AFC East: What Does Win No. 1 Mean for Dolphins?

Football Betting Lines

09/23/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Signs of progress have been located for the 2008 Miami Dolphins, but the team's long-suffering fan base has seen that movie before.

The Fins showed signs of progress under Nick Saban and Dave Wannstedt, too, and it never translated into the team actually becoming an AFC contender during the current decade. Heck, there were times during the first month of the lost 2007 season when it looked like Cam Cameron had the organization on the right track.

So you'll have to pardon Miami fans if their enthusiasm in the wake of the team's shocking 38-13 road beat-down of the New England Patriots on Sunday is somewhat restrained.

Check back in early November if you want a true assessment of where the stock of the Tony Sparano/Bill Parcells regime really resides.

After their Week 4 bye, the Dolphins will embark upon a rough five-game stretch in which the world will determine whether the Patriots win was a fluke, a prediction of the team's ascent, or something in between.

During those five weeks, Miami will host the Chargers (10/5), Ravens (10/19), and Bills (10/26) and will travel to meet the Texans (10/12) and Broncos (11/2). There's a good chance the Fins will be underdogs in all of those games, though more convincing performances like the one put up on Sunday are sure to change that.

The big story in the game was Ronnie Brown, who answered any and all questions about his health by carrying 17 times for 113 yards, scoring an eye-popping four touchdowns, and throwing for another one on a trick-play throw to Anthony Fasano.

A large portion of Brown's success came out of the newly-unveiled "Wildcat" formation, in which the running back took the snap from center.

Not that there will be a quarterback controversy in Miami, given the way Chad Pennington played in his third start with the Dolphins.

Pennington was an ultra-efficient 17-of-20 for 226 yards without a turnover in the victory, his first in a Miami uniform.

Defensively, the Dolphins attacked the Patriots and quarterback Matt Cassel from start to finish, with Joey Porter (3 sacks on the day) helping limit the new starter to just 131 yards through the air. Randy Moss (4 receptions, 25 yards) was a non-factor for New England, and the running game (20 carries, 79 yards) never got untracked either.

Oh, and the Patriots' NFL-record 21-game regular season winning streak? It's gone, just like the zero next to Sparano's name on the won-loss ledger.

"It feels pretty good," said Sparano, a New England native, on Monday. "The biggest thing is to win a game like that, and win a game in your division. I think that's really what the most important thing is that this was a division game, and to have a chance to do anything well in this league, you have to win division games. To win one like that on the road says an awful lot about the guys in the locker room there."

BILLS: Delirious fans of the Buffalo Bills are going to have a difficult time deciding what to be most excited about this week.

Is it the team's first 3-0 start since 1992, back when the Bills were in the midst of their four consecutive Super Bowl berths under Marv Levy?

Is it their standing alone atop the AFC East, a division in which the Patriots just got a huge dose of reality against the Dolphins and the Jets and Miami both look like works in progress?

Or is it choice C, the one that many Buffalo supporters will focus in on this week and the one that wears jersey number five?

Trent Edwards just put the finishing touches on his second late-fourth-quarter comeback in as many weeks, rallying Buffalo from a nine-point deficit in the final five minutes to outlast the pesky Raiders, 24-23.

Edwards was 6-of-8 for 92 yards including a touchdown on the final two drives, displaying the steely reserve of a veteran and winning more respect among both fans and observers around the league.

More than completion percentages and passer ratings, it is the number of gutty wins that a quarterback can engineer that truly cements legend status in the NFL, and after years of watching Rob Johnson and J.P. Losman take two steps back for every step forward, Bills fans have to be ecstatic over the way Edwards has taken charge in just his second year in the league.

"He just got on fire," offensive coordinator Turk Schonert told the Buffalo News of Edwards. "He was going to the right guy, throwing it accurately, getting it out. He played with confidence."

For the year, the 6-foot-4, 231-pound Edwards has completed 63-of-94 passes (67 percent) with three touchdowns, just one interception, and an impressive 96.6 rating.

JETS: Taken independently of the game's result, the Jets would have to be happy with their passing performance against San Diego on Monday night.

Brett Favre opened things up for the first time in his three-game stint with the team, completing 30-of-42 passes for 271 yards with three touchdowns. Favre was also sacked three times, and threw a couple of picks including one that went the other way for an Antonio Cromartie pick-six, but those types of mistakes are as woven into Favre's gun-slinger fabric as are his double- coverage touchdown passes.

All three of Favre's primary receivers - Laveranues Coles (6 receptions, 75 yards, 1 TD), Jerricho Cotchery (10 receptions, 76 yards), and rookie Chansi Stuckey (6 receptions, 42 yards, 1 TD) - made an impact in the contest, as did tight ends Chris Baker (3 receptions, 26 yards) and Dustin Keller (4 receptions, 41 yards, 1 TD).

From a fantasy football standpoint, the Jets did just fine.

From a real-life standpoint, New York was steamrolled, 48-29, by a desperate and previously winless Chargers team. San Diego made too many big plays for the Jets to keep up, particularly during a five-minute, 46-second stretch of the first and second quarters when the Bolts transformed a 7-3 deficit into a 24-14 lead.

Eric Mangini's club was never a serious threat thereafter.

"We can't play this way," said Jets head coach Eric Mangini. "We can't have the turnovers, one for a touchdown, another one that sets up really good field position, another one that put it in positive territory."

Still, Favre saw a glimmer of hope in the negative result.

"The bottom line is cleaning it up and getting better," Favre said. "We all can see how productive we all can be, not only passing but in the running game."

PATRIOTS: As if seeing the end of an NFL-record 21 consecutive regular season win streak and a 14-game string of home wins wasn't unsettling enough, the Patriots are in unfamiliar territory of another sort.

New England's 49 points through its first three games are the team's fewest since back in 2000, Bill Belichick's first year on the job. The Pats managed just 48 points during an 0-3 start that year, en route to a 5-11 finish that is tied for the worst mark of Belichick's head coaching career.

The Patriots line has allowed 10 sacks through the first three games, including four by the Dolphins on Sunday, and there isn't a running back on the New England roster who is averaging more than 30 yards per game on the ground.

But the biggest concern for the team might be the effect of Tom Brady's injury on star receiver Randy Moss. Moss had just four catches for 25 yards against the Dolphins, and there have been recent murmurs about his attitude and work ethic without Brady in the lineup to spur him.

Moss often seemed disinterested in Oakland when the Raiders were having problems at the quarterback position, and even had his conflicts with quarterback Daunte Culpepper when both were in Minnesota.

Has Moss turned a cold shoulder to Matt Cassel? Not according to Belichick.

"I think Randy is one of our most consistent players," said Belichick on Monday. "I think he's been like that since he got here last year. On a daily basis, practice, games, preparation, I think he's one of our most consistent players."