The highlights from the Dolphins' blowout win at New England still were in heavy rotation on ESPN and The NFL Network when former Arkansas coach Houston Nutt's phone began ringing in his University of Mississippi office with NFL questions about how to best implement or stop the Wildcat package with which the Dolphins had stunned the Patriots.

(By now, Dolphins fans not driven into mourning by AIG's collapse know that Nutt had used Wildcat at Arkansas, where Dolphins quarterbacks coach David Lee was offensive coordinator last season.)

'He called up -- he and David Lee are very close -- and Houston said, `Understand we're rooting for the Dolphins; we're not going to give away any of this information to anybody else,' '' Dolphins offensive coordinator Dan Henning said. 'I said, `Right.' There's only one way you can keep a secret between three people; you've got to kill two of them.''

So while the Dolphins discuss Wildcat with a coyness designed to invite uncertainty on the opposing sideline -- Will they line up that way? Who'll get the ball when they do? Via run or pass? -- they also know the keys to future success lay not in the six Wildcat plays that gained 119 yards against New England, but the other 51 plays that gained 342 yards.

On those 51 plays, they behaved not like the offense that found it hard to move the ball the first two games, but an offense that's hard to defend -- running well, passing efficiently, getting yards in clumps on first down. And they did it against a defense known for making opponents earn everything.

NEW CHALLENGE

Now, they need to see if they can do it again against a defense whose No. 28 overall ranking and No. 32 ranking against the pass belies the respect it receives for its talent, even with All-Pro linebacker Shawne Merriman out for the season after knee surgery.

Pointing to linebackers Jyles Tucker and Shaun Phillips, Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said, 'It isn't like they're saying, `Well, Shawne's not here, so we need to do this and cover this.' No, that's not what they're doing. In fact, they've had nine sacks in the last two games. They're getting to the quarterback and generating more pressure on the quarterback as of late.''

While the Dolphins have had one great offensive game, they've done some little and big things well.

Their only turnover came on the desperation throw into the end zone near the end of the loss to the Jets. While drops aren't an official statistic, a count by The Miami Herald shows zero dropped passes for the season. Quarterback Chad Pennington isn't known for his scrambling abilities, but the Dolphins are a respectable 10th in sacks per pass play allowed.

They're also 10th in yards on first down after getting 232 yards on their 23 first-down plays against the Patriots.

Take out the three Wildcat plays, and it's still 137 yards on 20 first-down plays, or 6.9 yards per first-down play. Of those 20 first-down plays, 12 were runs, eight were passes.

''The thing we need to do this week is we need to be good because we're not surprising anybody,'' Dolphins guard Justin Smiley said. ``San Diego is not going to be surprised. They're going to be prepared for it. The league's defenses are smart. We've got to make people pay. We've got to run the ball against their defense, which is a really good one, in base offense.''

As Henning pointed out, ``There were a number of other things that went on in that game plan that people haven't even noticed yet, which is good. They noticed the Wildcat because that's where the points came from.''

By the time the Dolphins unveiled Wildcat, they already had driven to the New England 2-yard-line. They already had used motion and one-back, and three- and four-receiver sets to help create space down the deep middle of the Patriots' defense. Also, it helped take the Patriots out of the facemask-to-facemask press coverage that dominated some of the Dolphins receivers in the opening two games -- and that San Diego plays with cornerbacks Quentin Jammer and Antonio Cromartie.

''They usually have a safety sitting in the middle of the field and another one coming down,'' Dolphins wide receiver Greg Camarillo said. ``If the middle's open, you'll have to work harder to get there. It won't be just wide open like that.

``When the middle was wide open, [New England] played Cover 2. ``San Diego doesn't do that as much. They're a lot more Cover 1 or Cover 3, where they have Eric Weddle or Clinton Hart sitting in the middle of the field. They have different areas that are left open. We just have to find them.''

And they'll have to do it with only a modicum of con games.

''Just remember, there's no offense that's ever been put in anywhere that can't be stopped, never,'' Henning said.

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