Playing 60 minutes of football was the theme & the Dolphins delivered

The Miami Dolphins have been plagued throughout the course of the season by not being able to play a complete game. It would always seem that they would have one bad half and one good half, but never were always able to consistently put the two together.On Sunday, after getting off to a slow start in the first quarter, they turned up the fire and delivered in the last three quarters.

Joe Philbin said that all week, they talked about playing a full 60 minutes and getting the job done on the field so they can walk away with a victory.

“I think last week, when I was here, I talked about the thing our team had to focus on was playing for sixty minutes and I thought our guys in all phases contributed to the victory today. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t necessarily textbook, but I thought our guys hung in there and made enough plays to win the game,” he said. “Again, we just kept preaching it all week. It was something we emphasized and the guys just hung in there, like (he) was talking about, that particular sequence where it didn’t look good for a little bit, but the guys just kept playing.”

In a game that saw many twists and turns, Jelani Jenkins said there wasn’t any one moment where the momentum of the game turned either way – good or bad.

“I think everybody just complemented each other. The defense did a good job of coming out and giving the offense another chance at the end, then special teams came with the block and it was huge. So I think everyone just playing together, complementing each other got us the win.”

Philbin said that he was proud of the way his team competed even with all the adversity they faced throughout the course of the game. He was especially pleased with the second half effort since that has been their downfall over the past several weeks.

“We told the guys at halftime. I thought our coaches did a good job of making some adjustments. Nothing major. We didn’t invent any really news plays or anything like that. The guys kept their poise. I told the team at halftime we’ve been in this situation before. We’ve been down at half ten points here on this field and have been able to come back. We’ve just got to play one play at a time, one possession at a time.”

“The way we’ve played in the second half the last couple of weeks…as I mentioned today the theme with the team the whole week was play sixty minutes. Play sixty minutes. Every time I walked over to the bench it’s all they ever heard from me. Just keep playing. Again, we made some mistakes, but the guys made enough plays when it counted and we came back from ten down, and went up ahead by eight, then gave up eight points, and found a way to tie it back up and all that stuff. I thought they showed some resilience.”

Cameron Wake said this victory showed the kind of character the players have on this team, especially to fight the way they did with their backs up against the wall and so much chatter this week off the football field.

“Obviously we don’t want to be in a hole and have to fight our way out but the way it happened shows character. Regardless of what is in front of us, everyone stepped up. When plays needed to be made, it happened. I’m proud of all the guys and it feels good.”

This story was written by Matthew Cannata. Follow him on Twitter: @PhinManiacs

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