Maybe Dolphins coach Tony Sparano's voice would have sounded so low and worn anyway after Monday night's winning adrenaline carried him into Tuesday's wee hours. But the bad news on running back Patrick Cobbs didn't help.

``Patrick's done,'' Sparano said Tuesday afternoon. ``ACL.''

Cobbs tore his left anterior cruciate ligament in the fourth quarter as he swept left with a handoff from Ronnie Brown out of the Wildcat formation. Jets linebacker Bryan Thomas tackled Cobbs along the sideline in front of the Dolphins' bench.

Sparano tries hard to not single out Cobbs as his favorite player, although he seems to realize the effort extended in that direction gives away how much he likes Cobbs. A direct person, Sparano likes players who consistently give the same all-out effort in practices and games. Cobbs was his standard for that.

Cut from New England and Pittsburgh within a month in 2006, Cobbs ended up on the Dolphins' practice squad that season and has worked his way up into being a utility running back, kick returner and coverage man on kickoffs and punts. This season, Cobbs, who is 5-8, had 36 rushing yards on six carries and three catches for 23 yards. He also averaged 22.6 yards a kickoff return.

Last year, when he earned a contract extension, Cobbs took a screen pass 80 yards, the longest touchdown reception by a running back in Dolphins history.

``You guys know what I think of Pat Cobbs,'' Sparano said Tuesday. ``This kid's a tremendous, tremendous warrior out there.

``I really think the world of the guy as a player. That's how this game goes, and the next guy gets a turn.''

The next guy is Lex Hilliard, a practice squad player last year who made the 53-man roster out of training camp this year. Like Cobbs, Hilliard has made his mark on special teams coverage. When Sparano complimented Hilliard during training camp, he did so by saying Hilliard was becoming the kind of player Cobbs is, where ``what you see is what you get.''WILLIAMS INJURY

Sparano admitted running back Ricky Williams sustained an ankle injury on the game's final drive, ``but he is going to be OK.''

MERCURY'S MESSAGE

Former Dolphins running back Mercury Morris said he has a book coming out in November titled, Bragging Rights: A Message From the Top of the Sports World.

Morris said the book covers the building of the Dolphins from expansion into Super Bowl champions.

Morris said Indianapolis is his favorite this year to be the next undefeated team.

In past years, he has said not to call him when undefeated teams are in the neighborhood of the 1972 Dolphins' 17-0 record, call him when they're ``on my block.''

He said he's replacing that line with another one that he believes refutes those who say some of the players on the 1972 Dolphins are protective of their NFL record for fewest losses in a season:

``The record protects itself by the requirements of the accomplishment.''

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