The Miami Herald is reporting the news we all feared this morning. Jake Long’s injured shoulder will require surgery that would sideline him 3-6 weeks of healing time and another 3-6 weeks to get back to full strength. Do the math, and best case scenario would have the Dolphins getting the game’s best left tackle back in time for their Week 17 showdown in Foxboro.

But hold on, don’t panic just yet. Jake is going to try to tough it out, play the rest of the year, and hold off surgery until the offseason. A banged up Jake is better than no Jake at all, but having said that, I have my doubts on whether he can make it through the final seven games. But rest assured, if anybody can pull this off, it’s Jake Long. 

Anthony Fasano’s week just keeps getting better and better. A couple days after setting a new career high for receiving yards, Fasano has been awarded a two-year contract extension to remain in Miami through the 2012 season, according to the Palm Beach Post. The new deal reportedly pays Fasano base salaries of $1.9 million in 2011 and $3.6 million in 2012.

Fasano has always had value as an elite blocker, but is currently on pace for career highs in receptions and receiving yards. Although, the Dolphins should probably pursue a number two tight end with strong receiving skills in the offseason, Anthony Fasano appears like a lock to remain the starter in Miami for the next two and a half years. 

It took a little bit of patience, considering the fate of the Dolphins’ season possibly hung in the balance, but after a long day of speculation, it appears the news many fans dreaded isn’t nearly as bad as everyone thought 24 hours ago.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. As reported this afternoon, Chad Pennington will indeed miss the remainder of the season with the shoulder injury he suffered yesterday. Just another tough break for a great guy, but unfortunately that’s just the nature of the business. If this is it for Pennington, what he did for this franchise in 2008 will never be forgotten by Dolphin fans.

As for the other quarterback, Chad Henne, initial reports yesterday that said he would also “likely” miss the rest of the season, appear like nothing more than rumors at this point. Sparano said Henne is “day to day” at this point and is “hopeful” he can start again this season. For now, though, the Dolphins will have to make do with Tyler Thigpen, who looked more than capable of leading this offense yesterday.

Backup wise, if you haven’t heard yet, the Dolphins worked out a number of quarterbacks earlier today, including JaMarcus Russell and Tommy Grady, but ultimately decided to sign the veteran Patrick Ramsey and add former Colt Tom Brandstater to the practice squad. Ramsey hasn’t played a snap since 2008, but the Dolphins needed a veteran presence not only for insurance, but to help coach Thigpen in practice and in the film room. Brandstater on the other hand, was a sixth round pick in 2009, but has great size at 6’5, 222 lbs. and will surely serve as a developmental project on the Dolphins’ P.S.

Moving on to the other two critical injuries, all indications are pointing to premiere pass rusher Cameron Wake being just fine and Jake Long’s shoulder being better than expected but still “iffy” for Thursday night. Outside of Wake, the Dolphins’ lack another true pass rusher, so his presence would have definitely been missed if he would have had to miss significant time. Let’s not forget, the Bears have given up the most sacks of any team in the league, so Wake is more than capable of making several game changing plays Thursday night. But we really don’t even need to talk about Wake’s hip injury, because he practiced fully in the Dolphins’ walk-through tonight.

As for Long, though, nobody knows if he’s going to be able to play Thursday night yet. Earlier this evening, Long told the Sun-Sentinel that he plans to play against the Bears if he can get medical clearance. But ESPN’s Chris Morensen later tweeted the following: “reported that Jake Long also has some labrum damage w shoulder injury. Long may try to wear shoulder injury. Long may try to wear shoulder harness but is iffy vs. Bears”

Not having Jake against the Bears would be a pretty big blow considering Julius Peppers comes to town Thursday night. One thing about Thigpen starting, though, is that his mobility could offset poor blocking. Then again, he’s no Micheal Vick. We will just have to keep our fingers crossed there, but at least those rumors about him being out for the year turned out to be just that, rumors.

Here’s the injury report from tonight’s walk-through

Did Not Practice: C Joe Berger (knee), FS Chris Clemons (hamstring), QB Chad Henne (knee), LT Jake Long (knee), LT Jake Long (shoulder)

Limited: SS Yeremiah Bell (toe), RT Vernon Carey (knee) SS Tyrone Culver (ankle), WR Roberto Wallace (knee)

Practice Fully: OLB Cameron Wake (hip), Channing Crowder (ribs), Karlos Dansby (elbow), Tim Dobbins (ankle), Kendall Langford (ankle) 

This post has been intended to savor the sweat taste of victory in weeks past. Don’t get me wrong, this win feels great considering the Dolphins likely just saved their season, but wow, did the injury bug bite hard yesterday. When is the last time you saw a team lose their starting quarterback and backup in the same game? Yes, the Dolphins are blessed to have arguably the best number three quarterback in football, but one good drive doesn’t mean Tyler Thigpen is the savior by any means.

Even more troubling has been Jake Long’s, the best left tackle in the business, uncertain status. Some rumors were flying around the web last night that Jake could be lost for the season. Hopefully those reports never materialize into anything but rumors, because if the Dolphins can’t run the ball or protect their new starting quarterback, I just don’t see how a playoff run could be in the cards this season.

To make matters worse, I’ve yet to mention that this defense’s only true pass rusher, Cameron Wake, could also miss significant time. Wake reportedly hurt his hip sometime in the second-half and went on a little trip back to the X-ray room. Wake assured reporters in the locker room that he is fine, but his status for Thursday night is still up in the air. Without any pass rushing threat, I’m not sure this defense can last one game without Wake, at least not when one loss is all it could take to end the Dolphins’ season in this heated AFC playoff race.

I will avoid any more speculation on the injuries, though, until we get updated later on today. There is still a game to talk about after all. A game in which the Dolphins kept their playoff hopes alive by beating a playoff caliber team by two scores.

