Dolphins squeak by Raiders
Set up showdown with Patriots next week
MIAMI — The Miami Dolphins showed again they can beat a bad team — barely. Next comes the biggest game yet in the franchise’s revival.
Rookie Dan Carpenter nailed a 38- yard field goal with 38 seconds left to cap a 61-yard drive, and the Dolphins earned their fourth consecutive victory Sunday by defeating woeful Oakland, 17-15.
The Dolphins (6-4), who barely avoided a winless season in 2007, set up a showdown at home next Sunday against AFC East rival New England.
“This should be the first time I see our stadium sold out,” linebacker Joey Porter said. “I’ve been here a year and a half and still haven’t seen the place sold out. This matchup should definitely get us to that level.”
Miami and New England trail the division-leading New York Jets by one game, but doubts remain as to whether the Dolphins belong in a playoff race. They beat injury-plagued Seattle by two points at home a week ago, and nearly blew Sunday’s game after leading most of the way.
Johnnie Lee Higgins scored on a 93-yard punt return with 4:30 left to give the Raiders their first lead. Chad Pennington then moved the Dolphins down the field in 10 plays, completing a 7-yard pass on fourth-and-5 to Ted Ginn Jr. to keep the drive alive.
“It was my first fourth-and-5 with a minute or so left in the game,” said Ginn, a second-year pro. “It was probably Chad’s 20th. He’s cool, calm and collected. He went out there and got the job done.”
Oakland (2-8) lost its fourth in a row, and Tom Cable fell to 1-5 as interim coach.
“This is good for us,” Cable said. “It hurts because we lost, but we’re getting closer. We’ve just got to keep pounding away, and we’ll get a break one of these days.”
The Raiders generated only two field goals on offense, and scored when Jay Richardson sacked Pennington for a safety. They haven’t registered an offensive touchdown in 13 quarters, and reinforcements failed to provide a spark.
Quarterback JaMarcus Russell returned after missing one game with a knee injury, and he went 15 for 22 for 156 yards, but Miami had six sacks.
Teammate Darren McFadden, nursing a toe injury that has hampered him most of the season, played for the first time in four games as a reserve. He carried only three times for 13 yards, and the Raiders totaled just 70 yards on the ground.
Ginn had a 40-yard touchdown run on an end-around for the Dolphins. They ran for a season-high 222 yards, including 101 by Ronnie Brown in 16 carries.
