The cowards are lining up all across the NFL. I was surprised not the least, but disappointed nonetheless, to see that the Dolphins were the latest to join them.

Miami would have been the perfect landing spot for Michael Vick. Not merely plausible, if you were able to see it dispassionately, but PERFECT.

And the idea tantalized at least in theory, at least as a possibility, until Tuesday, when a 15-word statement by Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland slammed the door. ``We don't have an interest,'' went the decree. ``We like the players we have on our current roster.''

Sorry, but there is a tinge of arrogance to such a statement. The Dolphins, defending AFC East champions or not, are not that good. At least not good enough to turn their back on enormous talent when it presents itself.

Miami, more than any other team, could have justified taking a chance on signing Vick.

I don't mean they could have justified it to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. That crackpot group finds it abhorrent that you might dare enjoy a rib-eye steak (medium-rare, please), so we can only imagine PETA has imposed an arbitrary life sentence of nonforgiveness upon Vick for his masterminding an at-times deadly dog-fighting operation a few years ago.

Luckily those of us somewhat more rational -- i.e., those of us whose reaction to someone wearing fur isn't to throw blood on them, for instance -- don't need as much convincing that Vick serving 23 months in prison for what he did seems more than fair when contrasted with, say, Donte' Stallworth serving less than a 30-day sentence for DUI manslaughter.

Forgetting for a moment the morality of signing Vick or the smarts of it from a public-relations vantage, Miami would have had no problem at all justifying it from a football standpoint.

(Quick aside: Football continues to be the Dolphins' primary business, we would still like to believe, although the surrounding, growing serpentine conga line led by Jimmy Buffet, Gloria Estefan and Marc Anthony might distract some from the notion.)

Vick, newly reinstated by the league, able to sign with anyone immediately and eligible to play as early as October, would have fit here because the no-nonsense leadership of Bill Parcells and Tony Sparano would have insisted on it. Mostly, Vick would have fit here because no team relies on the Wildcat offensive variation more than Miami, and no quarterback of this era is more ideally suited to the Wildcat than Vick.

The Dolphins obviously want to grow the Wildcat, or they would not have spent a second-round draft pick on West Virginia dual-threat quarterback Pat White. There became a predictability to the Wildcat last season with running back Ronnie Brown taking all the direct snaps. No defense fears Brown's rarely-used arm.

Miami hopes White scares defenses with the threat of both running and throwing. But Vick already is what Miami hopes White might become. The proof is there. Vick's arm is stronger, and he is the NFL season record-holder for most yards rushing by a quarterback.

The Wildcat and Vick's skill set are the greatest combination since peanut butter and jelly, and it is fair to note that Vick had earned a reputation as a winner back before pictures of mangled pit-bulls obscured everything and made it too easy to paint him as the devil incarnate. His record as a starting quarterback is 38-28-1. His touchdown/interception ratio is a robust 71-52. As important, now, he has shown what seems genuine contrition for his wrongdoing.

Any team running the Wildcat, or any team needing depth at quarterback, should be jockeying for position to sign Vick.

And yet the parade of teams saying no to him grows. The Falcons, Giants, Bills, Redskins, Cowboys and Jets beat Miami in running scared from the possibility Vick represents. The cowardice is in teams wanting to avoid a temporary PR mess at the expense of making themselves better. If the list of teams saying no grows much longer, it will begin to look like a good ol' fashioned blackballing, and smell like collusion.

If Vick is not on somebody's roster soon, the shame of this protracted saga will have shifted from the player's own grievous mistakes -- mistakes admitted, and paid for -- to the NFL's inability to move on.

Nobody expects PETA to move on. But the NFL should, and that means its teams, and their fans.

The hunch here is that some team will sign Vick, soon, and be better for it.

Could be a strong team wanting to get stronger, like the Patriots or Steelers.

Could be a team seeking high reward for low risk, like the Raiders, Bengals or Jaguars.

It might have been Miami, finding the perfect Wildcat specialist and inexpensively infusing its offense with more firepower.

Instead, with training camp opening Sunday, it feels like Miami already has lost without playing a game.

The loss was a major opportunity, a huge possibility, in Michael Vick.