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Shades Of 2007: Jets Send Hapless Dolphins Reeling

NEW YORK (WFAN/AP) — Four years removed from the worst season in franchise history, the Miami Dolphins are trying to ignore the whispers that another 1-15 record is in the making.

The Dolphins fell to 0-5 Monday night, victimized by Darrelle Revis' 100-yard interception return and two long, timely drives by the Jets' offense. New York ended its three-game slide with a 24-6 victory that kept Miami at the bottom of the league.

"This is embarrassing," said receiver Brandon Marshall, who was the target on Revis' first of two picks. "We have way too many players in our locker room to be sitting at 0-5. We owe it to the city of Miami, to ownership ... to turn it (around)."

They couldn't do so against their AFC East rival, whom the Dolphins had beaten three straight times in New Jersey. The few times Miami threatened, it bogged down deep in Jets territory, winding up with field goals of 23 and 21 yards by Dan Carpenter.

Coach Tony Sparano, whose seat gets hotter by the week, said the Dolphins emphasized not allowing game-changing plays during practices in their bye week. Then they got on the Meadowlands field and not only couldn't find the end zone, but yielded those exact plays.

Again.

"All week long, for two weeks, all we were talking about was developing a next-play mentality," Sparano said. "Big plays have hurt us, they've just been different (kinds of) big plays.

"A good player brings it back, he does what a good player does," Sparano added of Revis' first-quarter TD, the longest interception runback in the NFL this season. "We've got to learn to get out of our own way and that's important."

Safety Yeremiah Bell, who was with the Dolphins for that 1-15 debacle, doesn't want to hear any comparisons.

"We know it's all on us," he said. "'07 was 1-15 and this is a way better team than the '07 team. We have a lot more players.

"It's very frustrating when you're 0-5 and not making plays. We can't think about 0-5, just have to put it away."

Marshall didn't live up to his promise to get ejected sometime in the second quarter. He also said he might start a fight with Jets linebacker Bart Scott or cornerback Antonio Cromartie.

Nothing came close to that.

Mark Sanchez threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes and ran for another score as the Jets — who called this a "must-win" game — capped a tough week with a win.

With the losses mounting and the season already on the brink of spinning out of control for the Jets (3-3), they traded wide receiver Derrick Mason to Houston and then had to deal with some infighting as Holmes called out the offensive line for not giving Sanchez enough time to throw deep. Right guard Brandon Moore fired back, saying those comments could have a "fragmenting effect" and were not what a captain, which Holmes is, should do.

Ryan, who insisted his team's Super Bowl hopes would not be undone by locker room disharmony, even sent Holmes and Moore out as the captains for the pregame coin toss.

Turns out, the Dolphins showed up at just the right time as the Jets got their season back on track.

Will Miami be as bad as 2007 -- or worse? Sound off in the comments below...

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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