Although the Dolphins came up with a couple of big scoring plays to hold a late lead over Houston on Sunday, poor third-down efficiency kept the offense from staying on the field and possibly shortening the game in a 29-28 loss.

The Dolphins were 2 of 10 in converting third downs and went three-and-out four times.

''We put ourselves in some long third down situations on offense, so we didn't do a good enough job that way,'' Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said. ``If we stay on the field a little longer, maybe there's no time at the end of the game.''

Whereas the Dolphins offense continually struggled to sustain drives, the Texans converted six of 15 third downs. In Miami's wins against New England and San Diego, the defense stifled both teams in third--and-long situations. The Texans were able to gain yards with the running game on first and second downs, which resulted in six of their 15 third-down attempts coming from less than 5 yards.

''One thing we like to do is get teams in third and long and they did a great job in their zone and running the ball,'' linebacker Matt Roth said.

``One thing is we gotta make sure we get teams in third and long and make them one-dimensional.''

The Texans also converted both of their fourth-down attempts to score the game-winning touchdown.

First, Matt Schaub found Andre Johnson for a 23-yard gain on fourth-and-10, then Schaub ran it in for the deciding touchdown on fourth-and-2 from the Dolphins' 3-yard line.

STILL STRUGGLING

Dolphins wide receivers struggled again Sunday, continuing what has been a season-long trend.

Aside from Greg Camarillo's four catches for 49 yards, the Dolphins receivers caught two passes for 9 yards.

Sparano said Monday that players were open, but Chad Pennington, who had another efficient game by completing 19 of 25 pass for 284 yards and two touchdowns, made different reads.

''It's just we didn't get to them,'' Sparano said. ``They were the wrong people, if that makes sense. [Pennington's] going through his progression, he gets it out, which is what you want to do in that situation.''

NOT SO SPECIAL

Houston twice expoloited the Dolphins on big kick returns in the second quarter.

After the Dolphins went ahead 14-3 on an 80-yard touchdown pass from Pennington to Patrick Cobbs, Andre' Davis returned the ensuing kick 50 yards to set up a 33-yard field goal from Kris Brown.

The Dolphins punted on the following possession and Jacoby Jones returned it 70 yards for a touchdown to pull the Texans within 14-13.

''At the end of the day we missed 11 tackles on special teams,'' Sparano said. ``That's not good enough. You miss 11 tackles on special teams, you're going to give up big plays.''

EXTRA POINTS

Sparano said there was no thought of going for a two-point conversion after the Dolphins scored to take the lead with 1:45 left. The Dolphins kicked the PAT to make the score 28-23. The Texans scored a touchdown to go ahead 29-28, went for two and didn't get it.

''Either way to me it was a score,'' Sparano said. ``They needed a touchdown to win the game.''

Mathematically, the only difference would have been that, were the Dolphins successful in the two-point try, they would have been up 29-23 and the Texans only would have had to kick a PAT after Schaub's touchdown to win. Since the start of the 2002 season, when Brown joined the Texans, he is 181 of 182 on extra points.

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