By Andrea Adelson
The Associated Press

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - No miracles needed this time. Curtis Martin and LaMont Jordan each ran for 115 yards and a score to help the New York Jets rout the hapless Miami Dolphins 41-14 Monday night.

The last time the teams met on Monday night, the Jets erased a 23-point, fourth-quarter deficit for a 40-37 overtime win in 2000 in what is known as the "Monday Night Miracle."

There was no chance of a comeback this time around. The Jets (6-1) scored 34 unanswered points, stifling the ineffective Dolphins offense and embarrassing the proud Miami defense, which entered the game ranked fourth in the NFL.

New York entered the game after its first loss of the season, 13-7 to New England last weekend, but turned in its most complete performance of the year.

"If you can keep this bottled up, we have a chance to be a pretty good football team," Edwards said.

The last time the Jets had two 100-yard rushers in a game was Sept. 28, 1975, when John Riggins ran for 145 yards and Carl Garrett had 135 in a 30-24 win over Kansas City. Miami (1-7) last allowed two 100-yard rushers on Oct. 29, 1989, at Buffalo, when Thurman Thomas had 148 yards and Larry Kinnebrew added 121.

"It was great," Jets right tackle Kareem McKenzie said. "A lot of things went well for us. It felt good to get two backs over 100 yards. That's the first time it's happened in my career."

Chad Pennington threw three touchdown passes and went 11-of-19 for 189 yards before being lifted for Quincy Carter in the fourth quarter. The Jets finished with 472 yards of total offense.

"They gave us an old-fashioned beating," Dolphins linebacker Junior Seau said. "I tip my hat to them, for not only what they did against us but the whole year."

The defense harassed Jay Fiedler the entire game, sacking the Dolphins quarterback four times and picking him off twice. Miami got a meaningless score as the game ended, when Fiedler threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Derrius Thompson. Fiedler finished 20-of-41 for 218 yards.

"When we got the run stopped, we knew we could go after Fiedler," tackle Jason Ferguson said. "We're proud of what we did. We finally put a whole team effort together."

But the complete humiliation of the Miami defense was perhaps the most confounding part of the game.

Pennington connected on one big passing play after another on the vaunted Miami secondary, repeatedly taking advantage of cornerbacks Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain. Coming into the game, no Jets wide receiver had a touchdown reception this season.

But that quickly changed. After Donald Lee fumbled a reception when Eric Barton hit him, Reggie Tongue recovered at the Jets 48. Pennington needed three plays to convert the turnover into points, throwing a 35-yard touchdown pass to Wayne Chrebet to make it 7-0 in the first quarter. It was Chrebet's first touchdown since the third week of last season.

After Randy McMichael caught a 21-yard scoring pass from Fiedler to cap a 91-yard drive and tie the game at 7 in the second, the Jets took over.

Pennington answered with a 27-yard scoring pass to Justin McCareins, who took advantage when Madison fell down. McCareins toed the line to stay in bounds at the 2 and stretched the ball into the end zone for his first touchdown as a Jet.

"I told him next time don't be so dramatic, just touch the cone," Edwards said. "He just stretched out there like Gumby."

They added to the lead just before the break, going 39 yards in four plays in only 20 seconds. Doug Brien kicked a 49-yard field goal as time expired in the half to make it 17-7.

The Jets got possession first to start the second half and kept rolling. Martin scored on a 25-yard run to make it 24-7. They scored again on their next drive, when Pennington threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Chris Baker. Pennington had a 47-yard throw to Santana Moss on the drive.

Jordan got the reigns after Martin exited the game with 19 carries and a bruised knee that is not considered serious. It was more of the same with the backup running back in the game. He scored on a 25-yard run early in the fourth quarter, putting him over 100 yards for the game, and finished with 14 carries.

Miami started quickly. Fiedler threw a 25-yard pass to Marty Booker and Morris followed with an 11-yard run. But a flea-flicker to Booker fell short and the Dolphins had to punt. Things got worse on their next series, when Lee fumbled.

Return to Bengals front page...