Two weeks after stunning the New England Patriots, the Miami Dolphins are looking to pull off what would be an equally impressive encore.

The San Diego Chargers will be the Week 5 opponent for the Fins, who will be looking to give head coach Tony Sparano and quarterback Chad Pennington their first home wins in Miami colors.

The Dolphins ended New England's NFL-record 21-game winning streak with style back in Week 3, handing the Patriots a 38-13 setback that was their most decisive in the seven-year history of Gillette Stadium.

Miami running back Ronnie Brown was the star of the show, rushing for a team- record four touchdowns and throwing a fifth to tight end Anthony Fasano while working frequently out of the "Wildcat" formation. The scheme saw the running back taking direct snaps from center, and clearly seemed to confound the highly-respected New England defense.

The Dolphins piled up 461 yards of total offense on the day, also scoring the franchise's first road victory since winning at Detroit on Thanksgiving of 2006.

Given the headline-grabbing nature of the victory, don't expect the Chargers to be caught off guard by Miami's approach.

San Diego has righted the ship following a disappointing 0-2 start, winning back-to-back games over the Jets (48-29) and Raiders (28-18) to pull within a game of the first-place Broncos (3-1) as Week 5 begins.

Norv Turner's club rebounded from a 15-0 deficit to outlast Oakland last week, with a 25-point fourth-quarter flurry helping the Bolts to even their record.

LaDainian Tomlinson carried 20 times for 106 yards and two touchdowns in the triumph, sealing the game with a 41-yard touchdown blast in the closing moments.

Tomlinson has four touchdowns in his past two games, and is tied for the NFL lead in that category (5) along with Brown, Tennessee's LenDale White, and Arizona wide receiver Anquan Boldin.

Adding to the good news for San Diego this week is the return of starting inside linebacker Stephen Cooper, who has finished serving a four-game NFL suspension for use of a banned stimulant.

SERIES HISTORY

The Dolphins lead the all-time series with the Chargers, 11-10, breaking a deadlock in the series with a 23-21 road win when the teams last met, in 2005. Miami is 6-0 against San Diego since the Bolts last won a game in the series, a 1993 home triumph that came by a 45-20 count.

The postseason series between the Chargers and Dolphins is also tied, at two games apiece. San Diego won AFC Divisional Playoff contests over Miami in 1981 and 1994, while the Dolphins were winners over the Bolts in a 1982 AFC Second- Round Playoff and a 1992 AFC Divisional Playoff.

Including playoffs, San Diego is 0-5 in Miami since last winning there in 1981. The Chargers last won a regular season game in south Florida in 1980.

Turner is 1-1 in his career against the Dolphins, including a win while with the Redskins (1999) and a loss while with the Raiders (2005). Sparano will be meeting both Turner and the Chargers for the first time as a head coach.

WHEN THE CHARGERS HAVE THE BALL

Tomlinson (296 rushing yards, 4 TD, 10 receptions) is averaging just 3.8 yards per carry and has yet to come up with any of the huge statistical games that have long been his calling card, but the future Hall-of-Famer has shown in the team's last two wins that he remains very much capable of hitting the home run. A nagging toe injury limited both his touches and effectiveness in September, but improving health figures to yield more prolific results. Backup Darren Sproles (106 rushing yards, 5 receptions, 1 TD) has certainly shown his value as a change-of-pace over the last month. San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers (1024 passing yards, 10 TD, 4 INT) has quietly been very good, posting an outstanding 109.8 passer rating and helping top targets Antonio Gates (15 receptions, 3 TD), Chris Chambers (8 receptions, 4 TD), and Vincent Jackson (15 receptions, 1 TD) be productive. Chambers, a 2001 second-round Draft choice of the Dolphins and member of the Miami roster from 2001 through 2007 will be out to prove something to the team that traded him midway through last season. A quality San Diego o-line has surrendered six sacks thus far.

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