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Patriots look to keep winning behind Cassel

Sep 16, 2008 - 5:26 PM Miami (0-2) at New England (2-0), 1:00 pm EDT

FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts (Ticker) -- It appears that reports of the demise of the New England Patriots were greatly exaggerated.

After winning their first game without Tom Brady, the Patriots look to extend their regular-season winning streak to 22 games on Sunday when they host the Miami Dolphins.

When Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury in New England's 17-10 Week One win over Kansas City, some suggested the Patriots' reign in the AFC East could be over.

However, the Patriots (2-0) picked up the pieces and defeated the New York Jets, 19-10, last week in Matt Cassel's first start since high school. A backup to Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at Southern California, Cassel managed the offense well, passing for 165 yards and throwing no interceptions.

"It's never about the doubters," Cassel said. "It's about having belief in yourself, and I've always had the belief in myself that I can go out there and do it. I talked to Tom a lot. His big advice was to go out there, manage the game, be smart with the football, and that we have good enough players on this team to win if I do that."

On Sunday, the Patriots will be facing the last team to beat them in the regular season. In Week 14 of the 2006 season, the Dolphins blanked New England, 21-0, in Miami.

Last year, the Patriots swept the Dolphins for the first time since 2003 en route to becoming the first team in NFL history to complete a 16-0 regular season.

The Patriots posted a 28-7 win in Foxborough in Week 15, the week after the Dolphins recorded their only win of the season , a 22-16 overtime victory in Baltimore. Miami started 0-13, threatening to become the first club to go 0-16.

The Dolphins (0-2) have picked up where they left off last season, opening with losses to the New York Jets (20-14) and Arizona (31-10), and have dropped 20 of their last 21 games.

Miami nearly rallied to beat the Jets in Chad Pennington's debut with the team, reaching the Jets 18 before Pennington was intercepted in the final minute. Last week, however, the Dolphins were victimized by 37-year-old Kurt Warner, who passed for 361 yards and three touchdowns.

Pennington was benched in the fourth quarter after passing for only 112 yards. He was replaced by second-round draft pick Chad Henne, who made his NFL debut and led the Dolphins to their only touchdown.