OVERALL SUMMARY:

Dan Marino is back and Fred Barnett has arrived and the two combined for 2 touchdowns today as the Dolphins dominated the Colts by the score of 37-13. Marino also hit OJ McDuffie for a touchdown and Karim Abdul-Jabbar ran for 2 more as the Dolphins' offense controlled the ball and the clock.

On the other side of the ball, the Dolphins' defense blitzed liberally and pressured Harbaugh into throwing 2 interceptions, while holding Marshall Faulk to 13 yards on 10 carries and keeping the Colts out of the endzone until late in the 4th quarter.

The game began with a touchback on the opening kickoff and the Dolphins going 3 and out after Marino and Barnett couldn't connect on third down. The Dolphins punted to the Colts' 36, but the Colts ran two short runs and an incomplete pass to also go 3 and out on their first possession.

Their punt went to the Dolphins' 14, but again the Dolphins could get nothing going and after Marino was sacked on 3rd down, went 3 and out for the second straight time. They punted to the Colts, who returned the ball to the Dolphin 48 and started a drive that carried them to the Dolphin 30 with a pass to Marvin Harrison and a couple of runs by Faulk.

Then, on third and 6 at the Dolphin 30, Harbaugh tried to hit Marvin Harrison down the middle on a post pattern in the endzone. The pass was well thrown and Harrison had a step on Buckley, but Shawn Wooden came over from his safety position and leaped up, getting a hand on the ball and knocking it away from Harrison. The Colts would have to settle for a field goal and a 3-0 lead. It would be their only lead of the game.

The ensuing kickoff sailed out of the endzone and the Dolphins started at their own 20, but again went 3 and out after two Marino passes where knocked out by Colt defenders right at the catch. After the punt to the Colts was taken at their 23, Shane Burton came through the offensive line on first down and knocked Marshall Faulk down for a 3 yard loss. The Colts managed a short completion, but again on 3rd down Shawn Wooden made the play by jarring the ball loose from Stablein right at the catch and the Colts were forced to punt.

On the punt, Larry Izzo came through the line of scrimmage and got a hand on the ball, which sailed out of bounds after only 30 yards at the Dolphin 46. From there, 4 consecutive runs by Karim Abdul-Jabbar, including a 21 yard gain on 3rd down, took the ball down to the Colt 22. From there, Marino hit Drayton for 7 yards and Spikes and Abdul-Jabbar ran down to the Colt 12. There, on 2nd and 8 the Colts launched a full blitz at Marino. However, the blocking held and Marino hit OJ McDuffie on a quick slant over the middle that OJ took right into the endzone for a 7-0 lead.

Nedney's kickoff went out of the endzone and with a first and 10 from their 20, they tried running Faulk, but Tim Bowens came through the middle and took down Faulk for a 4 yard loss to end the first quarter.

To open the second quarter, the Colts were caught holding and faced a 2nd and 22 at their own 8 yard line. They got a little back in the next 2 plays, but were forced to punt with 4th and 9 at their 21 to OJ at the Miami 25, who returned the ball to the 38.

The next drive began with a nice 17 pass to Pritchett who made a nice run after catching the ball. On the next play, Troy Drayton was penalized for illegal use of hands, but Marino got it all back and more on the next play, which was a 23 yard completion to OJ at the Colt 33. A series of runs by Karim and a quick pass to OJ moved the ball down to the Colt 6, where Karim took two plays to punch the ball in on a run up the middle. At this point, the Dolphins lead 14-3.

Nedney's next kickoff was taken at 9 yards deep in the endzone and the Colts started at their 20 after the touchback. However, they again went 3 and out after two excellent plays by Terrell Buckley. On the first one, T-Buck took on Marshall Faulk and wrestled him to the ground single-handedly and on the second, he defensed a pass to Aaron Bailey. The Colts punted to OJ at the Dolphins 18 and he returned it to the Dolphin 27. From there, Marino hit OJ McDuffie down the right sideline and if OJ hadn't slipped while trying to cut back over the middle, he might have gone all the way. As it was, OJ got a 36 yard reception and, on this play, Dan Marino became the first quarterback in history to have 50,000 passing yards - that's about 28 miles, folks.

This put the ball at the Colt 38 and after Drayton took a short pass and ran over a Colt defender for a first down, a run by Abdul-Jabbar and a catch by Fred Barnett gave the Dolphins a 1st and 10 at the Colt 15. From this point on first down, Fred Barnett ran down the left side into the endzone. Marino threw the ball high and Barnett made a leaping catch, coming down with the ball in the endzone for a touchdown. This was the first of what I hope are many touchdown passes from Marino to Barnett.

Now sporting a 21-3 lead with less than 4 minutes to play in the half, the Dolphins' kickoff was taken at the goal line and returned to the Colt 24. From there, Harbaugh put together a drive of short and medium passes to Groce, Dawkins, Faulk, Harrison and Stablein that moved the ball down to the Dolphins' 5 yard line and gave them a first and goal.

