The Dolphins jump the shark

The NFL is:

A) A rookie league.

B) A Ronnie league.

C) Both.

The answer is C. Better yet, it's See.

See all four of the league's rookie coaches win Sunday, including a rub-your-eyes stunner with Miami -- yes, Miami! -- winning at New England to end the Patriots' record 21-game regular-season winning streak.

And see the Dolphins' Ronnie Brown run for four touchdowns and throw for a fifth in that 38-13 victory. He wasn't just a running back, he was a Miami pound machine.

It was a bizarre sight, that steady flood of Patriots fans leaving Gillette Stadium at the start of the fourth quarter, unable to stomach any more. Here's hoping someone had the sense to remove the fate-tempting sign that read, "Things could be worse. Imagine Chad as our QB."

Oh, really?

By game's end, Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel happily would have traded statistics with Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington, who completed 17 of 20 passes for 226 yards, with no turnovers and no sacks.

A week after winning the debut start of his career, meanwhile, Cassel took a hard tumble to earth. He connected on 19 of 31 for 131 yards, with a touchdown, an interception and a fumble. He presided over an offense that converted only four of 15 third downs, and watched from the sideline as New England's defense was fooled time and again by direct snaps to Brown. The Dolphins, who hadn't run a single direct snap in their first two games, did it six times against the Patriots, scoring four touchdowns.

While Tony Sparano was thoroughly out-coaching Bill Belichick in Foxborough, his fellow rookie coaches were cleaning up in Atlanta, Washington and Baltimore.

As for the league's youngest coach? Lane Kiffin and his Oakland Raiders came oh-so-close to an upset victory at Buffalo, losing by a point on a 38-yard field goal as the clock expired. Had Kiffin's team won, it would have deprived Al Davis of any reason to fire his young coach. If he were to show Kiffin the door now, Davis would just look typically impulsive, rather than utterly around the bend. It was strange, though, watching Kiffin, in the final 30 seconds, allowing the clock to wind down instead of calling a desperation timeout.

One wonders if Davis spoke to the coach on the flight home Sunday, or if he's waiting to have The Talk with him this week. Either way, it's clear that Kiffin soon will be Memory Lane.