Showing how some barometers have changed, by the standards of this year's Dolphins, Sunday wasn't a clean game. By the standards of 2004-07, the game wasn't just clean, it was sterilized.

The Dolphins have been flagged for 21 penalties in their first four games, down from 29 last season. They had only two pre-snap penalties (false start, offsides, illegal procedure, illegal motion, 12-men, etc.) in their first three games, both against New England. That average was bumped slightly with Anthony Fasano's second-quarter false start Sunday. By comparison, they had four presnap flags in their 2007 season opener alone.

Though drops aren't an official NFL statistic, Fasano's fourth-quarter drop of a pass over the middle is the first of the season according to a Herald play-by-play breakdown of the first four games. Last year's Herald count had eight in the first four games. Drop counts of five and six were common in 2004-2006, with a high of eight against the Packers in 2006.

SILENCING SPROLES

In a defensive game such as Sunday's, cheap points from big plays would've been pivotal. San Diego figured to get some out of its kickoff return game with Darren Sproles, No. 2 in the league coming into Sunday, going against the Dolphins' No. 32-ranked kickoff coverage team.

Sproles trailed New England's Ellis Hobbs only because Hobbs torched the Dolphins for 237 yards on six kickoff returns (39.5 average) two weeks ago.

Sunday, Sproles averaged 23.7 yards on three returns, and his long runback went only 25 yards.

''I thought we did some directional kicks that I thought [kicker Dan] Carpenter did a nice job on,'' Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said. ``We squeezed the field and we were disciplined [Sunday].''

QUICK HITS

• Quarterback Chad Pennington did not throw an interception for the third consecutive game and has not thrown one in his past 69 attempts. He connected on 75.9 percent of his passes Sunday (22 of 29) and has completed 79.6 percent over the past two games (39 of 49).

Pennington also put together a passer rating of 109.6, following his 113.8 mark against New England. He is the first Dolphins quarterback to have a rating higher than 100.0 in consecutive games since Jay Fiedler did it in 2002.

• Dolphins tight end David Martin temporarily left Sunday's game after being hit in his upper back/neck area by cornerback Antonio Cromartie in the second quarter after Martin caught a 25-yard pass.

Martin returned in the second half and blocked well for most of the game.

• The Dolphins listed wide receiver Derek Hagan among their inactive players Sunday. Hagan did not catch a pass against New England two weeks ago and has only three receptions for 51 yards this season. Also inactive were guard Shawn Murphy, defensive ends Lionel Dotson and Rodrique Wright, tackles Nate Garner and Kirk Barton and tight end Joey Haynos. John Beck was listed as the third-string QB.

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