MIAMI -- Dolphins wide receiver Greg Camarillo, who last week signed a $6 million, 3-year contract, is as surprised as any Patriots fans that Miami and New England are playing a game with major playoff implications in late November.

"If you had told me at the end of last season we'd be playing the Patriots late in the season trying to fight for a playoff game, I wouldn't have believe you," he said.

Going into Week 11 of the 2007 season, New England was 10-0, the Dolphins, 0-10. Today, they're both 6-4, with Miami already owning a decisive, 38-13, victory over the Pats in Foxboro, in September.

Camarillo, who was undrafted out of Stanford in 2005, has played a key role in Miami's dramatic turnaround.

Although he came to training camp with just 8 career catches -- one of them a 64-yard, TD grab in overtime against Baltimore that gave Miami its only win last season -- he leads the Dolphins in receiving this year, with 49 catches for 538 yards and a TD. He would have been a free agent at this end of this seaosn.

"He goes a million miles an hour," Miami coach Tony Sparano said. "He practices every day like he's one step away form losing his job."