MIAMI DOLPHINS SWEEP THE NEW YORK JETS

After a nondescript first half that saw Miami's Dan Carpenter and New York's Jay FeelyJay Feely exchange field goals, things got wild and wacky in the third quarter thanks to a rejuvenated Ted Ginn, Jr., who ran back two kickoffs for touchdowns, and an opportunistic veteran Jason Taylor on defense. When the dust kicked up by the legendary swirling winds settled, the Dolphins were victorious, 30-25, to improve to 3-4 on the season and 3-0 in the AFC East.

"They're always like this," said Taylor, who has been a part of more of these games than anyone else on the Dolphins. "It's the Jets, they're always like this. It's always sweet when you beat the Jets, but there was a lot of talk this week. Talk is cheap. Let the pads speak"

"It's a little different, always coming down to the last minute," Dolphins running back Ronnie BrownRonnie Brown said. "Obviously I would rather just win the game and know you have it in your grasp and not come down to the last minute. I think I’m going to develop high blood pressure if we keep doing this."

Taylor's 48-yard fumble return for a touchdown, the ninth touchdown of his career and sixth by fumble, was sandwiched in between a 100-yard kickoff return by Ginn and a 101-yarder, marking the first time that has happened in the same game in Dolphins history. His second return was even more impressive as it appeared he was bottled up in the middle of the field near the 20 but he kept his feet and found the open field down the right sideline to pay dirt.

"I was just trying to find an opening. I'm like a mouse trapped in the corner," Ginn said. "You always wonder how that mouse gets out, but he gets creative and I tried to get creative and I came up out of there. It's just something I've been doing for years and as long as you keep it in the back of your mind to go out and just constantly make plays, that's all I can do."

Ginn's first return came after Feely's career-long 55-yard field goal gave the Jets a short-lived 6-3 lead, and then Taylor pounced on a loose ball after Paul Soliai stripped running back Shonn Greene of the ball and sprinted into the end zone to give Miami a 17-6 lead and stun the home crowd of 77,531. But suddenly the Jets' offense came alive after Sanchez and company had been stifled to that point and came up with some big plays to keep pace, aided by one big special teams play.

Davone Bess muffed a punt at his own 26 and New York recovered. Rookie quarterback Mark SanchezMark Sanchez finished off the drive with a 1-yard quarterback keeper to cut the deficit to 17-13, but Ginn made it 24-13 just like that on the next return to help Miami regain momentum.

Of course clearly momentum meant nothing in this game as Sanchez came right back and hit Jerricho Cotchery on a 53-yard pass play, most of that coming after the catch. Two plays later he found Braylon Edwards from 19 yards out as Edwards made a one-handed catch and dragged Sean SmithSean Smith and Chris ClemonsChris Clemons into the end zone. The two-point attempt failed to make it a 24-19 ballgame

Chad HenneChad Henne engineered a 13-play, 67-yard drive that ate up 7:47 of clock and he tried for two points but failed, leaving it a 30-19 ballgame, and Sanchez delivered again, taking his team 81 yards on just six plays and capping it off with a 16-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dustin Keller. He initially converted the two-point conversion but the Jets were flagged for an illegal shift and he misfired the next time to keep it a five-point game at 30-25.

Miami's defense held strong on the desperation last drive by Sanchez, even though he converted one 4th-and-10 by hitting Keller for a 16-yard completion behind linebacker Reggie TorborReggie Torbor. The Dolphins answered with a sack by Randy Starks that set up 4th-and-13 from the 15 and when Sanchez's desperation pass sailed out of the end zone they left the Meadowlands victorious.

"Obviously, all week long we had a bad taste in our mouth from the New Orleans game. We talked an awful lot about finishing," said Dolphins Head Coach Tony SparanoTony Sparano, who is now 3-1 versus the Jets. "I thought our defense played really well today. I think they ran the ball 38 times (40) and averaged 3.2 yards per carry during the course of this game. That's a good running football team out there. That's a good football team period. But I thought our defense really rose up and played well. They did a great job of finishing. This team has done that before and they did it again today."

The Jets came into the game leading the league in rushing with an average of 184.9 yards per game and made it known early on they were going to try to run the ball down Miami's throat. By game's end they had rushed the ball 40 times for 127 yards, with Thomas JonesThomas Jones doing the bulk of the work to the tune of 102 yards on 27 carries, but their average of just 3.2 yards per carry was a testament to Miami's defensive line and linebackers.

