FOXBORO -- The Patriots never knew what hit them.

Even after they were hit with it again, and again, and again.

"I don't think you ever see a loss like this coming," former Dolphins wide receiver Wes Welker said Sunday after Miami -- losers of 20 of its last 21 games -- mauled the Patriots, 38-13, putting an end to New England's NFL-record 21-game regular-season winning streak.

What the Patriots certainly didn't foresee was the way the Dolphins used running back Ronnie Brown.

Lining up in unbalanced formations, Miami six times snapped the ball directly to Brown. Three times, he ran with it -- and scored every time, on runs of two, five and 62 yards. Twice, he handed the ball off to fellow running back Ricky Williams, for gains of 3 and 28 yards. Once, he even threw it -- for 19 yards to tight end Anthony Fasano for a touchdown.

Despite coach BIll Belichick's reputation for defensive acumen, the Patriots had no clue how to stop Brown and the suddenly explosive Dolphins.

"We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off," said Richard Seymour, the Pats' veteran All Pro defensive end. "We really didn't know what to do.

"They ran some unbalanced formations that it didn't seem that we had any answers for. We were a step behind and a step late all day. It felt like we were just reacting to what they were doing and didn't really have any answers."

Without question, the Dolphins were much the better team Sunday.

"They kept us on our heels," Pats cornerback Ellis Hobbs said, "and did a good job of executing their plays on offense.

"You can only game plan, and practice, so much. Everything else, you have to adjust to. As a whole, we didn't do a good job adjusting to pretty much anything."

"It's very disappointing," said strong safety Rodney Harrison.

The New England offense was equally disappointing, scoring just one touchdown and putting up only 13 points against a Miami defense that had been riddled for 31 at Arizona the week before.

"We didn't have any continuity," said running back Sammy Morris -- like Welker, a former Dolphin.

The Patriots, naturally, don't expect such problems to continue.

"You never expect to go out there and lose," said wide receiver Jabar Gaffney, who scored New England's only touchdown, on a 5-yard pass from Matt Cassel late in the third quarter. "You definitely don't expect to lose like that.

"We actually had a pretty good week in practice and we expected to come out and play well. But, for some reason, we just couldn't get it going.

"We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off."