This game between the Colts and Dolphins was a game that the Dolphins probably should have lost. They came out flat and were given all they could handle by the Colts who played very well for most of the game. However, when crunch time came at the end of fourth quarter, the Dolphins still had Dan Marino and the Colts didn't. That is why the Dolphins were able to win this game by the score of 22-21.

The game started predictibly enough with the Colts taking the opening kickoff out to the 30 yard line. From there, they used their main weapon - Marshall Faulk - on 7 of their first 14 plays, running and passing their way down to the Miami 15 yard line. Mostly, the defense seemed unable to contain Faulk, although on one play from the Miami 33, Cox penetrated the backfield on a run by Faulk and disrupted the play enough to allow Larry Webster to haul Faulk down for a 7 yard loss.

Other than that, however, the Colts moved efficiently down the field to the Miami 16 yard line where the Colts finally stalled on an incomplete pass and a one yard run by Roosevelt Potts. They were left with a 4th and 7 at the Miami 15 and decided to go for the field goal attempt. However, Chris Singleton muscled his way past the Colt's left guard and blocked the kick, which was recovered at the 36 yard line.

On their first play from scrimmage at their own 36, the Dolphins decided to go for the long bomb, with Marino lofting the ball to a streaking Irving Fryar down the right sideline. The ball was just a bit underthrown and as Fryar slowed down to wait for the ball, the Colts' defender jumped on top of Fryar and was called for pass interference at the Colts' 23 yard line. From there, the Dolphins called 2 runs to Parmalee for 4 yards and got an offsides penalty on Indy for 5 more, but, on 3rd and 1 at the Colts' 14, Marino fumbled the snap and sat on it for a two yard loss. The Dolphins were left with a 4th and 3 from the 16, so Stoyanovich kicked a 23 yard field goal to give the Dolphins a 3-0 lead.

The ensuing kickoff was put out of bounds by Stoyanovich, which allowed the Colts to start at their own 40 yard line. The Colts started by handing off to Faulk for a yard, but then passed twice to Floyd Turner for 33 yards down to the Miami 25. After a short run by Potts, the Colts again went to Turner and, with the aid of a facemask penalty on Michael Stewart, go the ball down to the Miami 6 yard line. After Faulk rushed for 5 yards, Don Majkowski used a quarterback sneak to put the ball in the endzone and take a 7-3 Colts lead.

McDuffie took the Colts kickoff from the 2 out to the 29, to let the Dolphins start their second drive. A quick pass to Byars, followed by a 10 yard run by Parmalee and a quick pass to Keith Jackson took the ball to the 50 yard line, where the first quarter ended.

At this point, both teams were moving well on offense and I was concerned about the Miami defense. They didn't seem to have an answer for Marshall Faulk and when they did concentrate on him, the Colts seemed to be able to go to Floyd Turner.

The second quarter started with 3 consecutive runs by Parmalee, including a 4th down run for a first down. Marino then tried to hit Fryar, but he was well covered and so on the next play Dan went to McDuffie for 8 yards. On 3rd and 2 from the Indy 37 yard line, Marino's pass was knocked away, but defensive holding was called on the Colts, giving Miami a first down at the Colts 32 yard line.

On the next play, Marino hit Keith Byars on one of those quick dump passes in the flat, but a Colt defender was there and hit Byars low to knock him down. Unfortunately, when Byars was hit, he was hit hard on the right leg and his knee was hyper-extended. Byars was obviously hurt and even though he managed to walk off on his own power, he didn't return to the game. It was reported that he suffered some ligament damage, the extent of which was unknown at the time.

After Saxon came in to replace Byars, the Dolphins continued to move down to the Colts' 14 yard line on a pass to Fryar and 2 runs by Parmalee. However, Parmalee dropped a pass on 3rd and 5 and the Dolphins were forced to try a 32 yard field goal attempt, which sailed wide to the left after Stoyanovich didn't quite get his plant foot down properly.

Indy took over on their own 22, but after a run by Potts was stopped at the line of scrimmage, Majkowski tossed 2 incompletions and the Colts punted away to the Dolphins' 23, where McDuffie took the ball out to the 27.

The Dolphins began moving again, with a series of passes to McDuffie and James Saxon, who did a nice job filling in for Byars. Once the Dolphins had moved down to the Indy 36, they went back to Parmalee with 2 runs that gained 11 and then 4 yards down to the Colts' 21 yard line. However, on a 2d and 6 at the Colts' 21 yard line, a pass intended for Keith Jackson bounced off his hands and landed instead in the arms of Colt's defensive back David Tate. Tate ran the ball back to the 20 and the Colts took over.

