[News] Dolphins charge past San Diego for second straight win

[Chanchal Chirya]

Miami, FL (Sports Network) - Ronnie Brown ran for 125 yards and a touchdown, leading the Miami Dolphins to a 17-10 victory over the San Diego Chargers at Dolphin Stadium.
Chad Pennington completed 22-of-29 passes for 228 yards with a score for the Dolphins (2-2), who were coming off a bye and proved that their stunning 38-13 victory at New England two weeks ago was no fluke.
Miami has won two in a row to eclipse its win total from all of last season. The Dolphins were just 1-15 last year and opened the 2008 campaign with consecutive losses to the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals, but the team has come back with emphatic wins over last year's AFC Championship Game participants.
Ricky Williams added 39 yards rushing as the Dolphins racked up 167 yards on the ground and 390 overall. The Miami defense countered by holding San Diego's vaunted rushing attack to just 60 yards, and also came up with a big goal-line stand to start the fourth quarter.
LaDainian Tomlinson mustered just 35 yards on 12 carries for the Chargers (2-3), who had won two in a row after opening the campaign with a pair of losses. Philip Rivers connected on just 13-of-28 throws for 159 yards with a touchdown in defeat.
The Chargers, who have lost seven straight to Miami, managed only 202 total yards and 10 first downs. Tomlinson also led the team with five catches.
Miami scored a pair of second-quarter touchdowns for a 17-3 lead and appeared in control, but a missed field goal by Dan Carpenter gave the Chargers life in the third quarter.
San Diego took over on its own 32 after Carpenter hooked a 42-yard field goal wide left and Rivers needed seven plays to put his team in the end zone.
Vincent Jackson keyed the series with a 42-yard catch on 3rd-and-10, and Rivers found ex-Dolphin Chris Chambers for a 17-yard score just two plays later to pull the Chargers within seven with 3:13 to play in the third.
The Dolphins gave the ball right back to San Diego's offense, as Davone Bess fumbled the ensuing kickoff. With Tomlinson on the sideline, Darren Sproles took a swing pass 23 yards to the Miami 10, but the Dolphin defense stiffened.
Sproles picked up four yards on the next two carries and Chambers was stopped short of the goal line on a pass over the middle, setting up a 4th-and-1. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Tomlinson was back on the field and he was stopped by the Miami defense to turn it over on downs.
The Dolphins quickly escaped the shadow of their own goal line with the aid of a questionable pass interference penalty. Pennington, who fell in the end zone on second down and was able to throw the ball out of bounds, badly overthrew tight end David Martin on 3rd-and-9, but San Diego's Clinton Hart was called for interference and the 28-yard penalty gave the Dolphins a first down at their own 30.
Hart atoned for his mistake with a big play later in the series, tripping up Brown one yard short of a first down on 3rd-and-2 from the San Diego 39 and the Dolphins were forced to punt.
The Chargers had two more chances to tie, but penetrated only as far as the Miami 46 on the latter possession before punting it away with just under six minutes remaining. They never saw the ball again.
Miami converted four third downs, three on carries by Brown, to run out the clock.
Brown, who carried 24 times, notched his second consecutive 100-yard rushing game and the 12th of his career. He was coming off a 113-yard, four-touchdown performance, with a TD pass as well, against New England.
The teams traded field goals to start the game. San Diego's Nate Kaeding drilled a 34-yard kick to cap a 14-play series that ate up more than seven minutes and Carpenter answered for Miami with a 47-yard boot with just 2:48 left in the opening period.
After a series of punts, the Dolphins scored on consecutive drives to take command.
Pennington directed a nine-play, 65-yard march for a 10-3 lead. The Dolphins faced 4th-and-1 from the San Diego 22-yard line and Brown picked up the first down to keep the series alive. Two plays later, Pennington found Greg Camarillo in the end zone for a 17-yard score.
The Chargers went three-and-out and the Dolphins responded with an 11-play drive for another score to open a 17-3 lead in the final minute of the second quarter. Brown converted a pair of short third downs with nine-yard runs during the series, and finished it with a five-yard scoring scamper off a direct snap with the aid of a perfectly timed block by Williams.
Game Notes
The Dolphins converted 7-of-14 third downs, while San Diego was just 3-for-12 on third down...Miami kept the ball for nearly 37 minutes...Chambers, who was traded to San Diego last October after spending his first six-plus seasons with Miami, had three catches for 30 yards...The Dolphins improved to 12-8 after a bye...Miami improved to 14-12 all-time against San Diego, including the playoffs. The Chargers haven't beaten Miami since a 22-21 playoff victory in San Diego after the 1994 season, and haven't won in Miami since the memorable 41-38 overtime playoff thriller following the 1981 campaign.