Dolphins defensive end Cameron Wake stood in a locker-room shell-shocked to silence Sunday and tried to explain the inexplicable.

“That’s the thing about football” he said. “There’s no script.”

If there were, this one surely was penned by Marquis de Sade.

This one had an ending that was equal parts bizarre and cruel, and might have even qualified as almost laughable, if it didn’t hurt so much.

The Dolphins would lose to the nemesis New York Jets 23-20 in overtime Sunday, but how it got to that finality had to leave both teams’ fans shaking heads in disbelief.

First reliable Dolphins kicker Dan Carpenter missed what would have been a winning 48-yard field goal in OT, pushing it wide left.

“We lost because of me,” Carpenter would say later, admirably. “It’s my fault.”

It wasn’t that simple, though.

Miami and perhaps Carpenter were then denied a chance at redemption when an ill-timed timeout called by the Dolphins negated a blocked field goal by Randy Starks and gave the Jets a second chance they didn’t miss.

Such a timeout is a common tactic called “icing” the kicker.

Except this one put Miami’s victory chances in the deep freeze.

Dolphin Randy Starks had burst through Jets blockers to bat down the first 33-yard field goal try, setting a stadium thunderous in cheer … until officials started waving their arms to indicate Miami had called timeout a second before the snap.

Dolfans’ hearts sank.

The many Jets fans on hand began to crow.

Sure enough, the second kick was perfect.

MEMORABLE

This Dolphins-Jets rivalry might not be in its best days; Miami failed to sell out Sunday’s game and didn’t come close. But this crazy finish, after a game taut as violin strings, qualified the game among the most memorable in this series’ 94 meetings.

It is said that bad teams find ways to lose? If so the Dolphins got very creative with this one, and that creativity left a home team and its fans with little to do but sift through the disappointment and wonder what the heck had just happened.

Good teams win games like this, games led 10-0 at home. Playoff teams and those who fall short are separated by games like this, results like this, luck like this.

“Very frustrating,” said defender Karlos Dansby of The Infamous Icing Backfire.

“You never see that happen,” added rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill. “It’s a weird thing. I never even heard of that happening.”

Tannehill was one of two Dolphins rookies who had a rough day Sunday.

The other was first-year NFL head coach Joe Philbin.

Ultimately, Tannehill had the better day.

He would complete only 16 of 36 passes for 196 yards, and had an interception returned for a touchdown. But ultimately he did his job when put in the most pressurized situation of his young career.

Keep in mind Miami’s opener was a lopsided loss in Houston and their second game a rout-win vs. Oakland. This was the first game in which the result teetered late and the verdict was on Tannehill’s shoulders late.

He came through, capably if not heroically.

Tannehill drove the team to its go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter, to the tying field goal late in regulation, and then led Miami to what should have been the winning field goal in OT if Carpenter had been his usual reliable self.