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Associated PressDOLPHINS 40, COWBOYS 21: Miami stays in playoff hunt by dominating a daunting Dallas defense.
IRVING, Texas - Jay Fiedler took the first snap, dropped back and threw deep to Chris Chambers. While pass interference prevented them from hooking up, the theme was set.
Fiedler and Chambers connected on three touchdowns and Fiedler ran for another score, leading the Dolphins past the Cowboys 40-21 on Thursday in a high-scoring game against the NFL's two best scoring defenses.
"We talked all week about how we needed this win, and they came out and made it happen," Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt said.
In his first start since Oct. 19, Fiedler was 14-of-17 in the first half, then 2-of-3 in the second half when the Dolphins protected a big lead by handing off to Ricky Williams.
Williams gained 104 yards, going over 1,000 for the season.
The biggest play may have been the third snap of the second half. With Dallas down by nine, defensive end Adewale Ogunleye ticked the ball away from quarterback Quincy Carter and Jason Taylor returned it 32 yards for a touchdown to make it 30-14.
Miami (8-4) is 11/2 games behind New England in the AFC East and 11/2 games ahead of Denver and Cincinnati for the final wild-card spot.
The Dolphins have won three straight and are 5-1 on the road, the kind of encouragement they need considering their history of dismal Decembers and a schedule that could set them up for another: at New England on Dec. 7, then home against Philadelphia.
"We're definitely happy with the win, but we're not satisfied," Taylor said. "We know we have to stay poised for the next four games. We feel we're a different football team now than in years past. We think that's going to lead to success in December."
The Cowboys (8-4) have lost three of six. They made the kind of mistakes that coach Bill Parcells hates most. With errors on offense, defense and special teams, the only person who might escape criticism is Richie Anderson, who had the first two-touchdown game of his 11-year career.
"We had no chance at a win," Parcells said. "This team does not have the maturity for this kind of situation. We have young players who do not understand what's going on. ... We were just awful."
Dallas fell out of a first-place tie with the Eagles in the NFC East, and out of a four-way tie for the best record in the conference.
The game-opening interference call against Mario Edwards, leading to Fiedler's 1-yard touchdown dive, set a tone for Dallas. The Cowboys gave up a touchdown on the opening drive for the first time in 22 games and never looked like the defense that had allowed the fewest points and fewest rushing yards in the NFL.
"It just didn't seem like we were ready to play. That surprised me," said Anderson, the fullback who had his first rushing TD since 1996 and a 25-yard scoring catch. "They played better than we did, more focused than we did and made more plays than we did."
Williams' third straight 100-yard game gives him 15 since joining Miami, tying Larry Csonka for the most in team history. It's his fourth straight 1,000-yard season and second in a row in Miami, letting him join Csonka as the only Dolphins to do it more than once.
The Cowboys were allowing 82.4 yards rushing, with only the Bucs' Michael Pittman going over 100 (113 in a 16-0 win Oct. 26).