Parcells at it again

The Miami Dolphins are the best story nobody is talking about. While “The Worldwide Leader” is obsessed with Plaxico and Dallas, the Dolphins have operated in anonymity despite going 8-5 and holding part of a three-way tie for the AFC East lead.

That tends to happen when a team is 1-15 the previous year, hasn’t made the playoffs since 2001, hires a new football operations boss, general manager and head coach and acquires 29 new players.

That shouldn’t happen when said football operations boss is Bill Parcells.

The master team builder is at it again.

Last year, the Dolphins became the eighth team since the 16-game schedule’s introduction in 1978 to finish 1-15. They can become the first of those clubs to make the playoffs the following year with wins against San Francisco, at Kansas City and at the New York Jets.

That Parcells is spearheading the turnaround isn’t shocking. He won two Super Bowls with the Giants, rebuilt New England from 2-14 to AFC champions, took the 1-15 Jets to 9-7 and eventually the AFC title game, and helped Dallas rebound from three straight 5-11 seasons.

But becoming competitive this quickly?

“I don’t like using the word ’surprised’ because there aren’t many things that we do that we don’t believe we can do all the way,” Sparano said. “Once we started to assemble the team and I saw the pieces come together, I was pretty pleased. But you never know how it’s going to turn out, you really don’t. Surprised? I think right now they’re going into games pretty confident.”

There was heavy assembly required when Parcells came aboard late last season. Miami’s starting 22 features nine new players.

Things didn’t start great - a 20-14 home loss to the Jets and a 31-10 thumping at Arizona. But after introducing the Wildcat formation at New England, the Dolphins rolled 38-13 to get their footing.

“To me, the Arizona game really made us all have to look at ourselves in the mirror,” Sparano said. “It made all of us - players and coaches - re-evaluate a little bit what we’re doing.”

The highlights have been a pair of two-game winning streaks and a four-game run at midseason. Chad Pennington, whom Sparano describes as the “commander,” has 12 touchdown passes and a 93.7 passer rating. Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams have combined to rush for more than 1,300 yards, and Joey Porter has a league-leading 16.5 sacks.

Three keys for the Dolphins, who rank 10th in yards and 13th in yards allowed, stick out.

• Turnover ratio: The Dolphins are a league-leading plus-12 (22 takeaways, 10 turnovers).

• First-down offense: Miami ranks third in the NFL, averaging 6.03 yards a snap.

• Fourth-quarter play: The Dolphins have outscored opponents 72-59 in the final period and have held leads against Denver, Seattle, Oakland and Buffalo by controlling possession for more than 10 minutes.

“The great thing for us, our fate is in our own hands,” defensive end Vonnie Holliday said. “As a player, all the hard work you do in the offseason and preseason is for this opportunity.”