While trends and tendencies do matter leading up to this game, they matter less for the Dolphins for two reasons.
The first is they are coming off their bye. Bye weeks are a chance for teams to evaluate where they are at. The week off is a great chance for coaches to take stock of what they do well and what they do not do well. They provide time to implement wholesale changes.
The second is the real possibility Tony Sparano might be coaching for his job. The front office in Miami can say otherwise.,He might have gotten an extension before the season. The fact of the matter is the owner of this team in public tried to hire another coach, Jim Harbaugh, in the offseason. That is not a move an owner makes if he is totally satisfied with his current coach. Early in his tenure, ross has come off like a Dan Snyder or Jerry Jones type owner, very hands on and trying to keep his team in the headlines. You see a ton of celebrities featured at their home games now. Ross even took the unusual step of commenting about the style of on field play he wants to see from his team. Sparano knows how impulsive this owner seems. He knows his job could be on the line. It is quite possible he will pull out all the stops in this game and take some chances he might not otherwise to get a win.