INDIANAPOLIS – Andrew Luck stewed over the mistakes he made Sunday. There was the forced pass into the end zone that was picked off, the failure to take the potential short gains on the final series and the inability to get away from pressure on Indy’s final offensive play.
It was, simply, too much for the Colts to overcome on a day Ryan Tannehill threw for 319 yards and one touchdown and the Miami defense held Indy to 133 yards in the second half to preserve a 24-20 victory.
Luck and the Colts (1-1) seemed to have everything working in the first half when they piled up 315 total yards and climbed out of a 14-3 deficit to take a 17-14 lead.
But, in the second half, they couldn’t get anything right. After recovering a Tannehill fumble at the Miami 39, the Colts had to settle for a short field goal after Luck’s 1-yard TD run was disallowed after Miami coach Joe Philbin challenged the prior catch just in time.
A few plays later, Luck thought he had a 15-yard TD pass but that was wiped out by an illegal shift. Then, in the fourth quarter, after under throwing a deep ball to Reggie Wayne in the end zone, Luck wound up throwing three straight incompletions and took a sack on fourth down with 87 seconds to play.
Luck finished 25 of 43 for 321 yards and one TD: The difference came down to managing mistakes. Tannehill is one of the big reasons Miami is 2-0 for only the second time since 2004.
He was 23 of 34 for 319 yards with one touchdown and did a better job managing his offense in the second half. Miami played this one almost perfectly.
They started fast, jumped to a 14-3 lead after two possessions, rallied twice and shut down the Colts when they needed, too.
High-priced free-agent Mike Wallace was a little happier with his performance this time, finishing with nine receptions for 115 yards and one touchdown a week after making only one catch in his Miami debut.
Lamar Miller averaged nearly 5 yards per carry, running 14 times for 69 yards and a touchdown. Charles Clay had five catches for 109 yards and only one carry – a 1-yard TD run with 4:40 left in the third quarter, which turned out to be the game’s decisive score and stood up to a replay review.
That, and a staunch defense late was enough for the Dolphins to hold on. “You have to be balanced to win football games. You can’t really win a football game by just throwing the whole game. You have to mix it up,” Wallace said.
The Dolphins didn’t shy away from trading jabs, especially after Indy piled up 315 yards of offense in the first half, their highest first-half total in seven years.
“Our guys wanted to play them, we wanted to compete,” Philbin said. “They were ready for a 60-minute game and we knew we would have to make some plays to win.”
No Comment