Williams the Real Decoy in Key Play

All the Miami Dolphins needed to win their third consecutive game was four turnovers, a little trickery and more special teams woes for the New York Giants.

Olindo Mare kicked three field goals and receiver James McKnight scored on a 68-yard reverse as the Dolphins took advantage of New York errors and a freak injury to Giant kicker Matt Bryant in a 23-10 victory Sunday.

“It’s good to win these kinds of games when people have to step up,” said Dolphin running back Ricky Williams, whose biggest contribution might have been as a decoy.

The Giants (2-2) wanted to stop him at all costs, and that set up the right conditions for McKnight’s second-quarter run that gave the Dolphins (3-1) the lead for good.

“When I was going to get the ball from Ricky, I saw the whole defense coming at Ricky,” McKnight said. “Those guys were keying and trying to stop 34. We knew that was their game plan, so we ran this play in practice several times this week.”

The other play that hurt the Giants was Bryant’s 43-yard field goal that made it 13-10 just before the half. As the kicked sailed through, Bryant grabbed his right hamstring.

Not having Bryant in the second half forced New York to use punter Jeff Feagles as an emergency kicker.

Feagles, who had not attempted a field goal in 16 seasons, missed a 29-yard try with 4:28 left in the third quarter.