After missing all of last week's practice and Sunday’s game in Oakland with a hamstring injury, Brandon Marshall returned to practice today. Unless he has a setback, that should mean he will be healthy enough to go on Sunday against the Browns. It will be interesting to see how the Dolphins’ passing attack, which was clicking on all cylinders against the Raiders, fares with their alpha receiver back in the lineup.

Unfortunately, even with Marshall returning to practice, the injury bug hasn’t quite gone away just yet. Channing Crowder reportedly missed the workout with an undisclosed injury. Dolphin fans shouldn’t be too worried about Crowder’s availability Sunday, as Tim Dobbins proved to be more than capable of filling in, in relief duty for Karlos Dansby against the Raiders. But you have to wonder if this is indeed a serious injury with the way the Dolphins added extra depth at inside linebacker today.

According to reports, the Dolphins have signed former West Virginia Mountaineer Mortty Ivey and have resigned J.D. Folsom to the practice squad. The Dolphins also cut LB Micah Johnson from the practice squad to clear up some room for Ivey and Folsom.

The Miami Dolphins have reportedly activated defensive end Phillip Merling from the reserve-non-football injury list and have waived quarterback Patrick Ramsey to make room. Merling was initially thought to be out for the season when he tore his Achilles’ tendon shortly before training camp, but has since returned to the practice field ahead of schedule. Merling provides more depth along the defensive line, and the Dolphins are now loaded at defensive end.

The Dolphins’ win Sunday evening over the Oakland Raiders was as encouraging as they come, as the Dolphins pretty handedly dominated on both sides of the ball. Still though, even a win of that caliber is somewhat watered down by the fact that the Dolphins still find themselves basically three games out of a playoff spot.

As a team, the Dolphins have enough on their plate to worry about considering they realistically must win-out in order to make all those playoff scenarios even possible, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep a close eye on those teams that stand in the way of a Miami playoff run.

In case you’re late to the party, it’s now going to take either the Jets, Patriots, Steelers, or Ravens to have a fairly significant late season collapse by finishing no better than 2-3 for the Dolphins to sneak into the playoffs, provided that they indeed do win the remainder of their games and get a little luck with the various tie-breaker procedures.

So let’s take a look at each of those four teams’ final five games.

Jets:
Week 13: @ Patriots
Week 14: vs. Dolphins
Week 15: @ Steelers
Week 16: @ Bears
Week 17: vs. Bills

Patriots:
Week 13: vs. Jets
Week 14: @ Bears
Week 15: vs. Packers
Week 16: @ Bills
Week 17: vs. Dolphins

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The roller coaster that is the 2010 Miami Dolphins continues. Ten days after putting together an inept offensive performance that drew parallels to the John Beck led 07’ squad, the Dolphins had their best offensive outing of the season without the receiver who they dished out a $50 million contract to in the offseason.

Chad Henne quieted all the doubters with arguably his best performance of the season by topping 300 yards and adding two touchdowns, although he did make one ugly mistake in the red zone. And with no Brandon Marshall, guys like Davone Bess, Brian Hartline, Patrick Cobbs, and Marlon Moore all stepped up and answered the call.

The attention Brandon Marshall constantly attracts has done wonders for Bess and Hartline in particular this season, but I think it’s fair to say that both proved to be solid NFL starters who are capable of getting the job done on their own.

Maybe this offense doesn’t need Marshall’s services as much as we once thought, but before you go bashing him, let’s give credit to where credit is due for the offense finally putting over 30 points on the board. The coaching staff’s commitment to the running game, and patience not to abandon it when it struggled to produce early on was clearly the difference yesterday.

Balanced offenses will always trump what one-dimensional ones can accomplish. And it just goes to show how true that is when Chad Henne goes for over 300 yards through the air on a day when the Dolphins put the ball on the ground 46 times for nearly 200 yards.

What happened up in Oakland yesterday has to be the blueprint offensively from here on out, even when #19 returns. Obviously, the Dolphins won’t have that type of success every game, as the Raiders do possess one of the league’s worst run defenses, but if the coaching staff can just have the same commitment level to establishing at least some mild success on the ground, this offense will be much better off.

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It’s no secret that the Dolphins’ season will be on the line this Sunday. It will be for every week from here until they lose a game. With how this AFC playoff picture is shaping out, the Dolphins can’t afford to lose another game. A loss this Sunday won’t mathematically eliminate them, but it will realistically end their already slim chances of playing postseason football this season.

At the beginning of the year, I’m sure many fans circled this game as a likely Dolphins’ win. But what a difference a year makes. The Raiders are far from the league’s punching bag nowadays, and the Dolphins are far from the playoff caliber team that took the field just two weeks ago.

Dolphins running game (21st) vs. Raiders run defense (25th)
If the Dolphins can’t get their running game going against this subpar Raider run defense, there really is no hope for this offense. With a depleted pass protection, likely no Brandon Marshall, and an immobile Chad Henne likely being under center, this offense really doesn’t have the luxury of being one-dimensional.