The Colts started with an 11 yard pass to Faulk, but with a 1st and 10 at their 31, the Colts threw 4 incompletions in a row. Even an illegal contact penalty on Gene Atkins (which was very questionable) for 5 yards could only get them out to their 36, where the Colts were forced to punt to the Dolphins' 13 yard line.

McDuffie could only get back to the Dolphins' 17 yard line, where, on a first and 10 and 1:28 remaining in the half, Devon McDonald broke through the line and sacked Dan Marino for an 8 yard loss. With a 2nd and 18 from their own 9, the Dolphins missed one pass and a 14 yard gain on 3rd down on the shovel pass to Bernie Parmalee wasn't enough. The Dolphins punted away with 44 seconds remaining in the half.

The punt went out of bounds at the Colts' 41 yard line and when the Colts came back out on the field, Majkowski had been replaced by Harbaugh at quarterback. I originally thought that it was because Majkowski had not been passing well, but it turned out to be because Majkowski had a sprained thumb on his throwing hand. Harbaugh only completed one pass and was forced to scramble twice in moving the Colts down to the Dolphins 48, but with time running out, there was no choice but to try the "Hail Mary" pass into the endzone. With a 4th and 10 at the Dolphins 47, Harbaugh put the ball up into the endzone, where it was batted into the air and picked off by Tyrone Braxton.

This was the last play of the half, which ended with the Dolphins trailing the Colts by the score of 7 to 3. At this point in the game, the Dolphins were obviously in trouble. The Colts were playing a very tough game, hitting hard, getting good pressure on Marino and covering the Dolphins' receivers very well. The Dolphins had moved fairly well, but had given up a couple of big plays in key situations and were looking pretty listless.

The Dolphins took the opening kickoff of the second half at their 15 and McDuffie ran it out to the 29 yard line. From this point, the Dolphins unleashed Bernie Parmalee. They started by running Bernie for 5 yards, followed by a quick pass to Fryar for 14. Then they ran Bernie twice more for 14 yards, followed by a quick pass to Saxon for 7 yards. They ran for 2 yards down to the Indy 31, but were left with a 3rd and 1 at the Colts' 31 yard line. From therE, the Dolphins tried the play fake to Parmalee and a quick pass to Keith Jackson, but they fooled no one and the pass was knocked down. That left them with a 4th and 1 at the Colts' 31.

The Dolphins elected to go for it on 4th and 1 and Bernie picked up the first down with a 2 yard run. After a quick pass to James Saxon picked up 8 yards, the Dolphins ran Bernie Parmalee 6 times in a row, down to the Colts' 3 yard line. However, on a 3rd and goal at the 3, Marino threw well behind an open receiver in the endzone, stopping the drive and forcing the Dolphins to take the field goal. This left the Dolphins trailing by 1 point, with a score of 7-6.

The Colts took the kickoff at the 5 and ran it out to the 44. From there, Faulk rushed for 11 yards and then had a beautiful run for 26 yards down to the Dolphins' 21. The Dolphins stuffed Ronald Humphrey for no gain on 1st down at the 21, but on 2nd down he rolled off 20 yards down to the 1, where Marshall Faulk leaped over the line on 1st and goal to put the Colts ahead, 14-6.

By the way, on Faulk's touchdown, Cox apparently disagreed with the call and spent some time yelling at the referees before he calmed down. He was lucky he was not penalized for that little tirade.

Miami took Indy's kickoff at the 3 and McDuffie returned it to the 33. At this point, Parmalee was out with a strained knee and Irving Spikes was in for the Dolphins. The Dolphins lost 3 on a badly executed screen and then saw a pass drop incomplete. However, Marino then hit McDuffie for 15 and 20 yards to bring the Dolphins down to the Indy 36. Spikes then picked up 9 yards on two runs to end the third quarter.

The fourth quarter started with a 3 yard run by Spikes, followed by a 9 yard pass to Fryar. Spikes than ran for 2 more, followed by a quick pass to Saxon for 6 yards. The Dolphins now had a 2d and 4 and the Colts' 7 yard line. Marino handed off to Irving Spikes, who cut through the right side of the line, spun off a couple of tackles and backed into the endzone for a touchdown. The Dolphins, being down by 2, went for 2 points, but the ball was knocked away from Fryar in the endzone, leaving the score 14-12 in favor of the Colts.

