Miami Dolphins Get an Ugly, Boring Victory Against Brett Favre and The Vikings.

A Dolfan Diaries entry.

Raise your hand if you thought the Dolphins had a shot against Minnesota.

My hand is down. I thought they'd cover, not win outright.

Yet today they came out and played well. 

First drive went well defensively save for the Vikings making one of three decisions that might've cost them the game by going for it instead of kicking the field goal.

That failed, but Henne to Marshall ended up working this time. The pass nets a good 46 yards. This should be a good sign that they're opening up the offense right?

Wait, here comes the wildcat. 

Wildcat gains us some good yards, leading to Henne's first Touchdown pass of the year and Hartline's first touchdown catch of the year. 

7-0 Dolphins. 

The Dolphins defense now holds Minnesota to a 4 and out. Sure the Vikings get the first down on the first play, but can't do anything else after. The Dolphins D starts to completely swarm Favre and so far its paying off.

So the phins get the ball back. Another big pass play, this time to Hartline. So far Henne is doing what all Dolphins fans have expected of him. Two Ricky runs and a Polite run gets another first down.

Now time out. Here are the Dolphins, beginning of the second quarter, looking at first and 10 at the Vikings 36 after getting two straight first downs, one in the air, and on the ground. The Dolphins are firmly in control. (When you say Miami could we be thinking Super Bowl? Sorry had to take that it was too easy.) Plus they've shown a tendency to go long on first down. What do you do here though if you're offensive coordinator Dan Henning?

A. Try another deep throw and have Henne check down if he finds nothing.

B. Wildcat

C. A straight ahead running play to Ronnie Brown

D. A draw play to Ronnie or Ricky.

I'd honestly go with D. They think we're going to keep throwing on first down and have burned them on first down twice, the wildcat has already had some usefulness and the Vikings D might have it figured out, a straight ahead running play is too obvious since everyone does that on first down.

But a draw play? A draw play gets the Vikings to swarm Henne, and right before they get to him the ball is handed off and either Ricky or Ronnie and they'll get at least a good five to ten yards.

Nope instead a pass play, and Henne can't find his check downs so he went down. Negative eight yards. The type of play that kills a drive, and that it did.

Three plays later, a punt.

But unfortunately the Vikings are driving, and driving very well.

Favre is hitting recievers like Lambeau in the 90's, and AP is getting yards. So far it looks like this game might be tied in about a min-

INTERCEPTED BY VONTAE DAVIS!

Ok so this interception wasn't exactly Favre's fault. On the contrary, Harvin couldn't get any control of the ball, and instead of hitting it down to at least get a free three points (and help my fantasy team since Longwell is my kicker) he leaves it up in the air and Davis is able to grab it.

But its still first and 10 for the Dolphins on their own one.

But then comes the handoff to Ronnie and there's a hole big enough to fit a Mack Truck through...still too small to fit Shaq but still pretty big. Ronnie runs it 51, and not to nitpick a great play BUT, if he could've made just one move he has six and the Dolphins have a 14-0 lead.

But he does get field position back, and its first in 10. Now again I'll ask you, after a big run like that by Ronnie, what should the Dolphins do...

A. Try another running play but with Ricky Williams up the middle

B. An intermediate pass to Hartline but with Marshall going deep and if he gets open go there.

C. A draw play to Ricky (Ronnie should get a breather)

Guess which option Dan Henning went with. B makes the most sense and would've at least gotten us 10 yards. Instead a Ricky up the middle run that gets no gain. The drive then stalls, but the field position battle helps the Dolphins out again as Fields' punt pins the Vikings back at their own 8.

The Vikings then run a pretty pedestrian drive that ends up resulting in a punt. The Dolphins run out the clock with a first half that ended up going pretty well.

Dolphins 7 Vikings 0 Halftime.

Now the Dolphins are getting the ball first in the 2nd half. What they need to do is set the pace. This isn't Buffalo where you can win by going 3 and out each time and dominate them on Defense, this is a Vikings offense that still has some spark to it and only needs one good drive to get them into a good rhythm. Meaning first play, you gotta pass it long like in the first offensive play in the first half. Not just for the Vikings, but to let the rest of the league know that they have faith in Henne and that they have a complete offense.

Instead its a short pass to Brown. Probably his checkdown option.

