Miami Dolphins

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano confirmed Monday that veteran nose tackle Jason Ferguson is out for the season with a quad injury and not a knee injury that had been widely reported.

Either way, the burden of anchoring Miami's 3-4 defense will fall on the broad shoulders of Paul Soliai, who has missed the past two games with an ankle injury but is expected to play Sunday against the 3-7 injury-decimated Bills.

"I would hope that Paul Soliai is ready to go and Paul Soliai would have to step in there and play," Sparano said. "Now the last time that happened, the guy played pretty good. I would hope that is where we are."

Soliai filled in for a nicked-up Ferguson against the Jets last month and notched a career-high six tackles. Also expected to help fill the void left by Ferguson are blossoming defensive end Randy Starks and Tony McDaniel. Starks has compiled a career-high 5.5 sacks.

"Very confident in what those players can do," Sparano said. "Starks, I would say most people would rather see him on an end, because when he gets in there and you have to figure out ways to single block this guy and still protect Joey (Porter), and protect Jason (Taylor) out there and do those kind of things, it gives him a little bit of space. I would say that that's something they would prefer to see."

The Dolphins' 11th-ranked rushing defense could be aided if Bills running back Marshawn Lynch (shoulder) can't play. The Bills are ranked 21st in rushing, but they should have a healthy Fred Jackson ready to run behind a beat-up offensive line that just lost right guard Eric Wood for the year. Also injured Sunday was reserve lineman Seth McKinney, and Buffalo had already lost left tackle Brad Butler in Week 2.

Sparano wouldn't elaborate on any of the other nicked-up Dolphins, including center Jake Grove, whose ankle injury is believed to be the most serious of the rest.

"We are not the only team in the league that is suffering injuries right now; nobody is going to feel sorry for you," Sparano said. "We are in a situation right now where we fought our tails off to put ourselves in the best situation that we can be in at this time. We got some pretty important games coming up, so we are getting ready for Buffalo."

—The last time Dolphins coach Tony Sparano saw so many offensive linemen go down with injuries in one game he was an offensive line coach for the 3-13 Cleveland Browns in 2000.

"We went into the game with seven offensive linemen and I lost a center on about the 20th play of the game to a high ankle, and then I lost my starting right guard on about the 27th play, got kicked out of the game on a field goal nonetheless," Sparano said.

"The fifth guy got poked in the eye at the end of the first half, and the eye swelled shut, so I literally was coaching a defensive lineman at the time, a big defensive tackle, at halftime on how to play offensive line, and what to do with three base plays just to get us out of the game."

In last Thursday's gutsy 24-17 victory over the Panthers to improve to .500 (5-5) for the first time this season, Sparano was actually supervising third-string center Nate Garner on the sidelines as he practiced snapping the ball to quarterback Chad Henne. He kiddingly contemplated putting in defensive end Phillip Merling on the offensive line.

The Dolphins, who credited their rigorous offseason conditioning program to a pretty clean injury list in 2008, have been decimated in recent weeks, losing quarterback Chad Pennington, cornerback Will Allen and running back Ronnie Brown to season-ending injuries. Starting tight end Anthony Fasano has missed the last two games with a hip injury. Left guard Justin Smiley's chronic shoulder ailments are hampering him but Thursday night, every offensive linemen other than left tackle Jake Long took turns going down with the most serious being center Jake Grove's ankle injury.

"When we were down to me going into the game at that point, it was either him or me, and I think we would have been better off with him at that point," Sparano joked about having to put an ailing Smiley in when reserves Garner and Joe Berger also limped off. "I have never seen anything like it went last night, never."

• The Dolphins beat the Bucs Sunday and Panthers Thursday, marking the third time they won two games within five days since 2003. In 2003, they defeated the Redskins Nov. 23 and the Cowboys Nov. 27. In 2006, they downed Minnesota Nov. 19 and Detroit Nov. 23.

  "I think it's changed a bunch. It is something that I talked to the team about six days ago, I don't normally do that," said coach Tony Sparano. "You know me better than that, I'm kind of one game at a time, but this was a week's worth of work, and we knew that there had to be an attention to detail and a real focus to be able to put one away and jump back out and get this next one. … So we did talk about how we could change things in six days, and I think it really is a heck of a thing, because we could be sitting here today, we could be 3-7 right now."

• DE Randy Starks recorded a sack against QB Jake Delhomme in the fourth quarter and now has 5.5 sacks which surpassed his career high of 4.5 during his 2004 rookie season with the Tennessee Titans. Starks, who also had two hurries, has at least half a sack in the six of his last seven games.

  "Randy is a hard guy to block when you're a center to block one-on-one, I mean really hard," said coach Tony Sparano. "He made a play in one of those short-yardage situations last night, I think it was a third-and-1, and he kind of back-doored the center, swam the center, and made the play in the backfield, tackled for a loss."

