TAMPA, Fla. -- Maybe it is the confidence of having started 15 regular-season games in 2000 and then two more in the playoffs. Or a realization that, in one season, Jay Fiedler threw nearly twice as many passes as he had in his entire previous NFL tenure.

Perchance it was meant to be little more than a show of overt moxie, a demonstration the Miami Dolphins are his team now and that he is no longer just an afterthought. There's also the possibility it was just a poorly-thrown pass.

	Jay Fiedler, right, has a new target in rookie wide receiver Chris Chambers.

But there was the Dolphins' quarterback attempting to drill an intermediate-depth slant pass into the teeth of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers secondary on Saturday morning. And there was standout cornerback Donnie Abraham, sitting way back in the safe-cocoon zone defense the Bucs play so deftly, to easily intercept the errant throw.

And, oh, yeah, there was Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt kicking the ground in disgust, and then noting later that the club might have to scale back its offense from the ambitious plans he had coordinator Chan Gailey plan for this year.

"You want to move forward," Wannstedt said, as the Dolphins wrapped up two days of workouts with the Bucs here, "but you don't want to tear down the foundation of all the things you did last year to win. We'd like to add to the offense, but our game is still to run the football, take the (big plays) when they are there and play great defense."

If it sounds like the 2001 edition of the Miami Dolphins will closely resemble the team that won 11 games a year ago and captured the franchise's first AFC East title since 1994, well, that might be the case.

Then again, it might not be.

Much depends in the coming weeks on a number of elements -- primarily the progress of a revamped wide receiver corps that provides Gailey more deep-ball options. There are also the issues of how the team addresses a void at left tackle created by the season-ending knee injury to projected starter Brent Smith and how Fiedler responds in his second season as the starter.

Some observers might suggest the last of those components is actually the most essential, but Miami players and coaches don't necessarily buy into that. Their attack is one of the several in the league now in which the quarterback is a key but complementary cog -- the guy who no doubt must make most of the plays but also be a practitioner of the lost art of allowing the surrounding cast to take its share of bows, too.

A year ago, Fiedler was trying to bounce back from hip surgery and get back into a battle with Damon Huard for the starting job. In this camp, Fiedler is healthy, Huard is now the caddy for Drew Bledsoe in New England and veteran free agent acquisition Ray Lucas has yet to mount a viable challenge. So you can understand the increased level of confidence from the one-time itinerant Fiedler, who only five years ago was coaching quarterbacks at the college level and not playing the position himself.

Since he is a Dartmouth graduate with a degree in engineering sciences, the suspicion is that Fiedler is a brainy decision-maker, and he demonstrated that when he signed with the Dolphins last spring as a free agent. In very few other NFL precincts would Fiedler have had the chance to immediately compete for the starting job. But in the first year of the post-Dan Marino era in Miami, all things were possible, including a division title.

Now the question becomes this: What happens in the second year of the Fiedler Forum?

	“	Mentally, having finally gotten to play last year, I can't help but be sharper. But I don't just want to be kind of a caretaker with the offense, you know? I realize I have to make plays. Maybe not as many as in some offenses, but certainly my share. ”
		— Jay Fiedler, Dolphins quarterback

"I think I'm ahead of the game just from the standpoint that there's no question about who the starter is here," Fiedler said. "Physically, I'm a stronger player. Mentally, having finally gotten to play last year, I can't help but be sharper. But I don't just want to be kind of a caretaker with the offense, you know? I realize I have to make plays. Maybe not as many as in some offenses, but certainly my share."

The organization has attempted to surround Fiedler with more playmakers, acquiring in free agency veteran wide receivers James McKnight and Dedric Ward and also selecting former Wisconsin wideout Chris Chambers in the second round of the draft. But Ward likely will miss the entire preseason with a foot injury, McKnight has never caught more than 52 balls in a season and Chambers must work on his consistency.

Don't be surprised if the Dolphins move left guard Mark Dixon, their best blocker for the past three seasons, outside to tackle to provide some insurance for Fiedler's blind side. And while he has slumped a bit after a fast camp start, rookie tailback Travis Minor could play a key role because of his speed and elusiveness.

For all the talk of improved explosiveness from the Dolphins, the offensive design still figures to center on a power running game led by tailback Lamar Smith and a passing tree that is more efficient than a year ago. The Dolphins want to stretch the field more in 2001 but might be stretching their imaginations to think they can do so.

"You've got to force (defenses) to honor your speed, though, so I think we'll throw deep," said McKnight, perhaps the quickest of the new receivers. "The last thing you want is to have to see eight defenders down in the box every snap. We want to move people off the line of scrimmage a little and give ourselves some room to operate."

The fact remains the Dolphins progressed to the second round of the playoffs in 2000 with an offense that statistically rated No. 26 overall and 27th in passing and at times had the look of a unit trying hard not to lose a game. The formula was a simple one: Get some points and get out of the way of a Dolphins defense that was one of the league's most suffocating.

Play the same way this year and the results might be the same. But Wannstedt realizes he must upgrade the offense for the Dolphins to be considered a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Whether he can do it or not remains to be seen.

"There's more speed across the board, more guys capable of turning plays and of putting the ball in the end zone," Fiedler said. "On paper, it looks good, but we've got to apply it on the field now. We've got to start clicking with this stuff."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.