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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, September 22, 2008

Brown helps Dolphins shock Patriots

Associated Press

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Miami running back Ronnie Brown accounted for five TDs, including four on direct snaps, in a 38-13 win over New England.

MICHAEL DWYER | Associated Press

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Fans booed the New England Patriots. Many left early. The record winning streak of their favorite team was ending with a stunning domination by the lowly Miami Dolphins.

Ronnie Brown scored a team-record four touchdowns rushing and threw for another — with four of the scores coming on direct snaps to the running back — as Miami shocked New England, 38-13, yesterday.

"It's brutal, man, brutal," Patriots defensive end Ty Warren said.

The loss ended the Patriots' NFL mark of 21 straight regular-season wins that began after a 21-0 loss to the Dolphins on Dec. 10, 2006.

Miami (1-2), which finished 1-15 last season, won for the second time in 22 games. It was the first win for new coach Tony Sparano.

"That was fun. It was obviously a pretty emotional deal," he said.

New England (2-1) kept getting fooled by the same trickery: six direct snaps resulting in four touchdowns.

"When they get settled, they're pretty fundamentally sound as a defense," said Brown, who scored on runs of 2, 15, 5 and 62 yards. "So we wanted to give them something to adjust to."

Miami's Chad Pennington went 17 for 20 for 226 yards, while New England's Matt Cassel completed 19 of 31 passes for 131 yards with one touchdown.

JAGUARS 23, COLTS 21

INDIANAPOLIS — After wearing out the Indianapolis defense on the ground, Josh Scobee saved the game by making a 51-yard field goal with 4 seconds left.

It didn't look like Jacksonville (1-2) would need Scobee's boot after consuming more than 12 minutes on a marathon drive to open the fourth quarter capped by Scobee's 21-yarder for a 20-14 lead with 2:33 left.

But Peyton Manning nearly pulled off his second improbable comeback for Indianapolis (1-2) in two weeks. He needed just 1:26 to take the Colts 77 yards before giving the ball to Joseph Addai for a 2-yard TD run.

Jacksonville's final scoring drive was helped by an 11-yard pass interference penalty on Freddy Keiaho when a fourth-and-1 pass from David Garrard fell incomplete with 25 seconds to go.

BILLS 24, RAIDERS 23

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Buffalo (3-0) overcame a sloppy start to produce a second straight fourth-quarter comeback victory.

Rian Lindell hit a 38-yard field goal as the clock ran out against Oakland (1-2). Trent Edwards engineered three scoring drives in the final quarter, helping the Bills twice overcome 9-point deficits in the last 8 minutes.

Edwards finished 24 of 39 for 279 yards and a touchdown.

RAVENS 28, BROWNS 10

BALTIMORE — Baltimore (2-0) turned two of Derek Anderson's interceptions into a pair of touchdowns during a 50-second span of the third quarter.

Ed Reed returned one of the interceptions 32 yards for a score, and Le'Ron McClain scored his first two NFL touchdowns on a pair of 1-yard runs — both during a 21-point third quarter.

Anderson went 14 for 37 for 125 yards, was sacked four times and threw three interceptions for Cleveland (0-3).

TITANS 31, TEXANS 12

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — LenDale White ran for two touchdowns, Kerry Collins threw for another and Tennessee rolled to improve to 3-0 for only the third time in franchise history.

The Tennessee defense sacked Matt Schaub three times, Michael Griffin had two interceptions and Cortland Finnegan sealed the victory by returning Schaub's third pick 99 yards for a TD.

Rookie Steve Slaton scored his first pro TD on a 6-yard run and had nine carries for 104 yards for Houston (0-2).