If they can’t get Ronnie and Ricky going on the ground, this offense will continue to sputter out down the stretch. Getting center Joe Berger back in the starting lineup this week should help, but even when he was in there the Dolphins were very pedestrian on the ground. But against the Raiders front seven that is surrendering 4.6 yards per carry, we better see a commitment to the ground game on Sunday. Meaning, we shouldn’t see Dan Henning completely abandon Ronnie and Ricky if there are a few negative plays earlier on.

I would hope the Dolphins could have consistent success out of base formations, but if not, why not unleash the wildcat once again after seeing it’s rebirth a couple weeks ago against the Titans? Either way, if the Dolphins can’t prevent becoming pass happy against the dominate Raiders’ secondary they really don’t have much of a chance to get back over .500.
Edge: Raiders

Raiders running game (2nd) vs. Dolphins run defense (20th)
Wondering how the Raiders have finally emerged as a quality team after years of obscurity? Look no further than this rejuvenated running game, which has only been outdone by the Kansas City Chiefs. Darren McFadden is in the midst of his breakout season, putting up a gaudy 5.2 yards per carry. Michael Bush is the power back in the dynamic duo, contributing nearly 400 yards and 4 touchdowns of his own.

That means the Dolphins will likely sellout to stop this dangerous ground attack, and try to force Jason Campbell to make plays in order for the Raiders to move the football. If the Dolphins can successfully shut down McFadden and Bush, this game has the makings of a low scoring defensive struggle. In not, I just don’t see this Miami offense putting enough points on the board to compete with this explosive Raiders’ running game.

To do so, the Dolphins must tackle well all game long. They have done a much better job at setting the edge and avoiding over-pursuing lately, but missed tackles have allowed opposing backs to get into space too often. This will especially be important against a speedster like McFadden, who is always a threat to take it the distance.
Edge: Raiders

Dolphins passing attack (16th) vs. Raiders pass defense (3rd)
It doesn’t look very promising for this pass first attack against a Raiders’ secondary that has been so dominate. Maybe the Raiders wouldn’t rank quite as high if they weren’t so easy to run on, but there’s really no doubt that Nnamdi Asomugha is one of the league’s top two or three corners.

Maybe it’s not so detrimental that Brandon Marshall will likely miss this game, because being matched up against Nnamdi, he probably wasn’t going to have much of an impact anyway. But this Dolphins’ offense will desperately need either Marlon Moore or the banged up Roberto Wallace to step up in a big way. Moore has the speed to be a real vertical threat for an offense that could use more chunk yardage, while Wallace has Marshall type size but has yet to make much of an impact.

Neither will have much of a chance, though, if the offensive line doesn’t give the immobile Chad Henne sufficient time to scan the field. The line is expected to return to its normal starting five, but Long, Carey, and Berger will all be playing hurt. The Raiders rank 4th in the league with 29 sacks so far. A scary thought considering the Bears got to the mobile Thigpen six times last week despite only registering 13 sacks heading into Thursday night’s game.
Edge: Raiders

Raiders passing attack (29th) vs. Dolphins pass defense (4th)
Those Dolphin fans who have already moved on to next year, can take solace in the fact that the Dolphins have finally solidified their secondary. Vontae Davis hasn’t quite emerged as a top five corner yet, but he’s well on his way. His counterpart, Sean Smith, has played great coverage since recapturing his starting position against the Bengals, but needs to capitalize more when given the opportunity to make a play on the football. Nickel corner Benny Sapp has been hot and cold, but has the tools to develop into a quality player.

Safety wise, Chris Clemons returns from injury after missing last week. Reshad Jones made a few plays as his replacement, but most would agree that he is better suited to be Yeremiah Bell’s eventual successor at strong safety.

If I have one complaint about this unit, though, it’s their ability to get off the field on third down. They were in the midst of a decent outing against the Bears, but couldn’t get Cutler and company on the sideline on some key third downs and consequently the whole defense wore down in the second-half.

I’m expecting a great game against the Raiders anemic passing game this week, though. If there is one thing to fear, it’s the speed of the Oakland receiving core, but I think this Miami secondary will do a solid job of preventing them from getting the football in space.

Also, the Dolphins’ pass rush should have a field day against the struggling Raider pass protection. So far the Raiders have conceded the third most sacks in the league with 32. Lookout for another big game from Cameron Wake. He should face the double team all evening, though, so it would be nice if someone else could pick up some of the slack. I’m looking at you Koa Misi.
Edge: Dolphins

Special-teams
The Dolphins flirted with a couple big Devin Hester returns last week, but overall, they have been a much improved unit since the beginning of the season. They face a very dangerous Raider special-teams this Sunday, however. They’ve already blocked two punts this season, which could be problematic for a Dolphins team that has already had two of Brandon Fields’ boots blocked.

The Raiders also possess a few dangerous return men. Jacoby Ford averages 23.4 yards per kick return and has returned a kick for a 94-yard touchdown. Nick Miller and Johnnie Lee Higgins have shared punt return duties, with both averaging over seven yards per return. Johnnie Lee Higgins has a 53-yard punt return under his belt, while Miller’s long is 46.
Edge: Raiders