For the Miami Dolphins, Everything Is Looking Up—Or Nearly Everything

After a dismal 0-3 start for the Miami Dolphins, they have been able to turn things around and get a few wins under their belts—one of those being against the very good division rival New York Jets.

If we can keep things up after this bye week, we should be able to beat the undefeated (so far) New Orleans Saints.

There are a lot of things that Miami has been able to do well. Chad Henne is showing a lot of promise, Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams are running all over opposing defenses, and our run defense is among the best in the NFL. A lot seems to be going right for Miami now.

But, there are still two very evident weaknesses that need to be fixed if the Dolphins ever want to make noise in the postseason this year, which I think they are very capable of doing because of the bountiful talent on this year's roster.

Those two weaknesses are our passing defense and kick/punt returns.

Our passing defense is a measly 19th-best in yards allowed this season. We have a terrible habit of giving up huge gains in a single pass play while we are nursing only a small lead. It cost us the game against the Colts a few weeks ago, and it almost cost us the game a few times in the most recent victory against the Jets.

A lot of focus was put into the Dolphins secondary this offseason to help strengthen our passing defense. We added a lot of talent with the drafting of rookies Vontae Davis and Sean Smith. So we have talent; the problem is that the talent is not always enough in the NFL. Experience is just as important.

Davis and Smith will have to take every possible tidbit of experience they can get in order to develop in the speed Miami needs them to. Do not be worried though, because things can only get better from here.

Our other weakness is kick and punt returns. We are unable to give our offense good field position the majority of the time because of our horrible return yardage. Thankfully our offense is so strong that we can drive down the field from anywhere, but it would be a lot easier and less tiring for our offense if we could just give them a smaller distance to travel.

With the season-ending injury to Patrick Cobbs, we have to get a new return man. That will probably end up being Ted Ginn Jr., so hopefully he can make something happen and make things easier for our offense.

If the Miami Dolphins are able to improve their pass defense and return kicks and punts farther, then we can really start making a mark and go deep into the playoffs. Everything else is already there—we just need to add those two little aspects to complete the circle of success.