The Dolphins come off an embarrassing 21-20 loss to the Texans to open their season with a loss for the first time in eleven years. Miami is supposed to be the team that goes undefeated in September and only in December are they supposed to do this.

It was an uninspired game that Miami thought would be a mere warm-up for the season. They were wrong and though a series of miscues happened in the right order to allow the loss, it does not get an asterisk on it in the standings.

Jay Fiedler threw two touchdowns to Chris Chambers but also had two interceptions that were costly and allowed Houston to remain in the game. Ricky Williams rushed for four yards per carry but only had 17 carries compared to the 27 that Stacey Mack had. It was a game in reverse of expectations and only further serves to notify teams not to become complacent no matter how comfortable they think they are.

The Dolphins lost to a 14 point underdog with turnovers and an uncharacteristic 11 penalties with four others declined or negated by Texan infractions. The good news is that this is all correctable and the Pennington-less Jets should provide just the tonic that the Dolphins need.

New York comes off the Thursday night loss to the Redskins, 16-13. Vinny Testaverde had his first start in a year but only managed 105 yards passing with no touchdowns. Curtis Martin gained only 48 yards on 15 carries and had two catches for a total loss of seven yards. Both players looked their age and while was only one game, it was a win that they needed before playing Miami and New England the following weeks.

Martin noted after the game that he was being shadowed by LaVarr Arrington on every play but with Vinny tossing only 105 yards in the passing game, he might as well get used to the phenomena. When the Jets reached the goal line he was pulled so that Lamont Jordan could take the score.

Curtis Conway had only two catches for 28 yards and Santana Moss gained on 12 yards on his three catches. Wayne Chrebet actually led the wideouts with four catches for 40 yards.

The Jets defense came to life in the second half and denied Lavernues Coles a single catch after yielding 106 yards to him in the first half. The coaching adjustments were evident in the defense after the second quarter but the inability of the offense to generate anything means that games like this will be repeated until Testaverde can jump start the offense and keep the defenses from playing tag with Curtis Martin.

The Jets won this game 13-10 in New York last season but it is a different Jets team now with Testaverde and without Coles or Pennington. Look for Ricky Williams to crank it up a notch in this game and return to the rushing leader we remember from last season. Curtis Martin? Meet Zach Thomas.