• RB Ricky Williams, who had three touchdowns for the second time this season and third time in his career, had a rushing touchdown (1 and 46 yards) and a reception touchdown (14 yards) in the same game for the first time of his career. "It doesn't surprise us. We see Ricky every day. I think people have seen enough of him this season to see how he ran the ball and the speed he has," said OLB Jason Taylor. "It was good to see. … He's carrying a load for us now and did it very well. Hopefully he can rest up these next 10 days and do it again next week."

• RB Lex Hilliard, in his first game at running back, had an 18-yard run in the second quarter against Carolina on a third-and-16 play to set up a touchdown. Hilliard also recorded the first catch of his career, a 6-yarder from QB Chad Henne.

  "It's been a while since I've had a carry," said Hilliard. "We're talking preseason. I just got to get my confidence back carrying the ball. I've just got to make sure I'm ready all the time."

  Hilliard gained 24 yards on four carries

• OLB Joey Porter recorded two sacks of Carolina QB Jake Delhomme in the first half to kill drives. It was the 18th multi-sack game of his career, and first full sack since Game 3 against the Chargers. His last multiple sack game was Dec. 7, 2008 against the Bills. "That's Joey. We thrive off his energy and his passion. He came out tonight and had one heck of a game," said OLB Jason Taylor. Porter was benched last week by Sparano for unspecified reasons.

Player Notes

• RB Ronnie Brown underwent successful foot surgery (Lisfranc fracture) on his right foot Friday. He is on injured reserve and out for the year.

• OL Nate Garner, who never played center in an NFL game before, filled in for injured centers Jake Grove (ankle) and Joe Berger (ankle). Garner also played both guard spots and tight end when the Dolphins scored on a 1-yard touchdown run by Ricky Williams in the Wildcat formation. Garner also got nicked up.

• C Jake Grove, who limped off with a left ankle injury in the third quarter, begged the coaches to put him back in but they refused. First Joe Berger, and then Garner filled in for the former Raider, who has played just one full slate of regular-season games (2006) during his six-year career.

• RT Vernon Carey missed a few series with a shin injury, but returned. Nate Garner filled in for him.

• RB Ricky Williams sustained an undisclosed injury in the fourth quarter and was replaced by Lex Hilliard on Miami's final drive. It's not believed to be serious.

Report Card Vs

. PANTHERS

Passing Offense:

B - A tremendous job by a patchwork offensive line that had to use a third-string center and injured guard (Justin Smiley) to fill in. They gave QB Chad Henne plenty of time and didn't allow a sack. Henne converted several key third downs, especially to favorite target Davone Bess, who sparkled with six catches for 63 yards. Henne was 17 of 29 for 172 yards with a touchdown pass to RB Ricky Williams. WR Ted Ginn had four catches for 32 yards and rookie Brian Hartline snared a 36-yarder.

Rushing Offense:

A - Despite the absence of Miami's leading rusher Ronnie Brown, RB Ricky Williams flashed his vintage 2002 form with 119 yards on 22 carries, including two rushing touchdowns, one a game-sealing 46-yard burst in the fourth quarter. The nicked-up offensive line, including backups Nate Garner and Joe Berger, helped Miami average 5.0 yards-per-carry, including Lex Hilliard, who gained 24 yards on four carries.

Pass Defense:

A - Rookie CBs Sean Smith and Vontae Davis held their own against Panthers Pro Bowl WRs Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammad, despite Smith beating Davis on a 27-yard touchdown. Miami's pass rush, led by a fired-up Joey Porter - who had two of their four sacks - harassed QB Jake Delhomme into several rushed, erratic passes. CB Nate Jones had a game-turning interception on the Dolphins' 4-yard line to thwart a Panthers' scoring drive.

Rush Defense:

D - Why the Panthers stopped running in the fourth quarter is mind-boggling as the Dolphins were down to their third-string nose tackle and had been gashed for 182 yards on 6.7 yards-per-carry. DeAngelo Williams had 122 yards at 9.4 yards per carry, including a 50-yarder that SS Yeremiah Bell made a TD-saving tackle on. Carolina only ran the ball 12 times in the second half.

Special Teams:

B - KR Ted Ginn Jr. continues to exude confidence on kick returns, averaging 42.5 yards on two returns, and PR Davone Bess had a 22-yard return to set up a touchdown late in the second quarter. Despite a makeshift unit on special teams because of a flurry of injuries, K Dan Carpenter made his only field-goal attempt from 37 yards and P Brandon Fields notched a net 40.2 yards on six punts, including one inside the 20.

Coaching:

A-minus - Coach Tony Sparano deserves major kudos for motivating an injury-depleted squad to two wins in five days to get to 5-5 after an 0-3 start. And instead of depending on the Wildcat, Sparano and offensive coordinator Dan Henning adjusted to the loss of Ronnie Brown and utilized 32-year-old RB Ricky Williams to perfection. Defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni put his rookie corners into the right positions and had his pass rushers in Jake Delhomme's face all night long. The lone negative was that Sparano didn't have enough faith in his kicker or a nicked-up field-goal unit to go for a game-clinching 46-yarder with 44 seconds left. That gave the Panthers a last-second shot at the end zone that fell incomplete.