Save for a stupid penalty on Fasano, the Dolphins are putting together a decent drive, chewing up clock, converting yards. But it stalls at the Vikings 39. I expected them to get at least three points here, but if you have to punt, might as well be when you're already in opposition territory. Let's hope they can down it inside the 10.

Just don't let the Vikings get on a roll here, and hope that Brett Favre can be Brett Favre and try to be the hero and-

FORCED FUMBLE TD!

Dolphins 14 Vikings 0

Remember last week when I talked about the Bills plan to give the Dolphins a safety in exchange for field position? Well in that case it didn't work. I think though here it would've worked better. Vikings should've handed it to AP. He'll either get a first down or he'll get some breathing room, and if he's stopped for no gain, then the Vikings could give the Dolphins the two points but get better field position. Instead Brett had to try to be the hero, and scored seven for the phins. Dolphins defense is showing up this year.

Vikings get the ball back, Favre back to pass, PICKED OFF BY JASON ALLEN!

Jason Allen had been the Dolphins pleasant surprise, which is great, except a former first round pick shouldn't be a pleasant surprise, it should be expected. 

But on this play it doesn't matter, the penalties offset each other. Sapp was offside, and Shiancoe was holding. Too bad Sapp couldn't remember where the neutral zone was, phins could've made it at least 17-0. 

I still wouldn't ever want to give a team like the Vikings new life, but it looks like thats what the Dolphins did there. Shiancoe catches for 19 yards, followed by a Berrian catch for 20, then Kleinsasser for another 20. Just great, Vikings in the red zone and about to score, all they have to do is give the ball to AP and-

INTERCEPTED BY JASON ALLEN!

This time its for real. No penalties, Dolphins ball but deep in their own territory. If its like the last time then I'm feeling good about it. Let's just watch Henne hand the ball off to Ricky because I know Ricky has solved all of his problems fumbl-

CRAP!

This part edited by the author because despite some of the comments left by trolls, Bleacher Report is a family friendly sports website. Believe me, you didn't want to see what Tom really wrote there.

Ok, I had to cool down. While I was gone I missed a Vikings touchdown so

Dolphins 14 Vikings 7.

See Vikings, when you have an asset like Peterson, there's no reason to leave it to Brett. He's great, a first ballot hall of famer, but he also has a hero complex and does think he's bigger than the game. Anyways, Dolphins have the ball back but they just run three plays that gain some positive yardage but not enough for a first down and end the quarter.

Dolphins 14 Vikings 7, end of 3rd quarter.

First play of the quarter is a beautiful Fields punt to Camarillo. The punt was beautiful despite Robison running into the kicker. Camarillo fields the punt, then fumbles it but is able to recover it. It doesn't matter though, Fields must punt again due Robison's penalty. 

Vikings with the ball again, this time they have Peterson living up to his nickname, its all him all day. But the Dolphins are able to stop the Vikings and give them a 4th and 1. They go for it, and it looks like we held their fullback up, he doesn't even get back to the line of scrimmage right?

Well the ref spots the ball a good one and a half yards away from where he was stopped. I don't understand why Sporano didn't challenge that terrible spot. Of course its a first down. But the Dolphins D regroups. Last year the Dolphins defense would've been deflated the Vikings would've scored a touchdown on the phins and tied the game and wind up winning it. This year? They hold the Vikings to a field goal.

Dolphins 14 Vikings 10, 7:52 left in the game.

The good news? A score here wraps the game up. The bad news? This is when Henning likes to be conservative and boring. I get it now, this Dolphins team just wants to win close but boring games. I really don't feel like we're going to lose this game, but its a lot closer than it should be (just like last week, only against a better and more talented team) and despite it being only a four point game with less than eight minutes left, the game is pretty bleeping boring.

Just look at this drive: -3 yard run by Ricky Williams, a four yard pass to Hartline, some missed communication leading to a time out on 3rd down, and when they finally go long to Marshall, you know on 3rd and 9 when everyone is expecting it, incomplete and a punt.

They just need the defense to hold on and get the ball back without allowing any points. If the Dolphins D can do that than this game is just about over. But the key is to stop Adrian Peterson, whom I'm absolutely sure they're going to go to in this first play right?

