Dolphins Win Despite Five Turnovers, 17-10 : AFC: Blocked punt helps Miami beat New England in sloppy game.

The Miami Dolphins have improved so much they can win even when they play poorly.

Stingy defense and Mark Higgs’ touchdown on a blocked punt helped the Dolphins overcome five turnovers Thursday night as they beat the New England Patriots, 17-10, to assume sole possession of first place in the AFC East.

The Dolphins (5-1), seeking their first playoff berth since 1985, took a half-game lead over the Buffalo Bills, who play the New York Jets Sunday. The Patriots (1-5) sustained their fourth consecutive loss.

An 11-day layoff left both teams looking sloppy. Miami won despite numerous dropped passes, an interception and four lost fumbles, including one in the Patriots’ end zone.

“You’ve got to look at how poorly we played offensively, and you can’t be happy about that,” Miami Coach Don Shula said. “It seemed like everything you could do wrong you did. The defense just kept the offense in it.”

New England had 34 yards in the first half and 197 in the game against the Dolphins’ defense, ranked fourth in the NFL. Miami stopped the Patriots on 14 of their 18 third-down situations.

“Things went bad for the offense tonight,” said Miami defensive end Jeff Cross, who had one of five sacks for the Dolphins and leads the league with eight. “We know there’ll be days like this. We just hung in there and did enough to get the job done and win.”

The Dolphins had all five turnovers in the first half, but they still led 10-3 because of Higgs’ 19-yard return of a blocked punt. With the ball at the Patriots’ 36-yard line, he slipped between blockers up the middle and smothered Brian Hansen’s kick, grabbed the ball on the bounce and scored easily.

Dan Marino set up Miami’s other touchdown late in the third quarter by passing to Mark Clayton for a 36-yard gain to the Patriots’ two-yard line. Sammie Smith scored on the next play to cap a 64-yard drive for a 17-3 lead.

New England’s touchdown came with 6:18 left when George Adams caught a four-yard scoring pass from Marc Wilson on fourth down. The Patriots quickly forced a punt and took over at the Miami 44, but their final threat ended when Wilson was stopped for no gain on a fourth-down sneak at the 35 with 3:31 left.

The Patriots had chances to build a big early lead, but they failed to pick up a first down after Miami’s first three turnovers.

“When we ran the ball they beat us, and when we passed, they covered us, and when we were open, we dropped it,” Patriot Coach Rod Rust said.

“We just kept turning them back,” Shula said. “In the beginning we looked awesome as far as pass rush and run defense.”

Linebackers E.J. Junior and Hugh Green each had two sacks of Wilson, who completed 18 of 38 passes for 187 yards. His record as the Patriots’ starting quarterback is 0-8.

Rust said he considered replacing Wilson with Steve Grogan in the second half.

“But then I looked out on the field and thought that Marc was delivering the ball well,” he said. “He had to endure four drops in a row.”

The victory gave Miami its best start since 1984, the last time the team made the Super Bowl, and also gave the Dolphins their fourth consecutive win against intra-division rivals, the team’s best such streak since 1986.