I'm not sure when, if ever, during an NFL preseason it becomes dignified to panic, but it's beginning to feel like it might be that time.

Green Bay visited muggy Miami Monday night, and even Dennis Miller's chicanery couldn't obfuscate a few blatant truths about the team as it stands currently: the defense is a work in progress, Matt Hasselbeck has not won three MVP awards and just about every starter of note on either side of the ball is either hurt or pretending to be.

Oddly, despite being overrun between the 20-yard lines for the first 30 minutes (Dolphins kicker Olindo Mare missed four field goals in the Packers' eventual 17-14 loss), the defensive effort was probably the game's most encouraging. There is no refuting the fact that the linebacking group is sub-standard, but newcomer Nate Wayne at least appeared active. And while ex-starter Jude Waddy seems to almost have a propensity for not making plays, starting corner Mike McKenzie can almost make up for it.

What became most evident during Monday's first half was that coordinator Ed Donatell's attacking philosophy appears to be taking root. But like Nietzche's, it takes some time to wear in. The Packers finally registered a couple sacks, but pressure on the quarterback was minimal. However, coordinated run-blitz packages seemed on the verge of clicking, with tackles for losses just missed here and leaping lineman missing thrown balls there. Timing, as they say, is everything.

The group even resembled Denver's 1997 team that harassed the Packers into their worst defeat under Mike Holmgren, however mildly. Again, there is still nary a push from the down lineman, and Wayne, Waddy, Mike Morton and Nail Diggs aren't reminding too many folks of Pepper Johnson, Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carsons.

Offensively, the group needs only Larry Linville trying to bag Hot Lips in the Swamp to fully resemble a MASH unit. Brett Favre continues to rest his tennis elbow, which he got from playing too much golf or from gripping a football too hard. At running back, a kid named Whisper temporarily helped us forget that Dorsey Levens and Ahman Green are both nursing leg injuries, but Herbert Goodman's loud numbers (13 carries for 91 yards) must be judged in light of their timing -- the second half of a pretend game.

Tackle Earl Dotson still is sidelined with back trouble (how useful is an offensive lineman with a bad back, by the way?) and, to add injury to insult, WR Corey Bradford has a mid-October due date stamped across his broken fibula.