■ Competition brings out best in Miami’s Wake,

DAVIE — Cameron Wake approaches every snap the same way. So, yes, it’s great that the regular season is finally here. But...

“For me, if there’s an oppo- nent across from me, he’s wearing a different color and they’re keeping score, it’s all gas, no brakes,” Wake said last week. “It doesn’t matter whatever it is. I don’t care if it’s ping-pong, badminton, preseason, Super Bowl, I’m trying to kill you.”

Wake has kil l ed — er, sacked — the quarterback 92 times in his Dolphins career and made two tack- les in Miami’s win Sunday over Tennessee. What drives him now?

“Cameron Wake,” he said. “Every day I look in the mir- ror. Being better than him. I’ve never cared about stats particularly, somebody else, what he did, what he does, what the other guy on the other side of the league is doing. I have a very, very (serious) competition in myself and (with) outdoing me, being better, being smarter.

“All of those things, keep stepping that bar up. That’s kind of the way I make my way across improving, and I think if I continue to do that, then hopefully I can help this team. If I can help this team, then we can get more wins, and so on and so on. It’s just going to trickle down and trickle across and be contagious.”

Wake believes defensive end Robert Quinn will be a tremendous asset.

“Obviously, he’s a great football player (and a) trem endous pas s -rushing force,” Wake said. “Any- time you have to make decisions when it comes to the offensive side of the ball ... of course, that would prob- ably be a great question to ask one of those guys on the other side, but how are you going to dispense your attention? There’s only so many guys .... ”

There has been so much talk about Miami chang- ing the culture of its locker room and adding winners and leaders. That’s all fine, but Wake says he’s all about that action, boss.

“Words have never solved a problem,” Wake said. “It’s always come down to actions. It has to happen. It’s not something that we can just go out and say. It’s not something that you can speak into existence. Speaking something into existence is not a thing. You have to act it into existence.

“We can go out there and rah-rah-rah all we want, whether it’s culture, stop the run, get to the quarterback, score points, all of that. It sounds good. It makes good T-shirts; but you have to bleed. You have to do it and that becomes who you are.

“Whether you want to say I’m a rah-rah guy or I’m a tough guy, if you don’t go out there and be tough, what difference does it make? So (each) Sunday will show what the situation is, who you are individually, unit, team, so on and so forth.”

Center sig n ing confirmed: The Dolphins confirmed the signing of center Travis Swanson on Tuesday.

Tight end Gavin Escobar, who was signed as a free agent in April, was released.

Swanson, 27, who is 6 feet 5 and 304 pounds, was signed as an unrestricted free agent by the Jets in April but released by New York two weeks ago. The Dolphins visit the Jets on Sunday.

The signing of Swanson is not related to the shoulder injury suffered by Dolphins long snapper John Denney in Sunday’s opener against Tennessee. Denney has played 209 consecutive games for the Dolphins.

Coach Adam Gase said Monday the team was “still evaluating” Denney’s condition.

Rookie tight end Durham Smythe handled long snapping late in the Titans game for Miami.