However, on the next three plays, the Dolphins blitzed Harbaugh on every play and the pressure caused him to throw 2 bad passes. That and a dropped ball by Groce at the three left the Colts with a 4th and goal at the Dolphin 5 and they settled for a field goal and a 21-6 score. Following the kickoff, Marino knelt down and the first half ended with the Dolphins on top 21-6.

At this point in the game, I was hopeful but nervous. Hopeful because the Dolphins were dominating, but nervous because I remembered what happened to the Dolphins last year after they got a big lead on the Colts in Miami.

The second half opened with the kickoff from the Dolphins going 9 yards deep into the endzone and the Colts starting at their own 20. However, after a 10 yard penalty for an illegal block above the waist, the Colts were moved back to their 10 and pressure from the defensive line stopped Faulk on 1st down and forced Harbaugh to throw the ball away on 2nd down. This left the Colts with a 3rd and 16 at their own 14.

On the next play, Daniel Stubbs got free from his blocker and chased Harbaugh back into the endzone, where Stubbs grabbed Harbaugh's jersey and began to pull him down. Harbaugh threw the ball away as he was going down, but was penalized for intentional grounding, which it clearly was. This penalty gave the Dolphins a safety because intentional grounding in the endzone is an automatic safety on the offending team. This boosted the Dolphins' lead to 23-6 and forced the Colts to kick from their 20 yard line.

The kick was taken by Terrell Buckley at the Dolphins 10 and he returned the ball 48 yards to the Colt 42 yard line. From there, the Dolphins moved down the field on a couple of runs by Abdul-Jabbar, interspersed with a dump pass to Stanley Pritchett and a 17 pass to OJ McDuffie. The Dolphins moved down to the Colt 12, where, on 3rd and 8, Marino dropped back in the pocket and couldn't find anyone open. He stepped up to his left to avoid the pressure and rifled a bullet to a leaping Fred Barnett in the front left of the endzone for another touchdown and a 30-6 lead.

The ensuing kickoff was returned to the Colt 33 and after an encroachment penalty gave the Colts an additional 5 yards, Harbaugh tried to hit Marvin Harrison to his left, but the ball was badly thrown and picked off by a diving JB Brown, who returned the ball to the Colt 16.

From there, the Dolphins tried a halfback pass on first down, but Abdul-Jabbar couldn't find anyone open and instead ran the ball out of bounds for a 3 yard loss. Marino then hit Barnett and McDuffie on successive passes to move the Dolphins to the Colt 6 and three runs by Karim ended with him outracing the Colts defense to the pylon for a touchdown and a 37-6 Dolphin lead, with 4:08 remaining in the 3rd quarter.

The kickoff went out of the endzone and the Colts started at their own 20. On first down, a 34 yard pass to Sean Dawkins moved the ball down to the Dolphin 46, but after a very short pass to Dilger, Harbaugh went deep down the right side for Marvin Harrison, but underthrew the ball just enough to allow an alert Calvin Jackson to jump in front of the pass and pick it off. He returned the ball to about midfield but fumbled when hit. Fortunately for the Dolphins, Shawn Wooden recovered Jackson's fumble at the Colt 47.

The Dolphins ran Irving Spikes 4 times in a row for 20 yards to end the third quarter. To start the fourth quarter, the Dolphins faced a 3rd and 8 at the Colt 27 and Marino overthrew Fred Barnett, who was very well covered. Then Nedney missed a 44 yard field goal on 4th down to leave the score 37-6.

At this point in the game, the Colts benched Jim Harbaugh in favor of his backup Paul Justin. As sometimes happens, Justin provided a little spark to the team, but the insertion of Justin was basically an admission that the Colts were in big trouble.

Justin did manage to move the team down the field from the Colt 35 to the Dolphin 1, with passes to Harrison, Dilger and Dawkins, but 3 runs by Lamont Warren from the Dolphins' 1 were all stopped short. Then, on 4th and goal, a blitz by Zach Thomas forced Justin into a bad pass and the ball went over to the Dolphins on downs.

At this point, Craig Erickson came in for Marino and the Dolphins went 3 and out from their own 5 yard line. They punted to the Colts, who started at the Dolphin 43 and moved the ball down the field on passes to Harrison, Groce and Dilger to the Dolphin 16. At this point, Justin hit Dawkins at the Dolphin 5 yard line and Dawkins carried JB Brown on his back into the endzone for the Colts' only touchdown of the day.

With the score now 37-13 in favor of the Dolphins and just 5:11 remaining, the Dolphins started at their 13 after Irving Spikes made a bad decision and tried to run the ball out of the endzone on the kickoff, but was stopped at the 13. From there, the Dolphins ran Bernie Parmalee 5 times in a row and got 1 first down, but on 3rd and 9 at their 30, Erickson overthrew Randal Hill down the middle deep and the Dolphins punted once more.

