As far as seminal moments in a quarterback's career go, chalk up Chad Henne's masterful performance in the Dolphins' 31-27 Monday-night victory over the Jets in Week Five as a major one. His command of the offense was crisp, his execution was precise and the opponent was top-notch.

Clearly, Henne's physical superiority to predecessor Chad Pennington affords the offense more opportunities. His big arm is an obvious weapon, as was evidenced by his 53-yard touchdown heave to Ted Ginn Jr., which gave the Dolphins one of their leads in the seesaw fourth quarter. But, as one team source points out, the fact that Henne gets the ball out of his hand and into his playmaker's hands more quickly than Pennington allows his guys many more opportunities to pick up yards after the reception.

From a personal perspective, the winning effort gained Henne a lot of points from his peers in the locker room. Ironically, however, it wasn't his offensive mates he won over. Word out of South Florida is that it was guys on the defensive side of the ball, such as star OLB Joey Porter, who were particularly inspired by Henne's breakthrough performance. The way we hear it, Henne's offensive brethren had the utmost confidence in his ability, even before his 20-of-26, 241-yard, two-touchdown, zero-interception outing.

Miami's offensive cast has had no choice but to rally behind the vocal, in-your-face Henne, a self-proclaimed "dictator." Whereas Pennington operated with a certain calm, Henne's more aggressively confident mannerisms better fit the Dolphins' mashing offensive identity.

In a somewhat perverse sense, the fact that the Dolphins lack an elite, go-to wide receiver has perhaps aided in Henne's maturation. Rather than force-feeding one star wideout, Henne has been able to properly survey the field and get the ball out to whoever has been isolated in a favorable matchup. Furthermore, his assertive identity isn't getting drowned out by the clamoring calls from any of the NFL's diva receivers.

Nevertheless, don't expect the Dolphins to suddenly transform into a pass-heavy attack. Thanks largely to their continued success out of the "Wildcat" formation, the Fins lead the league with 177.0 rushing yards per game, and they don't want to deviate far from a plan that has won them their last two games, enabling them to climb back into the AFC East race after initially looking down-and-out at 0-3.

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