Hopefully this time around they can schedule the game when it isn’t pouring buckets down on the pitch at Wembley. (There has to be dry season in that counrty, hasn’t there?) More importantly, the NFL should try to find a couple teams that are maybe better than the Miami Dolphins, one of the two teams they shipped off across the pond this past season. I’m surprised that the English would even allow the game to be played considering the horrible product the league put on the field back in October.

We’ll find out during the Super Bowl which guinea pigs two teams will get the honor of playing the second international NFL game.

I’m guessing Parcells was looking for someone with an ability to survive extended periods of abuse and punishment and a willingness to do things Bill’s way. Considering Sparano worked on Parcell’s staff in Dallas, he probably has those qualities in spades. We should all send our thoughts and prayers to Sparano, because this next season — and the next and the next after that — are going to be inhumanly terrible.

Now it’s hard to fault Parcells for wanting to hire his own man for the job, especially when he’s trying to put a disastrous 1-15 season in the rearview mirror, but you still have to feel a little bad for Cameron. He was hired to replace Nick Saban, who jumped the sinking ship after two seasons, and given a rag tag roster that was hardly playoff calibre. But such is life in the NFL.

So who will the Big Tuna hire to be his new head coach? I’m sure it’ll be someone Bill Parcells-like. Like maybe Bill Parcells perhaps?

Just look at Bill Parcells, the oft retired head coach and ESPN analyst. You thought coaching the Dallas Cowboys was the end of the line for old Bill? Think again. He’s headed to Miami to take up a front office job as VP of Football Operations. Way to go Bill, you show them what today’s senior can do!

And congratulations to the Dolphins for showing some guts and taking a chance on a man who’s closing in on 70-years old. Sure, you could have hired any one of the many experienced football executives under the age of 50, someone who could stick around to lead your organization for a decade or more, but you placed a higher value on experience and the wisdom of age. Good for you!

This is a proud day for AARP members everywhere.

The Miami Dolphins, this week, faced perhaps their most winnable game of the season playing at home against the New York Jets. Unfortunately for the Fins faithful, the Jets decided not to improve their draft standing and instead rolled up 40 points on the aqua and teal warriors in Miami’s worst loss of the year.

Forget about the #1 pick in the draft — Miami has all but clinched the first trip to the podium — the Dolphins have grabbed a share in the NFL record book by tying for third the most consecutive games lost at the start of the season. With their 0-12 record, the 2007 Fins squad joins such illustrious company as the 1977 Buccaneers and the 2001 Lions. Congratulations.

And it only gets better.

This week the Dolphins travel to Buffalo with a chance to stand shoulder to shoulder with the 1962 Oakland Raiders and the 1986 Indianapolis Colts. And with the Ravens coming to town the following week, Miami could match the illustrious 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the 1980 New Orleans Saints for an 0-14 season mark. Kinda makes you tingly all over just thinking about it, huh?

Even more impressive, the Dolphins right now have lost 15 consecutive games going back to last season. If Miami falls to the Bills, the Ravens and the unbeatable Patriots the next three weeks, they will join the 1972-73 Houston Oilers as the only team in NFL history to lose 18 straight. I wonder what Dan Pastorini is doing these days?

The schedule does not look pretty. The next two weeks, the Dolphins travel to Philadelphia and then to Pittsburgh. There is a road trip to Buffalo in Week 14 and another trip to New England in Week 16. At home the Fins play the Ravens and the Bengals, but I’m not at all sure Miami has what it takes to beat even those sad sack teams.

Now we’ve kicked the Fins around here a bit, but seriously, do we want a team in this day and age to go 0-16? Since the league went to a 16-game season in 1988, no team has ever done it. The last time a team failed to win a game in a regular season was in 1976 when the expansion Buccaneers went 0-14, and the only time after that was during the strike-shortened 1982 season when the Baltimore Colts finished 0-8-1.

But there is a ray of hope.

In Week 13, the Dolphins play host to the only slightly better New Yawk Jets. I only hope the networks hype this game as much as they did the Colts vs. Patriots because this could be a real doozie. Imagine, the 0-11 Dolphins against the 1-10 Jets, playing a game that could very well decide the worst team in football. NBC should get this one on the flex schedule because I bet the entire nation would tune in.

If the Dolphins can’t win that one at home, then game over. Roger Goodell should be on hand to award the #1 draft pick to Miami right afterwards. But if by some miracle the Dolphins can pull off the upset, then we could have a three-way tie at the bottom of the league with Miami, New York, and St. Louis. In which case I would advocate a round robin playoff tournament to start right after the Pro Bowl.

We’re counting on you Miami.

It seems Roger Goodell took a big hit off the peace pipe and decided to finally reinstate the former star running back after an 18 month suspension. Miami will probably get a two-week roster exemption to decide what to do with Ricky, keep him or cut him, but could it hurt to have him around? I mean the Dolphins are 0-9 and turned the reigns over to rookie QB John Beck, they need all the help they can get. And who knows, someone might give them a seventh-round pick in a trade next year.

To help celebrate the reinstatement of Ricky, we offer now an encore presentation of our video tribute to him and his love of the herbage. So spark that big fatty, sit back and enjoy again our award winning film, “Legalize Dem.”

But who will come calling?

Still tied at the top of the podium leaderboard are the winless Rams and Dolphins. Both are coming off the bye so they should be well rested and ready to play hard. Or, well as hard as they can — which isn’t very. St. Louis has a date against the we’ve-got-our-shit-together-now Saints who are looking for their fourth straight win, while Miami hosts the suddenly streaking 4-4 Buffalo Bills. Looks like we’ve got us a tight race for the #1 pick.

But not so fast, say the 1-8 New York Jets. They have a bye this week so there’s no way for them to lose their spot on the charts, and then in two weeks they play the Pittsburgh Steelers. Mangini is totally kicking himself right now for beating Miami back in Week 3.

On the outside looking in, we have the 2-6 Atlanta Falcons, who may have shot themselves in the foot by beating San Francisco last week. Or did the 2-6 49ers take a fall? They too are still in the running and play at Seattle on Monday night.

The Cincinnati Bengals also have just two wins and a shot at the #1 pick. Chad Johnson is banged up and Chris Henry got into trouble his first day back after serving an eight-game suspension; looks like the Bungles are ready to compete.

But you still have to like the Raiders chances here. The reigning champions of the Not Worth A Damn League, Oakland impressed me last week with their loss at home to the Houston Texans. Lane Kiffin has done an outstanding job rebuilding his first year on the job and I’m sure the new head coach next year will thank him for helping stock the roster with another top draft pick.

At the Miami Herald’s Dolphins in Depth blog, Armando Salguero hypothesizes that had Williams been reinstated before the trade deadline, Miami could have dealt him for a much needed fifth or sixth round draft pick.

But who would have made a trade? The Packer blog Camp Lambeau thinks he may have made a good addition for 7-1 Green Bay:

What is Ricky Williams doing. This fairy tale needs a caterpillar with a hooka. The Packers in wonderland. Whoooo rrrrrrr youuuuuuu?