Another Game 14 victory but completely different feel for Dolphins

"I think the guy has a tremendous passion for those moments," Sparano said. "Coming out of the tunnel at halftime, I said to him, 'Come on now, this is the time. We need you here.' And he said, 'I'm a closer.' "

Porter closed the Dolphins' seventh victory in eight games.

"They had some good drives, but we made them settle for three," Porter said. "This year is a big turnaround. I think the guys are focused. We have full control over what's going to happen in our playoff picture."

Of the seven wins, the Dolphins have scored more than 21 points only twice.

"We have won some games that we would have lost last year," Holliday said. "It is because of confidence and a belief that we didn't have last year. That's the biggest change."

The Dolphins have played a weaker schedule (68-100 opponents' record) but haven't lost to any team with a record below .500. Camarillo and guards Justin Smiley and Donald Thomas are the only season-ending injuries.

The big question is how did it happen so quickly? The answer started with the hiring of Bill Parcells as director of football operations. He hired Jeff Ireland as general manager and Sparano as coach.

"The first time that Coach Parcells spoke to us," Brown said, "you knew that he had won, that he knew how to win and that he was committed to getting us what we needed to win as fast as possible."

Parcells essentially reorganized a football corporation that had gone bankrupt in assets needed to win. The Dolphins have 29 players who weren't with the team in 2007 on the active roster.

Pennington was the final piece in turning the Dolphins into winners again. The rest has been things like changing turnover ratio from minus-7 to plus-12 and the ability to close games in the fourth quarter.

"We have confidence in closing the deal in the fourth quarter," Pennington said. "Where we have to do better is scoring more points. Scoring 14, 16 points a game isn't going to cut it down the stretch."

Still, the players have bought into the Parcells, Ireland and Sparano plan because the bottom of the roster has been constantly upgraded.

"They understand that these guys aren't just doing this to do it," Sparano said. "That there's a big picture out there and that if these guys think this is the right thing to do, then it's probably the right thing to do."

Sparano also emphasized, with the tighter focus on the next two games, an analysis of first-year progress wouldn't be made until the season is over.

"At the end of this whole thing," Sparano said, "we don't just want to be good this year; we want to be good for a long time."