The Colts started at their 25 and moved down to the Dolphins 43 against Miami's prevent defense, but then ran out of gas and out of time, turning the ball over on downs with just 1:09 remaining. Erickson then knelt down twice and the game was over.

GOOD STUFF:

The Dolphins got off to a slow start in this game, but after going 3 and out on their first 3 possessions, they scored touchdowns on their next 5 possessions in a row. They controlled the ball, dictated the tempo of the game and, unlike last week, didn't squander chances when they got them.

For me, the best thing about this game was that Fred Barnett played a major role for the Dolphins. He only caught 4 passes for 42 yards, but 2 of those passes were for touchdowns and that is what he is supposed to do for Miami. He certainly showed his worth today.

Overall, the passing game was great today. Even though they didn't amass a lot of yardage, they used the pass very effectively. Marino's QB rating today was 140.2, which is just about as good as a starting quarterback ever sees.

The running game was also very effective, but could still use some work, especially late in the game when the opposition knows that the Dolphins are going to run. However, this year's Dolphins have proven that they can run effectively in short yardage situations and down on the goal line, which is something they haven't been able to do in the recent past. They wound up with 111 total rushing yards.

On the defense, they did a very good job for most of the game. They got a little lazy late in the game, but that's to be expected when the team is up by 31 points. The coverage was good and even though they didn't record any sacks (no, the safety doesn't count as a sack), they did put a lot of pressure on Harbaugh and force a number of poor throws.

THINGS TO WORK ON:

I didn't see much today that needed work. The only thing that really disappointed me today was Nedney's missed field goal. He easily had the distance, but shanked it wide left.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:

Dan Marino shut up his critics today by completing 17 of 23 for 204 yards 3 touchdowns. That's a 74% completion percentage and a QB rating of 140.2. And he became the first quarterback in history to pass for over 50,000 yards.

Fred Barnett caught 4 passes for 42 yards in his first start, which doesn't sound impressive until you realize that two of those catches were great leaping grabs for touchdowns in the endzone.

OJ McDuffie was the leading receiver, catching 6 passes for 106 yards and a touchdown.

Karim Abdul-Jabbar ran the ball 19 times for 67 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also caught 2 passes for 11 yards, but dropped another easy pass.

Irving Spikes ran 7 times for 31 yards and Bernie Parmalee added 5 carries for 17 yards.

Troy Drayton only caught 2 passes for 17 yards, but both were nice gains and showed a lot of effort.

The offensive line only allowed 1 sack today and Marino had time for most of the game.

Zach Thomas lead the team in tackles with 8 (6 solo) and 1 special teams tackle, but that isn't the whole story. He also was very effective on blitzes and deserves credit for putting pressure on Harbaugh and breaking up a number of other plays by getting in the backfield.

Shawn Wooden had his best day as a pro, getting 6 tackles, breaking up 2 passes and recovering Calvin Jackson's fumble.

Louis Oliver also had 6 tackles.

Tim Bowens lead defensive linemen with 4 stops including a couple of impressive stops for losses and was putting pressure on Harbaugh most of the day.

JB Brown had 2 tackles and a pick, but allowed Dawkins to carry him into the endzone.

Daniel Stubbs only had one tackle, but forced Harbaugh into the intentional grounding penalty that resulted in the safety.

Terrell Buckley was impressive returning the free kick after the safety and had 3 tackles and a pass defensed, including a nice tackle where he took on Marshall Faulk one-on-one and wrestled him down.

Calvin Jackson had 2 tackles, an interception and a pass defensed.

Nedney put most of his kickoffs in the endzone, but missed a 44 yard field goal.

John Kidd had 5 punts for a 48.6 yard average.

INJURIES:

There were no major injuries that I saw, but the absence of Stanley Pritchett late in the game is troubling. Robert Wilson played in place of Pritchett for most of the 4th quarter.

My Comments:

Early in the season, I said that the absence of Fred Barnett from the lineup wouldn't make that much difference to the Dolphins. However, today I was proven wrong. Even though Barnett didn't catch a lot of passes, he made two important touchdown grabs and really added a dimension to the Dolphins' offense that has been absent.

Now Dan Marino has two legitimate veteran receiving threats and that will take a lot of the pressure off of OJ McDuffie to always be the "go-to" guy.

Also, the running game continues to be a serious threat. The Dolphins can get better at running the ball, but the way in which they can run the ball in short yardage situations is what really differentiates this team from other recent teams. In the past, the Dolphins wouldn't run the ball three times in a row down near the goalline. Today they did and did it successfully.

The importance of this game can't be underestimated. The Dolphins knocked off another division opponent and flexed their offensive muscles in an impressive way today. This is exactly the game that they needed to get them back on the road to the playoffs.

Related Info:

• NFL.COM: Game Bock
• NFL.COM: Recap
• Dolphins Endzone: Game Summary
• ESPNet Sportszone: More Marino Milestones Make Miami a winner.
• USAToday: Dolphins vs Colts