JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Ticker) -- The defense of the Miami Dolphins picked on rookie Byron Leftwich. Sam Madison picked him off.
Madison had a fumble recovery and two interceptions, returning one for a touchdown, as the Dolphins rattled Leftwich and rolled to their fourth straight win,
Playing without injured star linebacker Junior Seau, the Dolphins' defense didn't miss a beat. During its winning streak, Miami has allowed no more than one touchdown in any contest. Overall, the Dolphins surrender 11.6 points per game, among the best in the NFL.
"That's what they (coaches) expect and that's what we do," Madison said. "That's our job and if we play within the scheme of our defense, we get things done. It happened today and the last couple of weeks."
"To win three games in a row in this league I think speaks miles of this football team as far as preparation and being able to deal with adversity," Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt said. "The guys stayed the course."
Madison has had a huge hand in that. He had an interception in last week's win over the New York Giants and led the defense Sunday as Miami (4-1) beat Jacksonville (1-5) for the first time in three all-time meetings.
Madison recovered a fumble by running back Fred Taylor at the Jacksonville 41 in the first quarter, setting up a 14-yard touchdown run by Ricky Williams less than three minutes later.
His first interception came with Miami holding a 10-3 advantage in the second period, snuffing a drive by Jacksonville. But he saved his biggest defensive play for last.
With the Jaguars trailing, 17-10, and facing a 4th-and-15 from their 15 with less than two minutes to go, Leftwich tried to throw to Jimmy Smith along the left sideline. Madison watched Leftwich all the way, closed on the pass and went untouched 29 yards for the clinching score.
"We've been playing the same coverage since Week One, just playing more aggressive," Madison said. "I keep saying, when you get a good pass rush and pass coverage, you create turnovers, create pressure and get sacks."
The Dolphins did that to Leftwich, who was sacked four times and intercepted three times. Defensive end Adewale Ogunleye had three sacks, two on the possession that ended with Madison's pick.
"This is how we should be playing," said defensive end Jason Taylor, who had the other sack. "This isn't anything new to us. It's exactly how we want to play, expect to play and how we want to continue to play from here on out."
Making his third straight start, Leftwich completed 24-of-42 passes for 256 yards and also ran for a score. But on consecutive possessions in the final four minutes, he threw five incompletions and was sacked twice before being picked off by Madison.
"We have to look at the silver lining or the experience factor, but we're trying to win right now," Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said. "The bottom line is we didn't play well enough, and I'm looking for wins."
"I think anytime you have turnovers in a game and put our defense in the situation we put our defense in, you're not going to win many ballgames," said Leftwich, who last week led the Jaguars to their first win of the season over San Diego.
Leftwich threw another interception after the TD run by Williams. This one was by Jeff Zgonina and set up Olindo Mare's 51-yard field goal with 3:12 left in the first quarter.
Leftwich directed a 78-yard drive that bogged down at the 2, forcing the Jaguars to settle for Seth Marler's 20-yard field goal with 3:36 remaining in the second period.
"One thing we underestimated was that he is a better athlete than we gave him credit for because he didn't scramble in the previous games," Wannstedt said.
A 45-yard interference penalty against safety Brock Marion positioned Leftwich for his eight-yard TD run that tied it with 1:07 to go in the third period. But the Dolphins regained the lead behind some big plays by Randy McMichael.
The tight end took a third-down pass from Jay Fiedler 33 yards to the Jacksonville 30 before Williams had runs of eight and 12 yards. From the 6, Jay Fiedler threw a short pass to fullback Obafemi Ayanbadejo, who caught it but fumbled. McMichael picked it up and walked two yards into the end zone for a TD.
"That was one I'd like to have had," said Del Rio, who requested a replay review that did not overrule the call on the field. "We were hoping the ball was down or his knee was down. When you force a fumble, you hope you're off the field there, and they ended up picking up the TD. That was a tough one."
"I don't want to say it was a good call, but it was a call that went our way," said McMichael.
On the ensuing drive, Leftwich marched the Jaguars inside the 5. But he mishandled a shotgun snap on third down for an 11-yard loss, and Marler pushed his 31-yard kick wide right with 6:42 to go.
"Those are just things that happen in football and it just seems like every week it just keeps happening to us at the worst times," Leftwich said.
Williams had 75 yards on 19 carries. Fiedler was 14-of-27 for 147 yards but completed just three passes to wideouts. The Dolphins managed just 234 total yards and overcame 11 penalties for 144 yards.
"We didn't play as well as we could and still got away with a 14-point victory," said McMichael, who caught two passes. "We definitely can't have as many penalties as we had today. That really hurt us."
