The curse is broken and the first step towards the post season is taken. The Dolphins have beaten the New York Jets 28-14 in Miami, taking the early lead in the AFC East and beating an important division rival.

But if that wasn't enough, this win was even more convincing than last week's win over Green Bay. It was an example of the kind of football that the Dolphins will need to play if they are going to have a chance to spend the entire postseason playing in Joe Robbie Stadium.

For two weeks in a row, the Dolphins offense has run the ball effectively, played ball control offense and ground the opposing defense down into the turf. For the second week in a row, the Dolphins' defense has improved, this time intercepting Boomer 4 times. The reason that they were able to abuse the Jets this way is that the defense put pressure up the middle all day and effectively stopped the run. Stopping the run forced Boomer to pass and the pressure up the middle forced him to make mistakes.

If you were to give out a game ball for this game, you'd have to give one to every member of the team, coaches included. It was one of the most complete efforts that I've seen the Dolphins have in a long time and all of this with a long list of injuries that should have made the Dolphins vulnerable today, especially on defense. But they weren't vulnerable - they were dominating.

Well, I guess I've gushed enough, why don't we get down to the game: The game started with the Jets wearing their 1968 uniforms - the year that the Jets beat Don Shula's Colts in the SuperBowl. In fact, Joe Namath was even there to watch the game. The Dolphins wore their 1972 uniforms - no need to ask why.

O.J.McDuffie received the opening kickoff, coming back from his injury against the Patriots. The Dolphins started at their 32 yard line, and on the first series, moved the ball down the field for almost nine minutes, running the ball well and passing when they had to. They drove all the way down to the Jets 11 yard line, until Dan Marino made his only real mistake of the game and attempted to hit Keith Jackson in the endzone through double coverage. The Jets picked off the pass in the endzone and stopped the Dolphins first drive.

I've got to admit that this had me worried. All that effort and nothing to show for it. However, during that drive, the Dolphins had more running plays than passing and had really chewed up the clock, wearing out the Jets' defense in the intense heat. Terry Kirby looked good running the ball and the offensive line kept the Jets' defense off of Marino.

When the Jets took over, they moved from their 20 out to their 40, where Tim Bowens made the first of what I hope will be many fine plays for the Dolphins. On a 3rd and 7, Bowens pushed his way into the Jets' backfield and hit Boomer's arm as he was attempting to throw. The ball fell incomplete and the Jets were forced to punt.

The Dolphins took the ball at their own 30 and began moving again, effectively running and passing the ball, pretty much at will until the end of the first quarter left them with a first and 10 at the Jets 20 yard line.

During the first quarter, it had been all Dolphins. The Jets had only had the ball for 6 plays the entire quarter and the Dolphins were completely controlling the game.

The Dolphins opened the second quarter with a 19 yard swing pass to Byars which set up a 1 yard touchdown run by Terry Kirby to give the Dolphins a 7-0 lead.

The Jets took the ensuing kickoff at their own 21 and managed 1 first down and 4 plays, before the Dolphins stuffed their running game and forced them to punt once again.

After a touchback on the punt, the Dolphins began at their 20 yard line with Terry Kirby, Keith Byars and Mark Higgs running the ball. On this series, the Dolphins ran 7 times for 31 yards and passed only once before Ronny Lott caught Mark Higgs in the backfield for a 3 yard loss to stop the third Dolphin drive at the Jets' 49 yard line.

After the Jets took the Dolphins punt at their 19 yard line, they began to move the ball well for the first time in the game. They had a couple of decent runs, interspersed with some short passes. That is, until Boomer tried to hit Johnny Mitchell on a crossing route and he bobbled the ball into the hands of Aubrey Beavers, for the first Dolphins interception of the game. Beavers made a beautiful grab of the ball just inches off the turf and stopped the 3rd Jets drive.

The Dolphins didn't waste this opportunity and began their own drive, jump-started by a screen pass to Terry Kirby on a third and 10 that went for 26 yards to the Jets 43. This play ended with Kirby handing off to Irving Fryar for another 4 yards. The drive continued until, on a 2d and 10 from the Jets' 12 yard line, Marino hit Byars on a quick swing pass to the left that Byars turned and ran into the endzone for a 14-0 Miami lead.

The kickoff went for a touchback and the Jets started off the series with a screen pass that went for 39 yards to the Dolphins 41. However, after 2 incomplete passes, Marco Coleman grabbed Boomers foot on a pass attempt and Boomer let the ball go into the hands of Darrell Malone for an interception.

