Another late-season surge is under way for the New England Patriots.
Rookie Curtis Martin ran for 142 yards and Drew Bledsoe threw for two scores Sunday as the Patriots sustained their slim playoff hopes by beating Miami and record-setting quarterback Dan Marino, 34-17.In a revival reminiscent of 1994, New England (4-6) has won two in a row and three of its past four games. Last year the Patriots won their final seven regular-season games following a 3-7 start to make the playoffs.
Can they do it again? The Dolphins would probably say yes.
"It was a big win for us," Bledsoe said. "From here on out, they're all big. If we lose any of our last five games, we'll be spending Christmas at home."
New England actually has six games left, beginning with Indianapolis on Sunday.
"`Playoffs' is not in anyone's vocabulary on this team, just the next week's opponent," linebacker Vincent Brown said.
The Patriots pulled way from Miami despite a 333-yard passing performance by Marino, who broke Fran Tarkenton's career NFL record for yardage in the first quarter. Marino completed 27 of 37 passes and threw for two scores, but he was intercepted twice and lost a fumble on a sack to set up Ben Coates' tiebreaking 8-yard touchdown reception.
"Breaking Fran's record, one of the all-time great passers, is something special to me," Marino said. "Unfortunately, the thing is, you want to win the games when you're breaking records."
Marino surpassed Tarkenton's career record for completions earlier this season, but Miami lost that game, too. He needs three touchdown passes to top Tarkenton's record of 342 in that category.
Miami (6-4) fell one game behind first-place Buffalo in the AFC East. The Dolphins play teams at .500 or better in their final six games, beginning next Monday night against San Francisco.
"Today we got outhit, out-rushed, out-tackled, outrun, out-defended," Miami defensive end Jeff Cross said.
And out-kicked.
New England's Matt Bahr made two field goals, including a 55-yarder, the longest of his 17-year pro career.
Martin, who has 520 yards rushing in his past four games, became the first rusher to top 1,000 yards this season. He scored twice against the NFL's second-best run defense.
"We knew we had to win this game," Martin said. "And to win this game, we had to run the ball."
Miami, on the other hand, came out passing. Marino broke Tarkenton's record by completing a 9-yard pass to Irving Fryar four minutes into the game. Marino trotted to the sideline with the game ball, which will be shipped to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and then hugged coach Don Shula.
Marino, 34, has thrown for 47,299 yards in 13 seasons. Tarkenton threw for 47,003 yards in 18 years.