Comeback Not in Cards for Plummer

Jake Plummer threw into coverage. He threw behind receivers. He threw wobbly passes up for grabs.

And the Miami Dolphins made certain that Plummer paid for his mistakes, intercepting four of his passes and turning back his latest comeback bid in a 19-16 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

“I made a few boneheaded throws,” said Plummer, who declined to blame his performance on a thumb injury that sidelined him most of the exhibition season. “This game hurts. I’m going to soak it in for a couple of days, because I don’t want this to happen again.”

Plummer, who got the 10th comeback victory of his three-year career last Sunday at Philadelphia, couldn’t muster any fourth-quarter magic against the Dolphins (2-0). The Cardinals (1-1) had the ball at their 33 with 1:14 left, but two penalties and a sack pushed them back to the 25, and Plummer’s pass was intercepted by Brock Marion with 15 seconds to go.

Plummer was 11 for 27 for 112 yards, also having a pass picked off in the end zone by linebacker Zach Thomas and having two intercepted by Sam Madison. Plummer has thrown seven interceptions in two games.

The Dolphins, impressive in a season-opening victory at Denver last Monday night, had four turnovers and nine penalties but kept the Cardinal offense from scoring a touchdown.

Dan Marino was 21 for 35 for 221 yards and a touchdown, but had one of his two interceptions returned for a touchdown by linebacker Rob Fredrickson.

Miami’s Olindo Mare won a field-goal duel with Chris Jacke, connecting from 39, 51, 48 and 44 yards. Jacke kicked field goals of 36, 44 and 38 yards before missing on a 33-yard attempt with 11:48 left.