With only 10 seconds on the clock, Marino hit Fryar for 24 yards and Pete Stoyanovich attempted a 62 yard field goal that fell short and ended the half.

At the half, Miami had kept the ball for over 20 minutes. The Jets' 4 possessions of the first half had ended in 2 punts and 2 interceptions and Miami was obviously completely dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

Not only that, but someone forgot to tell the rookies that the Dolphins are not supposed to well against the Jets. Both Beavers and Bowens came up with important plays that stopped Jets' drives.

The second half opened with the Jets going 3 and out after a nice defensive play by Muhammed Oliver. The Dolphins started their first possession of the second half with a 34 yard pass to Keith Jackson that made it look as if the Dolphins would continue to completely dominate the game. However, on the next play, Terry Kirby dropped the ball after a handoff and the Jets recovered. Kirby was not hit when he dropped the ball - it just slipped out. The Jets finally put together a decent drive after this Dolphins gift, moving from their 32 to the Miami 27 yard line, where Boomer hit his receiver down the left sideline for a touchdown. This cut the lead to 14-7 in favor of the Dolphins and put the Jets back in the game for a short time.

OJ took the Jets' kickoff out to the 40 on a nice runback. Then Marino handed off to Terry Kirby, who made up for his fumble by running for 30 yards off right tackle. Then, after a 4 yard run by Bernie Parmalee gave the Dolphins a 2d and 6 at the Jets' 26, Marino hit Keith Jackson over the middle with a short pass. Jackson took the ball and ran over about 5 Jet defenders, but was finally wrapped up at the Jets' 2 yard line. Just before he went down, Jackson lateralled to Irving Fryar who trotted untouched into the endzone. This touchdown will go in the record as a touchdown for Irving Fryar, but it was really Keith Jackson's TD. The Dolphins now lead 21-7.

After the kickoff to the Jets 21, the Dolphins' defense got fired up and on the first play, Jeff Cross sacked Boomer Esiason for a 13 yard loss and a fumble that the Jets' recovered. Then the Dolphins stopped a screen for 3 yard loss that left the Jets with a 3rd and 26 that ended in a punt.

On the Dolphins' next series, they continued with the ball control offense, running and passing down the field until the drive stalled at the Jets' 34 yard line and the Dolphins were forced to punt. The Jets got the ball back at their 12 yard line and had gotten to their 23 yard line when the third quarter ended.

The fourth quarter ended with the Jets continuing their drive into Miami territory, where JB Brown picked off an Esiason pass at the Miami 30 and ran it back to the Jets' 42. At this point, Bernie Parmalee replaced Terry Kirby in the backfield for the rest of the game and on 4 successive runs, followed by a pass and another run, Miami moved down to the Jets' 5. Then Bernie Parmalee went around the left side for his first professional touchdown and Miami lead 28-7.

The Jets switched to their hurry-up (or 2-minute) offense on the next possession and and moved quickly down the field against the Dolphins' prevent defense, going 60 yards in 7 plays for a touchdown that made the score 28-14. However, time was running out quickly.

Mark Ingram recovered the onsides kick at the Jets' 40 and the Dolphins proceeded to go into a purely running mode, moving the ball down to the Jets' 19, where, on a 4th and 2, Stoyanovich bounced a field goal attempt off the right upright.

The Jets took their last possession and moved back down the field to the Dolphins 30, where Michael Stewart picked off Boomers last pass of the game in the endzone. Marino would then kneel down once to end the game.

The final score of 28-14 didn't do justice to the magnitude of the victory. The Dolphins' offense ran for over 150 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns. Dan Marino passed for 2 touchdowns and was not sacked once. The offenive line opened large holes all day for Kirby, Higgs and Parmalee and Terry Kirby ended the day with 15 carries for 100 yards rushing.

The Dolphins defense held the Jets to 59 yards rushing and intercepted Boomer Esiason 4 times. What more can you ask for?

It's hard to single out one player for special honors in this game, but if I was forced to pick one, it would probably be Terry Kirby. He had 100 yards rushing for the first time in his career as a Dolphin and he caught some key passes. However, Keith Jackson also had a fine game and his lateral to Fryar was especially impressive.

Overall, it was the best win so far this season by the Dolphins. And it was wonderful!