Williams’ 100-yard day first since ’05

Ricky Williams knows his stats. He’s well aware how long it has been since he ran for 100 yards in a game.

“It was at the end of the ’05 season,” Williams said. “It was against the Patriots. I had 100-yard games in the last two games.”

Then came a long layoff. Then an injury. Then a new role as a backup back.

Ricky the reserve finally rejoined the 100-yard club Sunday, making the most of his 12 carries to help the Miami Dolphins beat Seattle 21-19 at Miami.

He scored on a 51-yard run – his longest in six years – and finished with 105 yards. The 8.8-yard per-carry average was a career high.

“People make a big deal over 100 yards,” Williams said. “But it’s only 1 more yard than 99 yards. …

“I’ve run for tons in my career. I just want to win.”

At 5-4, the surprising Dolphins are above .500 for the first time since the end of the 2005 season, in large part because of their one-two punch at running back with Williams and Ronnie Brown.

“It helps to have two guys who are experienced,” Brown said. “Today was a great example of that. We were able to switch around and stay fresh and try to wear the defense down.”

Brown ran for 39 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, and he added 27 on four receptions. The Dolphins improved to 3-0 when they run for more than 100 yards.

One-armed Allen wins rematch

Jared Allen openly admitted that Green Bay left tackle Chad Clifton dominated him in Minnesota’s first game against the Packers this season.

The Vikings defensive end was the clear winner in the rematch Sunday, and he needed only one arm to do it.

Despite being listed as doubtful on Friday with a severely sprained right shoulder, Allen had a sack, a safety and countless pressures of quarterback Aaron Rodgers in Minnesota’s 28-27 victory over the Packers at Minneapolis.

“I tried to do the opposite of what I did in Week 1,” deadpanned Allen, who didn’t have a sack or a tackle while being hounded by Clifton in the season-opening 24-19 loss. “I kind of wanted a little payback from the first game.”

It was a satisfying end to a week in which Allen endured plenty of pain both in his shoulder and his wallet.

He was injured in the first half of the Vikings’ 28-21 win over Houston last weekend, and took a painkilling injection at halftime so he could finish the game. The one-armed whirlwind managed to get two sacks in the second half of that game to seal the victory, then missed practice Wednesday and Thursday while trying to recover.

It’s been diagnosed a third-degree sprain, the most severe level.

“The medical people cleared him,” coach Brad Childress said. “You can’t make grade three any worse. Tough guy. Once again, he wasn’t going to be denied.”

While head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman and his staff did a great job reducing the inflammation in Allen’s shoulder, the NFL took care of the swelling in his pocketbook on Friday.

Allen was fined $50,000 for two hits on Houston quarterback Matt Schaub, a ruling he is appealing.

Pats piece together first-place team

This win belongs to Scott Pioli. OK, and to Bill Belichick because he has a lot to do with who New England signs and who it doesn’t.

In any case, look at the stars of the Patriots’ 20-10 win over Buffalo, writes Dave Goldberg of the Associated Press, and you see guys who nobody would have expected a couple of months ago to be leading a team that still resides atop the AFC East. They are tied with the Jets despite a plethora of injuries, including one to Tom Brady that ended his season before it began.

Matt Cassel, Brady’s replacement, was one of Sunday’s stars. Plus BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Gary Guyton and even the well-traveled Deltha O’Neal, a kind of desperation throw-in at cornerback for a decimated secondary.

That’s because while every team knows it will have injuries, director of pro personnel Pioli and head coach Belichick plan for them.

Green-Ellis’s success on Sunday — 26 carries for 105 yards and a touchdown — is as good a demonstration of why the Patriots keep finding players to keep themselves among the NFL’s elite. They’ve done that since 2001, when they won the first of their three Super Bowls.

He was an undrafted free agent last April, as was Guyton, who spends a lot of time at linebacker spelling the aging Tedy Bruschi — yet another example of the overlooked college player New England and other good organizations keep finding and the lesser teams do not.