predictions.

The question now is, how long will each team survive in the playoffs against teams like Baltimore, Carolina, the New York Giants, Pittsburg?