INTERCEPTED BY JASON ALLEN!

Peterson is doing very well and has already gained about 110 yards on the ground, and the Vikings have six minutes and all of their time outs left. Common sense says to POUND IT DOWN THE DEFENSE'S THROAT! 

But Brett Favre instead throws it into double coverage and gets picked off. Just hold on now, hopefully get a score. Ricky's not in there so its not like Ronnie could fum-

SON OF A B-

Censorship is bad, but at the same time one must always use common decency while posting something in a public forum such as bleacherreport.com. Because of that again, I had to remove what I had originally typed. But believe me, you don't want to see whats in my notebook, nor would you want your children to see it because its pretty bad.

Once again, you can't give teams as talented as the Vikings another chance. And I'd say fumbling it inside our own 30 gives them about a 200% chance of scoring, plus the first time all season that the Dolphins lead has seriously been in trouble.

Oh, I do have some trivia tidbits later on that will make that last paragraph stick out.

Only 29 yards away from a game winning TD, the Vikings put on one heck of a drive. Correction, Adrian Peterson is putting on one heck of a drive. Scary to think what the Vikings could do if they just had this game plan from the beginning. Alas, fourth and one at the one. 

It might be too early to say this but I think that both team's seasons rest on this play. If the Vikings get it, they avoid going 0-2 and stay a game back of the Packers, who destroyed Buffalo, and the Bears, which pulled off the upset against Dallas who are working hard to prove Michael Wilbon right and clinch their place as the most overrated, over-hyped team in all of sports. If the Dolphins get the stop, they show that they might just be ready to take their place at the NFL's big boy table and put themselves in a good position to go 2-0, which was needed considering their next three games are against the Jets, Patriots and Packers. The Dolphins at worst should come out of there 3-2 to have a shot at the playoffs, a loss means that at worst the Dolphins could be 1-4. Gut check time.

STOPPED AT THE LINE!

As a football fan there are three plays that generate enormous excitement: a kickoff/punt return for a touchdown, an interception return for a touchdown, and a good goal line stand. From beginning to end the goal line stand is probably the best one because of the drama there is leading up to the play and during the play itself. This one fit the bill, and Peterson got stopped. High drama all around, two seasons probably decided on that play.

The Dolphins go 3 and out, although I don't understand why they passed it that last play. If your goal is just to waste time with less than two minutes left, you should never, and I mean ever pass it. Keep that clock running or force them to use a time out.

Thanks to Fields' punt, a bad one at that, Vikings get the ball back on their own 45. The Vikings have enough time plus one time out and don't have to go too far, so they can afford to use Peterson at least once right?

Well they don't, Favre completes three passes for 14, 10, and 4 yards respectively. But its fourth down and six, another gut check time for the Dolphins Defense.

Incomplete, pass broken up by Sean Smith. Dolphins leave with a win!

Dolphins 14 Vikings 10. Final.

So it seems like this is the Dolphins plan: win ugly, win conservatively, no matter whom they're playing. I hope they open up the offense more in the next two weeks. The Patriots defense looks awfully terrible after losing to the Jets. The Jets offense seems schizophrenic. The Dolphins defense though has shown to be great at putting pressure on the QB. Against Brady it might be a wash, but against Sanchez, in Miami on National Television, it might help the Dolphins go 3-0.

Here's some trivia for you though.

1. The Miami Dolphins have allowed 10 points in both games this season and have allowed a total of 20. The Cardinals defense allowed 41 points against Atlanta alone. 

2. The Dolphins have not trailed at all in 120 minutes of football. But they've had yet to play a game at home.

3. This is the Dolphins first 2-0 start since 2002.

4. The last time the Dolphins won their first two road games of the season was in 2003. That year they won their first four games on the road en route to a 10-6 year. (They still missed the playoffs but that's because of a terrible home record, they went 4-4 at home and 6-2 on the road. Hopefully that's not a harbinger of things to come.)

5. This is the first time since December of 2002 that the Miami Dolphins have sole possession of first place. When they won the division in 2008, they were actually tied with New England, however they won the division based off of tiebreakers. 

Next week the Jets, and hopefully a 3-0 record.

Dolfan Diaries runs every Monday Morning on Bleacher Report. You can follow Thomas Galicia on twitter, @thomasgalicia.