The kickoff went to the Indy 11 and was returned to their 29 yard line. They ran and passed to Humphrey and Faulk and Harbaugh was chased out of the pocket, but managed to scramble for 12 yards. However, after they had moved out to the Dolphins' 45, Faulk bobbled a handoff and was taken down for a 4 yard loss. A screen pass netted only 5 yards back and left the Colts with a 3rd and 9 at the Dolphins' 44. On the next play, Harbaugh rolled out to the right, but his receivers were well covered by the Dolphins' secondary and Marco Coleman shrugged off his block and blind-sided Harbaugh for the sack. This left the Colts with a 4th and 12 and they were forced to punt, which fell in the endzone for a touchback.

The Dolphins started with a 1st and 10 from the 20. From there, Marino tried to hit Mark Ingram on a quick out at the 28 yard line. However, Colts' defensive back Ray Buchanan anticipated the pass, stepped in front of Ingram and picked it off. He then ran untouched to the endzone to give the Colts a 21 to 12 lead with about 8 minutes remaining.

After the game, Buchanan said of the interception "I felt we snatched their heart out at the time. I should have known better. That's no sweat for Dan Marino."

On the Colts kickoff, McDuffie dropped the ball and picked it up, but could only get back to the 17 yard line. However, Marino now completed 4 passes in a row to Fryar, Saxon, and Ingram to take the Dolphins out to the Indy 48 yard line. From there, Ingram dropped a pass on first down, but Irving Spikes ran 3 times in a row and caught one pass to carry the Dolphins down to the Colts' 28 yard line. There, on a third and 8, Marino dropped back into the pocket and fired a bullet down the middle to a leaping OJ McDuffie, who bounced off of two defenders and strutted into the endzone for a touchdown. This put the Dolphins behind by 2 points (score 21-19) with 3:52 remaining in the game.

On this scoring drive, the only pass that went incomplete was dropped by Ingram. Marino was 6 of 7 for about 71 yards and the TD.

On the kickoff, Pete Stoyanovich kicked the ball out of the endzone for a touchback. The Colts took over at their own 20 and started by giving to Faulk. With less than four minutes remaining, the Colts needed several first downs to win the game. Faulk rushed for 4 yards on first down, but with everyone keying on him, he gained nothing on second down, leaving the Colts with a 3rd and 6. Harbaugh dropped back to pass and attempted to hit a receiver down the right sideline. However, Troy Vincent had this receiver blanketed and there no chance of a reception. The defense had held the Colts and the Colts punted the ball.

McDuffie took the ball at the 26 and had his best return of the day to the 42. From there, Marino went to work again with 2:06 remaining. He hit 5 passes in a row - 2 to Fryar, followed by one to McDuffie and then to Fryar again and finally to Mark Ingram down to the Indy 22 yard line. At this point, the Dolphins ran Irving Spikes for 5 yards to position the ball and Marino threw the ball into the ground to stop the clock with 8 seconds left.

Miami now had a 1st and 10 at the Colts' 16 and Pete Stoyanovich came in for the field goal attempt. With just 4 seconds remaining, the ball sailed through the middle of the uprights and the Dolphins took the lead, 22-21.

On the kickoff, the Dolphins hit the "squib" kick and the Colts tried to lateral the ball around in a desparate attempt to get something going. However, they were eventually smothered and the game ended with the Dolphins taking away a last-second victory and moving to a 7-2 record.

Overall, this was a disappointing game for the Dolphins, even though they won. They underestimated the Colts and it showed through most of the game. Fortunately, the Dolphins have Dan Marino to bail them out of trouble when they need it. On the last two drives, Marino went 11 of 12 and the one incompletion was on a dropped pass.

The defense didn't do a terrible job, but their rush defense was inconsistent and they missed Jeff Cross at the left defensive end. Cross should be back next week, however.

The offensive line wasn't able to dominate the way that they have some other teams, but they did a pretty good job, as did the skill players on offense. Marino, especially, made a crucial mistake on the interception that was returned for a touchdown, but he came back and made up for it by leading the Dolphins to a win.

This game was a good win over a division rival and it put the Dolphins 2 games out in front of the Bills and Jets. However, if the injury to Byars is serious, it could turn out to be a very costly game for the Dolphins.