Patriots Return to Winning Form

FOXBORO, Mass. —  The New England Patriots finally found a quarterback to win a big game for them--Dan Marino.

Then he nearly won it for the Miami Dolphins with a fourth-quarter comeback after throwing two first-half interceptions that were run back for touchdowns.

“You explain that game,” a relieved Patriot Coach Pete Carroll said after Sunday’s 27-24 victory--only their second in six games--kept them within a game of the AFC East lead.

Patriot quarterback Drew Bledsoe had been criticized for not winning big games against strong teams. The last four losses by the AFC champions (7-5) were against the New York Jets, Green Bay, Minnesota and Tampa Bay.

“If you’re going to be a good quarterback, you have to be resilient,” Bledsoe said. “You have to be able to survive three interceptions and keep coming back. You have to survive a bad game and come back the next week.”

Bledsoe, coming off one of the worst games of his five NFL seasons in a 27-7 loss at Tampa Bay, completed 15 of 26 passes for 207 yards. Marino was 38 of 60 for 389 yards with three interceptions.

Two of the interceptions came in the last two minutes of the first half. Both were returned for touchdowns, 60 yards by Larry Whigham and a team-record 100 yards by Jimmy Hitchcock, to give the Patriots a 24-3 lead.

Then Marino led the Dolphins to three one-yard touchdown runs by Karim Abdul-Jabbar, the last with 10 seconds left that cut the lead to three. They recovered the on-side kick, but Marino’s last two passes fell incomplete.

“An interception is a mistake,” said Marino, the NFL’s career leader in touchdown passes. “It doesn’t matter if it’s your first year or 15th year. It’s a mistake.”

Whigham also intercepted a pass at the goal line for a touchback with 6:50 to play and the Patriots leading, 27-17.

“We just knew we were going to have to go in and fight Dan Marino and we’d have to fight him till the last second,” Whigham said.

Marino had thrown only five interceptions all season.

“We’re still in the thick of things,” said Miami Coach Jimmy Johnson, whose team is tied for second with New England at 7-5. “We can’t turn the ball over like we did today and expect to win.”