MIAMI _ Are the Dolphins better now than they were a month ago?
There's no question.
But how much better? That is open to debate. Their wins have come against a horrendous Jets team and a Colts squad on its third-string quarterback.
So the truth could come out with Sunday's rematch against the Bills, who are having a bit of an identity crisis of their own.
Buffalo has lost two of three since beating Miami at home on Oct. 20. A loss to the Dolphins would squander any momentum and respect earned the first month of the season.
But if the football gods have a sense of justice _ or humor, based on your point of view _ Sunday's rematch at Hard Rock will come down to a length-of-the-field drive by Buffalo.
It did four weeks ago, when the Bills took the lead for good with a 12-play, 98-yard touchdown drive in the second half.
Let's for the sake of entertainment say the teams run that scenario back Sunday. Will the Bills steamroll the Dolphins defense again? Or will Brian Flores' group learn from its mistakes in Western New York?
"You can't let your foot off the gas," Dolphins linebacker and captain Jerome Baker said. "On that one, we had them pinned down and we just didn't execute throughout the whole drive. It's still the National Football League. You can't take anybody lightly. You can't not execute some plays. That drive was a total of not doing the right thing. We definitely learned from that, from the games, the Bills game. We get another shot at them this Sunday. We just have to improve and play together as a team."
And as individuals. If any number of players made any number of plays on that drive, things might have gone differently.
_ Like when linebacker Trent Harris came up with air when lunging for running back Frank Gore's ankles with the Bills pinned deep.
_ Like when cornerback Ken Webster let receiver Duke Williams get inside leverage on a crossing route, resulting in a 23-yard completion.
_ Like when running back Devin Singletary juked linebacker Raekwon McMillian nearly out of his cleats.
_ Like when cornerback Ryan Lewis couldn't even slow receiver John Brown down with a jersey tug on Brown's 20-yard touchdown catch.
"You never know what play it's going to be, so every play counts," Flores said. "That's something we talk about really on a day-in and day-out basis.
"We shot ourselves in the foot a lot," Baker added. "We didn't get lined up most of the time. Miscommunication on the call. A lot of it was our mistake. We lost the fight before the ball was even snapped.
Or put another way, all of the bad habits that caused the team to lose their first four games by a combined 137 points resurfaced at the worst possible time.
But in Miami's three games since _ a competitive loss to the Steelers and those aforementioned wins _ things have been tighter. Players have lined up correctly. Defensive backs have known their assignments and executed them.
Credit the athletes, certainly. But credit the coaches, too.
"I think as the season progresses, I think every team has a better understanding and feel for the players and what they do well, what they don't do well, who plays well together, who communicates well, what groupings fit best," Flores said. " ... Sometimes we try to put the best group out there and it doesn't always work out because it's football. The other team, they have good players and they make plays. I'm thinking of a couple right now."
Like when the Dolphins sent eight blitzers on third-and-20 against the Steelers, resulting in a wide-open touchdown catch-and-run that changed that game. Flores and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham were roasted for that decision, one that they defended at the time but haven't repeated in the two games since.
But that has been a rare misstep for a group that seemingly gets more out of its roster than the sum of the parts. Flores likes how his coaching staff communicates, not just with the Dolphins' players, but with each other as well.
While every team has players unhappy with their role or playing time, we have heard little of it publicly since Kenyan Drake's trade the Cardinals.
The guys who decided to buy in are finally getting rewarded _ and showing absurdity of some of the criticism during the darkest days.
"We've worked so hard for this," defensive tackle Christian Wilkins said. "The outside world, the media, maybe thought this wasn't possible. We got two more wins than the rest of the world thought we were going to have this year, so that's pretty cool. We are all excited. Just happy to be a part of this."
Added Baker: "We play like that in general. 'Our record is this, our record is that.' But I'm sure when teams pop on the tape, you can't just say the team was the team from the first two weeks of the season. These past few weeks, we had leads. We played hard, we played strong. We've just got to finish it off. It's not like how the media makes it seem. We're actually a good team. We just have to stick together and play together. We can hang with anybody."