Sanchez was forced to try to beat the Dolphins with his arm and had a better performance than the first time these two teams met on Monday night three weeks ago, completing 20-of-35 passes for 265 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for one touchdown and almost pulled out the win at the end, but defensive players like Taylor, Joey Porter, Jason Ferguson, and the rest would not let that happen.

"It was great for our defense because all year and even through this game we kept having chances to get off the field and we kept feeling like we were letting the offense down and letting the team down," Porter said, "We had three chances. We were up by 11 points and we come back out and they score a touchdown on us in four or five plays. We did that like three times, and even on the 4th-and-10 today we still gave up the big play and we were just down on ourselves.

"But to come up and at the end and do get a stop, it's something for us to grow on. We've been reading in the paper how we can't finish, but to finish like we did today and be 3-0 in the division, we'll take it."

SWEET REDEMPTION FOR GINN: From the head coach on down, everyone was singing Ginn's praises after the game because they had been rallying around him all week in the face of all of the criticism that was coming in his direction from the fans and the media. To see him have such an impact on the outcome of such an important game brought smiles to the faces of Sparano and Ginn's teammates.

Ginn became the first player in Dolphins history to return two kickoffs in the same game for touchdowns and the first in the NFL since Green Bay's Travis WilliamsTravis Williams in 1967 to do it in the same quarter. His 101-yard return was the second longest in franchise history.

"Listen. Teddy Ginn takes an awful lot. But this kid's a resilient guy, he really is, and I've seen this before, you just haven't," Sparano said. "I've seen Teddy Ginn bounce back and come back and make big plays for this football team. It's the reason that we've got him. He did a heck of a job today. He made two huge plays and had a tremendous, tremendous week of practice. He had really good focus and made two big plays in this football game.

"There's no question we shook some things up this week (by pulling Ginn out of the starting lineup on offense), purposely so. There's no reason for anybody to feel comfortable when you're 2-4, no reason. I don't care who it is. But Teddy did a great job. Now some people, they rise up, some people they don't. Teddy rose up today."

Sparano congratulated Ginn after the first return and Ginn was happy to keep his head coach on his side and Sparano joked that all he could think of as Ginn sped by him on that sideline was, "Keep running fast."

Ginn acknowledged this was a turning point for him and he is looking forward to keeping it going next week at New England.

"It was a hard week and a tough week just on myself," he said. "The guys are going to talk about you and the media's going to talk about you but as long as I can stay confident within myself I can come out and make plays whenever. But this was probably one of the toughest weeks I've ever experienced playing football and last week was one of my toughest games I ever had and the worst game of my career. Just to come back like I came back and make it as big as it was playing the Jets in a big game in our division and put them down was great for us."

Taylor called Ginn's second kickoff return one of the best returns he'd ever seen.

"I'm very happy for the kid," Taylor said. "He's had a tough week and he's had a tough season. Really since he was picked in the draft people have been on him and scrutinizing him and not really giving him a chance. So if anybody in this locker room deserved to have a good game it was Teddy and he went out there and did it. You have to give him all the credit. The guys in front of him blocked well and for whatever reason they kept kicking the ball to him and he made them pay for it. I couldn't be happier for him. Good for him."

DOPLHINS TIDBITS: Rookie safety Chris Clemons and rookie cornerbacks Vontae Davis and Sean Smith all were in the starting lineup against the New York Jets. It was the first career start for Clemons, a fifth-round pick from Clemson. Davis, a first-round pick from Illinois and Smith, a second round selection from Utah became the first rookie cornerbacks in the team's 43-year history to open a game at both corner positions. It was also the first career start for Davis. Smith and Davis each had six tackles and Clemons had three.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING
Miami: R. Brown 11-27, R. Williams 8-27, L. Polite 1-3, C. Henne 3-(-5).
New York:: T. Jones 27-102, S. Greene 8-18, M. Sanchez 4-6, J. Cotchery 1-1.

PASSING
Miami: C. Henne 12-21-0-112, R. Brown 0-1-0-0.
New York: M. Sanchez 20-35-0-265.

RECEIVING
Miami: R. Williams 2-41, J. Haynos 2-20, D. Bess 4-18, A. Fasano 2-16, G. Camarillo 1-15, R. Brown 1-2.
New York: D. Keller 8-76, B. Edwards 4-74, J. Cotchery 3-70, T. Jones 1-28, D. Clowney 3-16, T. Richardson 1-1.