He couldn't hear anyone. Not the crowd. Not his teammates. Not his coaches. Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington could only see their mouths moving.

During a come-from-behind drive in the final minutes of a 17-15 victory Sunday against Oakland, the coach-to-player radio in Pennington's helmet badly malfunctioned. His ears were invaded by a deafening shriek that he couldn't stop for several snaps.

With more than half of a field between he and the end zone during the critical drive, Pennington also could no longer hear offensive coordinator Dan Henning's voice telling him the plays.

''It just kept ringing!'' Pennington said. 'When I finally had a chance, I just took it over to the sideline and said, `Cut the stinking cord!' ''

Pennington would roll on. And so, too, would the magic of Miami's improbable season.

During that winning drive, which included a fourth-down conversion and a 38-yard field goal by Dan Carpenter with 38 seconds left, coaches manually signaled several of the plays into the quarterback.

That's where the little-known legend of this win begins, with another tale of the poise and patience from a quarterback who continued Sunday to define what Miami's turnaround has been all about.

''Chad is a leader,'' said wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr., who caught the 7-yard pass on 4th-and-5 during the game's final drive to allow the Dolphins to set up the field goal.

``There's nothing he hasn't seen before.''

Still wondering about Miami's poise? Or the impact of Pennington's leadership? On Sunday, as the Dolphins charged toward their fourth consecutive win with a huge game against the Patriots looming next Sunday, they continued to provide the answers.

MODEST STATS

During this particular win, Pennington's statistics weren't anything mesmerizing. He completed 16 of 22 passes for 174 yards. He didn't throw any touchdowns, and he was sacked three times (once for a safety).

Then again, the rest of team wasn't perfect, either. They nearly lost to a troubled Raiders team, surrendering a 93-yard punt return for a touchdown (the longest in Miami's history) late in the fourth quarter to give Oakland a 15-14 lead.

''Should it have been that close?'' coach Tony Sparano asked. ``I don't know.''

Instead, Miami continues to rely on resiliency and late-game discipline to succeed. Each week has become a bigger dogfight than the last -- and this week's version proved to continue that trend, even if the Dolphins clearly looked like the better team Sunday.

Despite generally dominating much of the game (Miami had 382 yards of total offense compared to Oakland's 186), the Dolphins allowed the Raiders to stick around until the game's final moments.

''We keep putting ourselves in these dogfights, but at some point you don't want them to come back and bite you,'' linebacker Joey Porter said. ``We keep letting teams come back into the game.''

No doubt, the attitude after wins inside the Dolphins' locker room has changed. No longer are wins followed by raucous celebrations. They are followed by methodical talks about how to continue picking up wins.

POINT-COUNTERPOINT

Despite the hiccups that allowed the Raiders to keep themselves alive -- Pennington's safety or Ronnie Brown's fumble early in the second quarter or the punt return for the touchdown -- the Dolphins continued to rely on innovative play-calling and an aggressive run defense to minimize the impact of Oakland's opportunities.

On the Dolphins' first touchdown, the team loaded the right side of the line of scrimmage with Ginn and two tight ends. After the snap, Ginn took an end-around handoff and blazed 40 yards with gazelle-like speed.

The play contributed to 222 yards of rushing offense. Brown led the unit with 101 yards on 16 carries, Ricky Williams contributed 49 yards and Patrick Cobbs 23 yards and a 10-yard touchdown.

''Offensively, we did a good job understanding the people we wanted to get the ball, particularly in the run game,'' Sparano said. ``We were able to do some things to create a little bit of space, make some plays.''

Still, this win wouldn't be defined by anything flashy. Instead, it would be earned by the continued fourth-quarter resiliency that is starting to now characterize what this team is about.

And there has been no better symbol of that quality than Pennington.

'On a fourth-down play, my quarterback is coming to the sideline, and he's got big eyes, telling me, `We can do this,' '' Sparano said. ``There's nobody I'd rather have in that situation.''

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