MIAMI -- On the fifth snap of his team's victory over New England here Sunday afternoon, Miami Dolphins defensive right end Jason Taylor used a bull rush to jolt Patriots left tackle Matt Light back on his heels, got beyond the pass protection with a classic inside counter move, and sacked cover boy quarterback Tom Brady for a seven-yard loss to force a punt.

	Miami's defense recorded three sacks and held the Patriots to 37 yards rushing.

Most weeks, that sack might merit the highlight reel, but probably wouldn't be regarded as anything particularly special. But with the Miami defensive line coming off a week of preparation spent under the media microscope, the object of scrutiny because of its shoddy performance in last Sunday's ugly defeat at Kansas City, the symbolism of the Taylor sack was magnified.

If the Dolphins' line was under the gun, Brady was under pressure from that point on, and the Miami defense seemed to feed off the early momentum in a performance that was both dominating and redemptive.

"The early sack that Jason got, coming like it did in the first series, definitely set the tone for us," agreed defensive tackle Larry Chester after a Dolphins 26-13 victory. "It kind of erased a lot of the hurt from last week. It was a big play to build off. And that's exactly what we did."

Indeed, while Miami coach Dave Wannstedt awarded a game ball to often embattled quarterback Jay Fiedler, he added the disclaimer that film review could result in a few more presents for his players. Note to Wannstedt: Dust off a box of shiny new footballs, Dave, for your front four unit. Keep one for Taylor, the catalyst for this key victory, because he is definitely deserving.

While even a quick perusal of the statistics would offer some insight into the manhandling that the Miami defense visited upon the suddenly reeling Super Bowl champions, one might have to have viewed the rout to truly appreciate the huge edge in quickness the Dolphins enjoyed, and what a difference that made in the outcome.

For years, the Dolphins have carried the reputation as the league's quickest defense, but the moniker was rarely more evident than on Sunday afternoon.

There was one memorable play in the second quarter, a toss sweep by Pats tailback Antowain Smith on a second-and-eight from the New England 22-yard line, when all four Miami defensive linemen were in the backfield at the same time. One would expect the ends, Taylor and Adewale Ogunleye, to get great penetration. But on this play, tackles Chester and Jermaine Haley were off their blocks so quickly, the play was detonated before it had any chance of success.

Fact is, that 4-yard loss by Smith might have been even more reflective of the Miami dominance in the trenches than the early Taylor sack, because it clearly demonstrated the line's penchant for getting off blocks the entire afternoon. In that sense, it was a microcosm of the whole day, as the Dolphins defensive front simply refused to be blocked, and allowed middle linebacker Zach Thomas to roam around virtually untouched.

That the Dolphins limited New England to an anemic 37 rushing yards on 17 attempts -- 21 of those yards coming in the final seven minutes when the outcome of the game had long since been decided -- was testimony to their ability to disengage from blocks.

Not only was the Miami front four quicker than the Patriots blocking unit, but it also used its hands much better to shed and then locate the ball.

"It seems like such a minor thing, you know, but the coaches here stress it all the time," said reserve defensive end David Bowens, who collected one of three sacks of Brady. "They're always screaming at us: 'Get off the block. Free yourself up. Get back in the play.' It's a thing you have to want to do. You have to want to disengage, to get yourself unblocked, you know?"

Added the active Ogunleye, who had a fumble recovery and helped bring the outside pressure on Brady throughout the game: "Every play. Every play, we kept telling ourselves not to be blocked, and we just kept hammering that point to each other."

And, as a result, kept hammering the New England skill position players as well. With the exception of a third-quarter flurry -- when Brady completed three straight passes of 16, 18 and 34 yards, culminating the sequence with a scoring pass to wideout David Patten -- the Patriots offense was generally a lifeless (and often clueless) unit.

	“	Speed kills on either side of the ball. And today, we felt quicker from the get-go, right out of the chute. They couldn't handle us. ”
		— Tim Bowens, Dolphins defensive tackle

New England rang up only 82 yards in the first three quarters and posted only six first downs entering the final period. The Patriots averaged a paltry 2.6 yards per snap through three quarters.

"We couldn't sustain a drive," summed up Patriots guard Damien Woody, "because we couldn't sustain a block. You have to take care of the first to be able to do the second . . . and we didn't."

Some of the struggles could be attributed to the absence of wide receiver Troy Brown, who missed a second straight contest with a right knee injury, and took away Brady's favorite safety net. Conversely, the Dolphins were bolstered by the return of standout cornerback Patrick Surtain, who returned after a two-week injury hiatus and plucked a second-quarter interception.

But to concentrate too much on those passing game players would diminish the mastery of the Miami defense, which was aided by dubious play-calling, and questionable blocking schemes.

For more than a quarter, the Patriots afforded Light absolutely no help in his battle with Taylor, and it was a costly miscalculation. In addition to the first sack, Taylor added another in the first quarter, roaring around the outside of Light and reaching one-handed over guard Mike Compton to strip the ball from Brady. The fumble, recovered by Ogunleye, completed a 15-yard loss and set up Fiedler's eight-yard touchdown scramble.

At that point, just 10 minutes into the game, Taylor already had a pair of sacks and three tackles overall. And at that point, it finally occurred to the New England coaches that they might want to help Light, before he got run out of the stadium. He was usually double-teamed or chip-blocked after that, but the adjustments were too little, and certainly too late.

Taylor finished with three more tackles and actually took a poor inside rush on the pass play to Patten, allowing Brady one of his few uncluttered looks at the secondary, when he rolled to his left. But for a player who challenged himself after last week's fiasco against the Chiefs, and who was outspoken in exhorting his linemates in the days leading up to Sunday's key AFC East battle, it already was a big day.

"Yeah, it was gratifying, but there were still a few plays I let get away from me," Taylor said. "I'm greedy. I want to make every play I can. Even later in the game, when they started sliding a lot of the (pass) protection toward me, I missed some chances."

No more than were missed, however, by the a Miami offense which could have settled matters very early in the contest but squandered a handful of scoring chances. Miami had a pronounced advantage in field position, with the average starting point of its first four possessions the New England 47-yard line. Three of the drives started either in Patriots' territory or at the 50-yard line. Four of the five possessions concluded in plus territory, yet the Dolphins led just 16-0 at halftime.

Not surprisingly, a Patriots defense that had surrendered 459 rushing yards in its previous two games, stacked the box in an attempt to slow Dolphins tailback Ricky Williams. The strategy worked, but only to a point, with The Dredlocked one having to tote the ball 36 times for his 105 yards. Fiedler made enough plays -- the eight-yard scoring scramble and touchdown passes to wide receiver Chris Chambers and rookie tight end Randy McMichael -- to complement his team's suffocating defense.

One discouraged New England veteran defender allowed afterwards that the Dolphins were "head and shoulders better upfront" and it was apt appraisal. Told of the remark, Taylor allowed that the defense could hold its head high again, coming off a down week when it couldn't even hold together.

"We got our butts kicked last week," Taylor said. "We knew it. Everybody knew it. I mean, it was no mystery, right?"

Right on, just as the Dolphins' dominance Sunday was no mystery, either. Just ask behemoth defensive tackle Tim Bowens, who summed up Sunday's tour de force pretty succinctly.

"Speed kills," Bowens said, "on either side of the ball. And today, we felt quicker from the get-go, right out of the chute. They couldn't handle us."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.