FOXBORO - "Brutal."

That's how Ty Warren summed up the defense's performance in the New England Patriots' 38-13 loss to the Miami Dolphins, a game that saw New England's 21-game regular-season win streak snapped and gave Dolphins' rookie coach Tony Sparano his first victory.

The 25-point loss was the worst in Gillette Stadium history and the worst home loss since Bill Belichick took over in New England in 2000.

Miami, which came into this game with just 513 yards of total offense in its first two games, Sunday rolled up 461, as Chad Pennington got back to his super-accurate ways and the two-headed running attack of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams picked up yards seemingly at will.

Oh, and Joey Porter, who raised the ire of New England fans with his comments last week, had himself quite a game too.

"We were prepared to come in here and do a good job. They came out and they outexecuted us," Warren said. "The blame is all on us. I think you can go right down the line, from me to whoever else you want to look at. We all have a play we'd like to have back."

The Dolphins turned to the college game to devise their game plan against New England, using direct snaps to Brown in which Pennington was lined up wide, and even a halfback pass play.

The result? Brown had a hand in all five of the Dolphins' touchdowns, rushing for a franchise-record four and passing to tight end Anthony Fasano for the fifth.

On the other side of the ball, Matt Cassel struggled in his second start, although Ellis Hobbs did all he could to help, giving New England excellent field position with his kick returns, and the Pats' offensive line gave Cassel little time to work with.

"They did everything better than we did," Belichick said. "They outplayed us, they outcoached us. They certainly dominated on offense and defense. I thought we were competitive in the kicking game, but that was about it."

Hobbs began the game with a 50-yard return, putting New England in Miami territory right off the bat, and the Patriots went three and out. Their second drive started at their own 39, thanks to a Kevin Faulk punt return; this time, Cassel drove New England within the shadow of the goal line, as New England had first and goal from the 7.

That's when the problems began.

Porter blew past Benjamin Watson, in his first game action of the year, and dropped Cassel for a five-yard loss. On the next play, it seemed clear that Cassel had wriggled away from Phillip Merling in the backfield and gotten into the end zone, but the official blew the whistle to rule Cassel in the grasp for a four-yard loss.

Now back to the 16-yard line, Cassel was pressured again, tried to dump the ball off and was intercepted by defensive end Randy Starks.

Eight plays and 74 yards later, Miami had its first touchdown, on the first direct-snap play to Brown, who took it in from two yards out.

"We tried to keep them off-guard and show them a different formation and get them thinking a little bit," Brown said. "After the first time we ran it, I could see them running around and they weren't used to it. We just tried to keep them off-guard, and it worked."

"They ran some unbalanced formations that we had no answers for," Richard Seymour said. "We were a step behind, a step late all day. It just felt like we were reacting to what they were doing and didn't really have any answers."

In all, the ball went directly to Brown on six occasions, with him handing off to Williams twice for 31 yards and also passing to Fasano.

Pennington, who completed all but three of 20 pass attempts, said Brown came through when it mattered on the pass play.

"Oh, you should've seen the first pass he threw in practice -- it wasn't very pretty. But what a strike. Maybe he should play quarterback," Pennington joked. "It was a great throw. It was a crucial situation and he knew if it was there to take it, but if not we'd have a field goal. He made a great decision; Anthony made a great catch."

Now New England heads into its bye week with the loss hanging over its head. While they have extra time to work on their flaws, both from this game and as a whole, the players will be itching to get back on the field.

"Me personally, I'd like to get back on the football field," said Randy Moss. "We love to compete. Sunday is the day you're supposed to come out and just let everything go. With all the buildup and frustration that the coaches put players through throughout the week, Sunday is really [the day] to get in between those white lines and let everything hang out. This is definitely going to be a very interesting week."