QUARTERBACK

AChad Pennington said being a game manager has a negative connotation. Negative or not, it is working. Pennington has gone three games without throwing an interception and came up with two clutch throws that extended Miami's final drive with first downs.

RUNNING BACK

AThe Dolphins ran the ball 40 times and averaged 4.2 yards per carry as a team, so that should tell you something good was happening. Ronnie Brown has become the heart of the Dolphins offense. Oh yeah, Ricky Williams? He was amazing on that TD-springing block.

RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS

A-Aside from one play when he prematurely stepped out of bounds instead of heading up field, Ted Ginn Jr. found himself where he should be: Atop Miami's receiver statistics. Greg Camarillo was excellent with six catches and a TD catch on which he outfought a defender. Tight ends Anthony Fasano and David Martin were consistent.

OFFENSIVE LINE

AIt could be argued this group is working well because of the Wildcat package. That's a losing argument because this group blew the Chargers off the line of scrimmage in the final 5:55 operating out of the base offense. The one sack allowed was a coverage sack.

DEFENSIVE LINE

ALaDainian Tomlinson was held to 2.9 yards per carry. The group is now the deepest on the Dolphins roster with six players getting significant snaps. Although San Diego exploited the middle of the line early in the game, that hole closed by the second quarter.

LINEBACKERS

AMatt Roth had one of his best days as a professional with five tackles, including three for losses, and a sack. Joey Porter was active in run defense as was Akin Ayodele.

SECONDARY

AThere were a couple of tense moments when Chris Chambers beat Will Allen for a TD and Vincent Jackson caught a 42-yarder on Andre' Goodman. But Yeremiah Bell was perhaps the most impressive player on defense, as he checked tight end Antonio Gates man-to-man and led the team with six tackles.

SPECIAL TEAMS

DSomebody's got to wear the dunce cap. Davone Bess fumbled a kickoff return that might have cost Miami the lead if not for a defensive stand. Ginn muffed a punt and rookie Dan Carpenter missed his first field goal of the season.

COACHING

ATony Sparano and his staff added a couple of tweaks to the Wildcat package, like calling a halfback pass by Ricky Williams. The great work is getting the offense and defense to show improvement in areas that needed it -- at receiver and in the defensive backfield.

OVERALL

ANo one can look at Miami's roster and realistically say the Dolphins are more talented. And yet the Dolphins played smarter, with more desire, and were more physical. Miami also seemed to be better conditioned than San Diego, which is one reason it seemed to be getting better at the end of the game while the Chargers defense was wilting.

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