EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- A week after a humbling loss, the Miami Dolphins leaned on Ricky Williams and earned their first win in New York since 1997.
Williams rushed for 125 yards and a touchdown to lead the Dolphins to a 21-10 victory over the Jets in a battle of AFC East rivals.
Miami rushed for 187 yards on 44 carries compared to 21 yards on 11 carries for New York.
"That's what we believe in and that's what we are going to do," said Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt of his running game. "It may have looked easy, but it was tough yardage. We stayed after our blocks."
The Jets (0-2) had won eight straight games in this series but that was before the Dolphins acquired Williams, who rushed for 151 yards and a touchdown in a 30-3 rout of the Jets last September 22 at Miami. But in the rematch on November 10, Williams was held to 53 rushing yards in a 13-10 loss.
This time, the NFL's defending rushing champion gained 78 yards on 16 carries in the first half alone as the Dolphins (1-1) built a 21-3 lead. He had 18 more carries in the second half when Miami went into ball-control mode.
"We had a good game plan running the ball and jumped on top of them," Williams said. "The important thing is that we won. Whether I get 40 carries or not, the bottom line is to win the game."
Meanwhile, Jets star back Curtis Martin couldn't even match Miami quarterback Jay Fiedler in rushing. Martin had just 32 yards on 10 carries, three yards less than Fiedler gained on five scrambles. And Fiedler reached the end zone on one of those scrambles for a nine-yard touchdown.
"Your guess is as good as mine," said Jets coach Herman Edwards of his team's running problems. "We need to look at the film and find out what we need to do with the running game. We can't live with the pass all day."
The Dolphins faced scathing criticism after an embarrassing 21-20 loss to the Houston Texans last week, but lessened the hysteria with Sunday's win over a division nemesis.
"I'm proud of our football team. These guys stepped up today," Wannstedt said. "We never really find out what's inside of us as individuals until we're squeezed and our football team responded.
"It's never easy to win here. You guys (the media) know more about the history than I do. But this is a big division win on the road for us."
Williams had just 17 carries for 69 yards in the loss to Houston, but had his workload doubled to 34 carries on Sunday. He scored on a two-yard run with 17 seconds left in the second quarter to cap a 12-play, 84-yard drive in which he produced 48 yards, including a 21-yard catch
Fiedler threw for 140 of his 190 yards in the first half, hitting tight end Randy McMichael with an eight-yard TD with 7:45 left in the second quarter.
New York's Vinny Testaverde, who turns 40 in November, became the ninth quarterback in NFL history to reach the 40,000-yard milestone in career passing yards. Needing 337 yards, Testaverde threw for 373 yards, but engineered just one touchdown drive.
After the Jets abandoned the running game in the second half, Testaverde attempted 33 passes in the second half, completing 20 for 269 yards.
"Someday it may mean a lot to me, but when you lose to a division opponent it doesn't mean much," Testevarde said. "This is not the way I wanted to do it."
Testaverde is ninth all-time with 40,036 yards and closing in on Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas, who passed for 40,239 yards.
Santana Moss had five catches for a career-high 142 yards, including a 32-yard touchdown with 12:42 left in the fourth quarter.
In the third quarter, the Jets had a 4th-and-goal at the Miami 3 and Edwards decided to go for a touchdown instead of a field goal. But Testaverde misfired on a pass to tight end Anthony Becht in the back of the end zone.
"I didn't think kicking a field goal there was going to do anything," Edwards said. "We needed to make something positive there and we didn't."
After Moss' touchdown, the Jets threatened again later in the quarter, but cornerback Patrick Surtain intercepted a pass by Testaverde at the Miami 20 and returned it 14 yards with 2:37 left.
"He (Testaverde) hit me right between the 2 and 3 on my jersey," Surtain said.
Doug Brien kicked a 30-yard field goal with 5:50 left in the first quarter to cap a 12-play, 83-yard drive. Curtis Conway caught two passes for 32 yards and Moss had two receptions for 30 yards in the drive.
Miami scored touchdowns on its next three possessions. The first was an eight-play, 71-yard drive which Fiedler capped with his touchdown around right end with 38 seconds left in the quarter.
Fiedler's TD pass to McMichael with 7:45 left in the second quarter capped a nine-play, 79-yard drive which featured a 39-yard catch by Chris Chambers and an 18-yard run by Williams on a 3rd-and-16 play.
Williams rushed for 27 yards on four carries and Travis Minor added 23 yards on four carries in Miami's third scoring drive. Williams capped it with a two-yard touchdown on a sweep around right end.
