Gase creates winning culture

First-year Dolphins coach credited for big turnaround.

Once 1-4 and reeling, the Dolphins enter December in playoff position (sixth in the AFC), in full in control of their playoff fate and one win away from matching their longest winning streak in 31 years.

The reasons for the remarkable turnaround from moribund to marvelous are pretty obvious: substantially better quarterback play, a very good running game, generally sterling third-down defense, tighter coverage from defensive backs, an improved offensive line, DeVante Parker’s emergence, smart coaching decisions (such as starting Cam Wake and Andre Branch at defensive end and using Ryan Tannehill’s running skills more), among other reasons.

But more subtle factors also have been in play during this six-game winning streak. The phrase creating a winning culture sounds like a cliche, but players insist Adam Gase and this staff have done that.

“Coach Gase came in trying to establish a winning culture,” receiver Jarvis Landry said. Now, “we go into games not hoping to win but expecting to win. When you approach the game expecting to win, that’s usually the outcome.”

And what’s the genesis of this new attitude?

“It starts with our head coach,” backup quarterback Matt Moore said. “His attitude, the way he walks around the building, the way he carries himself, the way he talks, it filters down through everybody and guys follow suit. That’s what he wants: a loose, focused bunch and that’s really what it is here now. That would be the biggest difference to me” from past years.

Impressing with time of possession

Caught up in the football spirit? Maybe that’s why Aretha Franklin decided to go long.

To say the Queen of Soul took a while to sing the national anthem before the Lions-Vikings game in Detroit would be an understatement. Or, as the second-quarter graphic that CBS splashed across TV screens put it: “Time of possession: “Vikings 10:48 “Lions 14:37 “Aretha Franklin 4:35”

Current-events quiz

That 115-pound document that sold for $850,000 at a Beverly Hills auction was the:

A) oldest intact stone inscription of the Ten Commandments.

B) Green Bay Packers’ playbook.

Pass the dressing

Green Bay fanatic Glenn Seefeldt of Merrill, Wis., had taken a vow not to wear pants until his plummeting Packers won a game, WAOW-TV reported. Much to the relief of his neighbors, however, he promised to wear shorts. Thank goodness the Packers won last week.

Tweet of the Week

From (at)TheFakeESPN: “Aretha Franklin had a longer NFL career than Johnny Manziel.”

Talko time

Bob Molinaro of the Hampton Roads Virginian Pilot, wondering why Tom Brady is front and center in the NFL’s MVP discussion: “Weren’t the Patriots 3-0 with Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback?”