Dolphins avoid winless season with OT victory

~ Miamie ended its16-game losing streak.

MIAMI -- The Miami Dolphins finally won one, thanks to a break and a big play in overtime.

After Baltimore's Matt Stover missed a 44-yard field goal in the extra period, Miami's Greg Camarillo turned a short completion into a 64-yard touchdown, and the Dolphins beat the Baltimore Ravens 22-16 Sunday.

With the 1972 perfect-season Dolphins cheering them on, the woebegone 2007 team rallied from a 10-point third-quarter deficit and snapped a 16-game losing streak.

Camarillo broke over the middle on third down and had two steps on the secondary when he caught a pass from Cleo Lemon near midfield. Finding himself in the clear, Camarillo sprinted to the end zone for his first NFL touchdown.

Dolphins receiver Greg Camarillo scored the winning touchdown Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens in Miami. (J. PAT CARTER ~ Associated Press)

"It was like watching one of those plays in slow motion, and it's the Super Bowl and the miraculous catch and all those things," Dolphins defensive tackle Vonnie Holliday said. "It was up there like that for us. Maybe not for everybody else, but for us it was up there with all those great catches -- Dwight Clark and all those guys."

The Miami bench quickly emptied as Holliday and his teammates ran after Camarillo and mobbed him in the corner of the stadium.

"We'll no longer be talked about as the winless season," Camarillo said. "We got a win to get the monkey off our back."

With their first victory since Dec. 10, 2006, the Dolphins (1-13) avoided matching the worst start in NFL history. Cam Cameron finally earned his first victory as an NFL head coach, 11 months after taking the job.

Owner Wayne Huizenga, fed up by years of decline in the Dolphins, confirmed Saturday he's discussing the sale of the franchise. He declined to discuss negotiations after the game, but wore a grin in the locker room after the victory.

"It was exciting for me," Huizenga said. "In my suite it was like winning the Super Bowl. It was up and down all game, and with the 17-0 team here and being honored at halftime, to pull it off in this game for those guys, that was special. It was very emotional for me."

Huizenga's Dolphins finally found a team they could beat in the Ravens (4-10), who lost their eighth game in a row, extending a franchise record.

The Ravens also lost middle linebacker Ray Lewis, who dislocated a finger on his left hand in the third quarter and didn't return.

Miami took its first lead with 1:56 left in regulation on a 29-yard field goal by Jay Feely, making the score 16-13. His ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, allowing the Ravens to start at their 40, and rookie Troy Smith drove them 59 yards.

Baltimore coach Brian Billick decided against trying for the winning touchdown on fourth down at the 1, and Stover's 18-yard field goal with 8 seconds left forced overtime.

The Ravens started at their 20 following the overtime kickoff, and Smith drove them 54 yards, but Stover pulled a kick wide left. Three plays later, the Dolphins had their first win more than a year.

"We got beat by an 0-13 team. We'll hear it," Stover said. "Do I want to be that guy? No. But I've won plenty of games for this team, and you've got to take the bad with the good. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it."

The seven members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame who were with the '72 Dolphins served as honorary captains and took part in the coin toss. From there, things went downhill for Miami for a while.

As usual, the Dolphins squandered plenty of chances. Lorenzo Booker tripped at the 10-yard with no one in front of him following a reception, and Miami settled for a field goal. On a subsequent possession, Lemon stepped out of bounds on third down for a 7-yard loss that took Miami out of field goal range.

And as usual, it seemed the Dolphins couldn't catch a break. When Ted Ginn Jr. appeared to get hit before the ball arrived on a 41-yard pass into end zone, there was no interference call.

But the game began to turn when Miami's Jason Taylor blocked a 50-yard field goal attempt by Stover on the final play of the first half, keeping the Ravens' lead at 13-3.

The Dolphins shut down Baltimore for most of the second half, and the offense began to show a rare spark. Lemon finished 23-for-39 for 315 yards and improved to 1-5 lifetime as a starting quarterback.