Miami slam door on New England’s regular season streak
The loss halted the Patriots’ streak at 21 as they lost a NFL regular-season game for the first time since a 21-0 loss at Miami in 2006.
The Dolphins (1-2) had won just one of their past 21 games but rode the superb performance of Brown to end an 11-game road losing skid.
Brown rushed for 113 yards, 17 carries, including scoring runs of two, 15, five and 62 yards. He also threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to tight end Anthony Fasano.
“It’s something to build off,” Brown said. “We were 0-2 going into the bye week. We wanted to get some things to build on. Getting a win like this over a team of this calibre, hopefully it will carry over.”
In other key games, Buffalo rallied to beat Oakland 24-23 and move to 3-0 for the season, Eli Manning helped carry the New York Giants over Cincinnati 26-23, Philadelphia’s defence shut down the Pittsburgh offence to post a 15-6 win and unbeaten Dallas dominated the Green Bay Packers 27-16.
New England quarterback Matt Cassel finished 19-of-31 for 131 yards with one TD and one interception. Cassel was making just his second career start after the Patriots first-choice quarterback Tom Brady suffered a season-ending injury.
“There is not too much to say,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “I thought Miami played a real good football game. They outplayed us. They out-coached us.”
Randy Starks picked off Cassel’s pass over the middle and set up Miami’s first scoring drive. Chad Pennington led the Dolphins 74 yards in eight plays, capped off by Brown’s first score, a two-yard plunge over the right side.
Philadelphia got two-and-a-half sacks from Juqua Parker as the Eagles, who had to overcome injuries to their top two offensive players, rode their strong defensive effort to a 15-6 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Darren Howard also had two sacks for the Eagles (2-1), who recorded nine sacks in a defensive slugfest.
Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb passed for 196 yards and a touchdown despite playing through a chest injury, which forced him to miss the beginning of the second half.
The Eagles also played the majority of the contest without running back Brian Westbrook.
Gus Frerotte threw 204 yards and a touchdown pass to rally the Minnesota Vikings to a 20-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers.
In New Jersey, Manning led an overtime drive capped by John Carney’s game-winning 22-yard field goal as the Giants outlasted the Cincinnati Bengals 26-23 while Kerry Collins became the 15th quarterback in NFL to pass 35,000 yards as the Tennessee Titans coasted to a 31-12 win over the Houston Texans.
Jason Campbell tossed a pair of touchdowns, leading the Washington Redskins to a 24-17 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.
