Dolphins Burned in the Fryar

Irving Fryar paid Jimmy Johnson back.

Fryar, who went to Philadelphia after Johnson told him he wasn’t a part of Miami’s future, caught four touchdown passes from Ty Detmer on Sunday as the Eagles defeated Johnson’s Dolphins, 35-28.

“They probably still don’t want me back--now more so than ever,” said Fryar, who had eight catches for 116 yards, including touchdown receptions of 38, two, 12 and 36 yards.

Johnson didn’t want to talk about Fryar leaving Miami, and didn’t have to much to say about his performance: “He just got behind us.”

Ricky Watters chipped in with 173 yards in 25 carries, including a 49-yard touchdown run with 2:28 left in the game that gave the Eagles a 35-21 lead.

“I can’t lie, I love the ball,” Watters said. “Whenever you can do what we did to a team that’s No. 2 against the rush, our offensive line had to be playing great.”

The four touchdown passes were the first by Ty Detmer since he replaced the injured Rodney Peete as Philadelphia’s quarterback last week. Going into Sunday’s game, Detmer had thrown only 68 times in his five-year career and had one touchdown pass.

“There was a lot of concern because we didn’t get in the end zone last week,” said Detmer, 18 for 24 for 226 yards, in his second pro start. “We hadn’t had a touchdown pass in 13 quarters.”

The Eagles (5-2) allowed the Dolphins (4-3) only 93 yards on the ground. They also sacked Craig Erickson four times and intercepted him once.

“We couldn’t run the clock-control offense and our defense couldn’t hold them,” Erickson said. “That last run [Watters’ touchdown] took the winds out of our sails.”

The Dolphins (4-3) trailed, 28-11, midway through the third quarter, then rallied on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Erickson to O.J. McDuffie, who caught seven passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns, and Joe Nedney’s second field goal of the game.

Dan Marino, who has sat out the last three games because of a broken right ankle, was suited up as the Dolphins’ third quarterback. He warmed up late in the game, but did not play.

“I never intended to play him in that situation,” Johnson said.

The Eagles took a 14-0 lead with 5:56 left in the first quarter, but the Dolphins scored the next 11 points. But Detmer’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Fryar with five seconds left opened it to 21-11.

“That was huge,” Detmer said. “It was 14-11, and we go into the locker room up 10 again.”