The heartbeat was gone. The pulse faded. By all appearances, it was time for the doctor to look down at his watch and note the time.

For 64 seconds Sunday, before a bold last-minute revival by Miami's offense resulted in a 25-23 win, the Dolphins' 2009 season had drifted toward a faraway place; met by the forgotten voices of other past tragedies such as those early-ending years of 2004 and 2007.

``We were on the brink of heading into a direction we don't want to go in,'' safety Yeremiah Bell said. ``If we don't win that game, we're headed the wrong way.''

Then, like a team that caught a brief preview of the irrelevance and turmoil waiting on the other side of a loss, the Dolphins did something special: They came back to life. They earned a shot -- albeit a long one -- to fight for more.

During the moments before Miami resuscitated its season with a quick-hitting 77-yard drive that resulted in a winning field goal from 25 yards, the outlook on the season was grave.

``You know, we were right there, right at the point of saying, `What can you do now?' '' nose tackle Jason Ferguson said. ``When you think about all of the things happening, you're thinking about the season, thinking about how we're going to pull this out.''

A DIRE OUTLOOK

Consider the scenario with one minute to play:

Defensive captain Joey Porter was nowhere to be seen, told by his coach for reasons publicly unknown to stay away from the team until [Monday]. Star running back Ronnie Brown was being treated for a nasty ankle injury sustained in the third quarter.

And the Dolphins, after an interception thrown by quarterback Chad Henne at his 26-yard line inside two minutes, were suddenly losing to the one-win Buccaneers for the first time since Tampa Bay's first offensive series.

``We understood the situation,'' linebacker Akin Ayodele said. ``A loss would have been devastating to our season, but a win could put us in a position to revive what we had going.''

The Dolphins chose the latter. Sparked by two clutch passes that would help Henne redeem himself after his late interception, Miami began its march. A 25-yard completion to wide receiver Davone Bess. Then, another 16-yarder to Bess.

After spiking the ball to stop the clock at 23 seconds, Henne handed off to running back Ricky Williams, who bolted 27 yards to put Miami in position for the winning field goal.

``You've just to keep believing in your team and everyone around you,'' Henne said.

The Dolphins' ability to finish Sunday's game with a win was worthy of praise. But as a whole, the overall performance still wasn't exactly the type of momentum-building victory Miami will be able to use as a major source of fuel heading into Thursday's game at Carolina.

Instead, the next three days will require a serious wake-up call if Miami wants to avoid a loss to the surging Panthers. Whether or not the situation involving Porter has been resolved isn't known. Brown looks like he's doubtful at best to play Thursday.

Also, the Dolphins' defense needs to find a way to maintain through four quarters. After looking solid in the first half, the unit allowed Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman to complete 147 passing yards -- 97 to tight end Kellen Winslow Jr.

``We made a lot of mistakes and gave them too many chances to hang around,'' linebacker Jason Taylor said. ``Coach always preaches, `You can't ignore the signs.' And there were a lot of signs in this game. It's always great to win, but I do realize there's a lot of things we need to get to work on.''

RICKY, SPERRY EXCEL

Some of the signs Sunday weren't all that bad, either. Williams, who might have to start Thursday if Brown can't go, rushed for 102 yards on 20 carries -- his first 100-yard game of the season.

Also, The Dolphins might have discovered a hidden gem in tight end Kory Sperry, who was signed from the practice squad Saturday before making his NFL debut a day later. Sperry, who backed up Joey Haynos because Anthony Fasano was out with a hip injury, caught three catches (two critical ones) for 33 yards and a touchdown.

``He really stepped up and surprised a lot of eyes, definitely the coaches, that we have another tight end in there,'' Henne said.

By the day's end, the Dolphins still looked far from a team capable of winning all their remaining seven games, which might be the only way to guarantee a shot at the playoffs. But they did look like a team that might have realized they just got renewed life.

``We talked last night as a team about this being a must-win for us,'' Sparano said. ``We felt strongly that with two games in six days, we had a chance to dig ourselves out of something we put ourselves into.

``It was pretty important, obviously important, to come out of here with a win.''

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