"Heeeeeeeep!" appreciative fans screamed, the chant echoing in the stadium.

Such moments happen all the time on Football Sundays. Except that this Oct. 19 game was played at Dolphin Stadium -- the Miami Dolphins' home field.

And Heap plays for Baltimore.

But with 23,000 tickets sold in eight hours for Sunday's playoff game, a rematch with the Ravens, the cheers should be loudest for the Dolphins.

"This is what it's all about," defensive lineman Vonnie Holliday said. "This is what I heard about when I came down here, that this is a Football town and people are into it.

"Because of our lack of success on the field, it hadn't been that way lately. But it's good to be a part of that now. It's good to see the people in my building, and the gas station, and the grocery store being excited about Dolphins Football."

Running back Patrick Cobbs remembers a game last season against Oakland, with many Raiders fans in the stands.

"It felt like an away game almost -- when we were at home," he said.

Maybe that was the feeling in 2007, and parts of the 2008 regular season, for the Dolphins. But 2009 has dawned -- Miami is in the playoffs for the first time since January of 2002.

So the feeling is about to change.

Sunday's game between the Dolphins and Ravens is sold out. And while some NFL teams such as Minnesota and Arizona struggled to sell out their weekend home playoff games, Scott Loft, vice president of ticket sales and service at Dolphin Stadium, predicted the match against Baltimore will break the stadium's playoff record for paid tickets.

The previous high for any Dolphins playoff game at Dolphin Stadium occurred in 1994, when the team sold 73,762 tickets for a game against Kansas City.

So Miami players, who've been wondering where the home-field advantage was the past couple of years, are expecting that advantage will be obvious during this game.

"I expect all the fans that are there to be loud," said linebacker Akin Ayodele. "The energy is definitely going to be high and the 12th man will be out.

"There's something about playoff games. It's like playing the first game of the season, but it's 10 times louder. It's louder. It's more intense. The plays come a lot faster. All the plays are big plays."

The electricity in the stadium will culminate a week in which there has been considerable buzz throughout the community. Miami players that sometimes avoided going out in public during last season's 1-15 season are celebrities again.

South Florida feels like Football country to them now.

Indeed, the Dolphins are not measuring the community's excitement solely by the speed of ticket sales. They measure the excitement in Miami's 11-5 season based on their interaction with fans on the street.

"We've changed the way a lot of people view the Miami Dolphins and what they've been used to here lately," Ayodele said. 'Before we won [the AFC East division], guys would come up to you saying, 'If you guys don't even make it to the playoffs, we're proud of the fact you go into the games and compete. You show a lot of heart.' That says a lot about the guys that are here and what we do on Sundays."

Ayodele said he would respond politely during such interaction with fans even though he didn't totally agree.

"They'd be saying that," Ayodele said, 'and I'd be thinking, 'No, we have to make the playoffs.' "

The Dolphins are hoping the playoff atmosphere Sunday will be reminiscent of the glory days at the Orange Bowl. In those games, decades ago, a shirtsleeve -- or even shirtless -- crowd would fill the venerable place and wave their white hankies whenever the Dolphins rallied.

Most of those white hankies came from fans' pockets or purses. But everyone in the crowd for this game will get a commemorative Dolphins "Rally Towel," which Loft said will come courtesy of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida.

"The towels are white like the hankies were," Loft said. 'They have the inscription, 'Dolphins, The Wait is Over, Believe in Now,' on them."

The Dolphins believe that if the crowd is as large as expected and as raucous as expected, it will give them an undeniable advantage against the Ravens.

"When you're at home and you have the people in the stands, you feed off their energy," guard Andy Alleman said. "That's the reason teams want to come in and try to take your crowd out of the game. That's what people try to do when they go on the road. We have to be ready to play with or without that. But it always helps to have it."

There is little doubt that a vast majority of the fans that rushed to buy playoff tickets on Monday will be rooting for the Dolphins. Loft said Miami season-ticket holders were offered the tickets first and then the remaining seats were sold.

Approximately 300 to 400 people trekked to the stadium to buy the tickets at the windows. But 80 percent were sold online or at vendor outlets. That raises the possibility that Ravens fans purchased some of the tickets. Loft said Dolphin Stadium did not do anything to prevent that from happening.

"We believe a vast majority of the fans will be Dolphins fans," he said.

And the players -- especially those on defense that count on noise to disrupt the opposing offense -- appreciate the business because they know the economy has seen better days.

"I was surprised at the speed the tickets sold given what I've seen and my experience here and also the economy," Holliday said. "You can't take for granted that people are going out and spending their hard-earned money in tough times and selling a game out for you.

"I wouldn't take it for granted if they didn't choose to do that. These are tough times, and we as players certainly appreciate the love you get around the city and the excitement we'll see in the stadium."

The Dolphins, winners of nine of their last 10 games, need to continue their streak to advance to next week's divisional playoff game -- a game that would be played in Pittsburgh.

That means there is no guarantee Miami will return to Dolphin Stadium during this postseason. But the Dolphins will be back in the 2009 regular season, and there are signs the fans will return with them.

"Season-ticket deposits are at an all-time high," Loft said. "Year over year, we are pacing well ahead of where we've been."

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