Dolphins melt down against Saints

For most of the first half against New Orleans, the Dolphins played their finest football of the young season.

Miami held the high-powered Saints to just one first down through the first 22 minutes of play, harrassed Drew Brees into three interceptions, and dominated the clock with the Wildcat en route to a 24-3 lead.

Jason Taylor looked like the J.T. of old for the first time in 2009, sacking Brees twice and forcing two fumbles.

As a team, the Dolphins recorded five sacks on Brees, the second-best performance of the season.

Backup safety Tyrone Culver also proved he deserves more playing time, as he made a big play with an interception in the first half.

But then the Dolphins committed a costly turnover, as Davone Bess lost a questionable fumble at midfield late in the first half.

Brees marched the Saints to the Miami 1-yardline with five seconds left. New Orleans could have kicked a field goal and gone into the locker room down 18.

But, Coach Sean Payton rolled the dice, and called Brees' number on a quarterback sneak.

He scored with no time left, and the Saints went into the locker room down by just 14 points despite being completely outplayed in the first half.

As expected, New Orleans turned it on in the second half, and the Dolphins could not stop the offensive barrage.

A Ted Ginn bobble turned into a Darren Sharper 42-yard interception return for TD, and Brees followed with a TD pass to Marques Colston to cut the deficit to 27-24.

Poor play in the Dolphins' secondary again ruled the day, as Jeremy Shockey caught four passes for 105 yards -- all in the second half -- and his 66-yard catch and run set the Saints up to take the lead for the first time Sunday.

Shockey got open because of a blown defensive assignment, and he broke a Vontae Davis tackle, then played paddy-cake with safety Gibril Wilson for another 40 yards before Wilson suddenly remembered the best way to tackle a behemoth like Shockey is to go low.

That set up one of the most spectacular TDs of the season, a 10-yard double reverse to Reggie Bush, who launched himself the last six yards for the score.

Brees played a bad game by his standards, hitting on 22-of-38 passes for 298 yards, but he made the big plays when his team needed him most.

In the second half, the Wildcats stalled, and the Dolphins were forced to rely to heavily on quarterback Chad Henne, who had 37 pass attempts.

Saints defensive back Tracy Porter clinched the game when a blitz forced Henne into a bad throw.

Porter made the pick, and went 54-yards to cap a 22-point fourth quarter, and sent the Dolphins to 2-4.

Miami wasted a superb day by Ricky Williams, who ran nine times for 80 yards and scored three TDs, with a 68-yard run being the longest TD of his career.

Miami now falls to 2 1/2 games behind the New England Patriots in the AFC East, and the Fins also lost veteran cornerback Will Allen for the season due to a torn ACL.

Sean Smith and Davis will now have to shoulder the load at cornerback. So far, the rookies have played well enough that there shouldn't be a severe drop-off at the position.

This marks the second time in a month the Dolphins have had a premiere team on the ropes, and just as they did against Indianapolis, the Dolphins couldn't finish off the effort.

Those two games could come back to haunt them as they try and make a playoff run.

(Photo: Yahoo Images)