Outside of Chris Johnson doing some damage by reaching the century mark on the ground, the defense had one of their better performances of the season. The Titans really don’t have a very good passing attack, but the Dolphins’ pass defense was close to dominate. They held Kerry Collins and Vince Young to under 150 yards through the air and under 50% completion percentage. Throw in Reshad Jones’ pick in the fourth quarter and Vince Young’s fumble in the third, and the Dolphins’ secondary and pass rush had one of their better games of the season.

On offense, it may have took three quarterbacks, well five if you count Ronnie Brown running the wildcat and Brandon Marshall’s chuck downfield and his frustrated throw to the sideline, but the Dolphins found a way to produce their highest point total of the season. Chad Henne bounced back in a big way after his short lived benching, but unfortunately suffered that likely season ending knee injury. The offense didn’t miss a beat with Tyler Thigpen thrown into the lineup, though, even if the momentum was bridged by a couple of unlikely big wildcat plays.

I’ve always had a high opinion of Thigpen after seeing what he was capable of in Kansas City and against the Steelers in Week 17 last year, and truth be told, many were even speculating that the Dolphins would try to turn over the long-term keys to Thigpen after Pennington’s second stint as the starter. His opportunity has come earlier than expected, but nevertheless, if he can play great football down the stretch of the season and lead the Dolphins into the playoffs, this could very well be his job to keep.

There’s no denying that he could use a little help from the running game, though. How exactly do you explain 15 carries for 17 yards before the big wildcat gainers? Maybe I could understand that type of stat line against a dominate front seven like the Steelers, but do that against the Titans, and it’s clear that you aren’t very good at running the football. Quite the falloff from a year ago for this Dolphins’ running game.

I do expect to see more of the wildcat after yesterday, and maybe Dan Henning should consider more of a spread offense type running attack because it’s obvious that the Dolphins don’t have the offensive line to lineup and run the ball down people’s throats.

But a win is a win, I guess. You usually take wins anyway you can get them in this league, but you have to wonder if all those injuries will end the Dolphins’ playoff hopes.

Fab Five Fins

Anthony Fasano: We expected Fasano to return to his 08’ form with Pennington back under center. Even when CP10 went down for possibly the last time in his career, Fasano put up five receptions for 107 yards and the game sealing touchdown. Brian

Hartline: Hartline has continued to emerge as a quality starting number two, and has really stepped his game ever since the Dolphins declined to put in a waiver claim for Randy Moss.

Yeremiah Bell: Led the Dolphins with eight tackles and made arguably the play of the game when he sacked and stripped Vince Young in the third quarter.

Karlos Dansby: Contributed eight tackles and forced the fumble on the Titans’ opening drive that led to the Dolphins’ first touchdown.

Chad Henne: It’s a shame he got hurt, because he was in the midst of one of his best games of the season.

If you would have told me earlier in the week that Chad Pennington was about take over this offense once again, I would have probably called you crazy. Nevertheless, here we are- less than 15 hours away from CP10's first start since September of last year. There was a lot of shock and disbelief among Dolphins fans when the news initially hit the airwaves and because this compromises the future of this franchise, I have sided with those fans that disagree with the decision.

I have to say, though, as we inch closer and closer to gametime, I am starting to become more and more confident about this team's chances with a smart, resilent leader like Pennington under center. But I guess tommorow will tell all in what could end up being a do or die game for this football team. Here are my three keys to a big Dolphins' win.

Contain Chris Johnson
After thinking about what this Dolphins' defense struggled with in the first-half of the season, I'm getting a little more concerned about what Chris Johnson is capable of doing tomorrow.

The Dolphins inability to set the edge was exposed pretty heavily early on in the season, and even though they have made monumental strides in doing so as of late, they haven't exactly faced a back with world class speed like Chris Johnson. That means everything needs to happen quicker for Miami's front seven.

But they better be careful, though. Like I said yesterday, when you put so much effort into containing the perimeter of the defense, you leave yourself vulnerable to cutback lanes for the back, especially when that back is Chris Johnson. Opposing running backs have found leaks in the defense by cutting it back up the middle because the Dolphins tend to over pursue at times.

One thing that could eliminate the dilemma all together, though, would be some consistent penetration from Miami's front three that would limit Johnson's options.

Be productive on first and second down
The biggest downside to starting the physically limited Chad Pennington is that Dolphin drives will essentially be over once this offense hits third and long. If you remember back to 2008, the Dolphins rarely converted many third and longs.

Reason being, Chad just doesn't have the arm strength to fit the football into tight windows when defenses have the luxury of dropping back into coverage. That's why it's going to be crucial for the Dolphins to pick up positive yardage on first and second down to make things manageable for Chad's capabilities on third down.

To do that, the Dolphins are obviously going to have to run the football better. I believe this offensive line is getter better and better each week as they begin to develop some chemistry together, it's just going to take a little bit of commitment from Dan Henning to remain balanced.

Protect the football
If you take a look at this Titans' team from top to bottom, outside of Chris Johnson, they really don't do anything exceptionally well. In fact, they are pretty ordinary, if not borderline bad in the passing game on both sides of the ball. Having said that, this Titans team shares first place with the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC South and surprisingly leads the league in points per game (28).

Their offense isn't prolific by any stretch of the imagination, but they have manufactured points by creating turnovers. The Titans are currently tied for third in the league with 19 forced turnovers, and more importantly, they have done a great job of capitalizing on the opposition's mistakes.

That, once again, brings me to Chad Pennington. The same Chad Pennington that led an offense that set an NFL record in 2008 for the fewest turnovers in a season. I know Sparano probably intends for Pennington to finish out the season as the starter, but on paper anyway, this looks like the perfect game to welcome back ol' #10.