The day was bright and sunny in Miami, but the weather was unusually cool, with a temperature around 60 degrees F (16 degrees C) at game time. The wind was swirling through Joe Robbie Stadium at 10-15 mph and while it didn't turn out to be a big factor in the game, it did effect a number of coaching decisions.
The Dolphins wore their all-white uniforms for the game and, with the exception of Leslie Shepherd, had all of their starting players available. The inactives for the game were WR Leslie Shepherd, WR Damon Savage, TE Alonzo Mayes, G Jason Andersen, G Anthony Cesario, DE Rich Owens and DT Earnest Grant, while Mike Quinn was designated the backup quarterback.
The first quarter of the game was pretty boring, with neither team accomplishing much. The Colts had 3 offensive series in the first period, two of which went 3-and-out. The Dolphins did a pretty good job containing Edgerrin James and covering the Colts' receivers, so that Manning didn't have many open targets. On their second series, the Colts did connect on two big passes - one to Jerome Pathon for 25 yards and one to Edgerrin James for 13 yards - that moved them to the Miami 14, but they stalled there when Jerry Wilson batted down a third down pass intended for James. As a result, the Colts settled for a field goal and a 3-0 lead.
When Miami had the ball in the first quarter, Lamar Smith ran very well and gained 61 yards on 7 carries. Unfortunately, penalties and mistakes in the passing game killed the first two 2 of Miami's drives and when Miami finally did get into Colts territory at the end of the first quarter, Jay Fiedler badly missed Tony Martin in the endzone. That wouldn't have been a big deal, except that his miss ended up in the arms of Colts' safety Chad Cota for an interception, which ended Miami's only scoring threat of the first quarter.
To end the first quarter, the Colts started at their 20 after the interception and Edgerrin James ripped off a 34 yard run to his right that took the ball all the way to the Miami 46.
The second quarter started with the Colts moving down to the Miami 28 on runs by James and a short pass to Marvin Harrison, but Daryl Gardener and Sam Madison dropped James at the line of scrimmage on 3rd and 2 and that forced the Colts to try a field goal at the Miami 28.
The Colts lined up for the field goal, but tried to be clever and when the holder (Punter Hunter Smith) caught the snap, he jumped up and ran to his left. However, Jason Taylor was lined up on that side for the Dolphins and he wasn't fooled at all. He grabbed Smith behind the line of scrimmage and dragged him down for a 6 yard loss.
That outstanding play by Taylor was negated on the very next play, when Jay Fiedler threw an interception at the Miami 29. Unlike Fiedler's other two interceptions of the game, this one wasn't really his fault, although he could have thrown the ball higher. He was trying to hit OJ McDuffie on a short pass to his left and he threw the ball low over Richmond Webb. Webb as trying to block Chad Bratzke, but Bratzke just stuck out a big paw and tipped the ball up, grabbing it when it came back down. It was a terrific play by Bratzke and it gave the ball right back to the Colts at the Miami 25.
The Colts drove from the 25 to Miami's 8, mostly on a quick pass to James, but when Jerome Pathon dropped a third down pass in the endzone, the Colts were forced to settle for a field goal that boosted their lead to 6-0.
Following the kickoff, the Dolphins started at their 20, but after a short run by Lamar Smith, Jay Fiedler overthrew OJ McDuffie down the middle for his 3rd interception of the game. After a 23 yard runback, Peyton Manning took two plays to find Jerome Pathon across the back of the endzone for their only touchdown of the game. The Colts followed their touchdown with a successful two point conversion on a quick pass to Ken Dilger that gave the Colts a 14-0 lead.
With 7:47 still remaining in the first half, Jay Fiedler had thrown 3 interceptions and the Dolphins were down 14-0. It was beginning to look like the Dolphins' worst nightmare was coming to life.
After the Dolphins got the ball back at their 36, they put together their only decent drive of the first half, almost exclusively on the running of Lamar Smith. The next 5 plays in a row were runs by Lamar, followed by a quarterback sneak on 4th and 1 and then 2 more runs by Lamar Smith. Two passes to Oronde Gadsden moved the ball to the Colts' 20, but after a 3rd down pass to OJ fell incomplete, the Dolphins were forced to try a field goal. Uncharacteristically, Olindo Mare's kick flew wide right and the score remained 14-0 in favor of the Colts.
Miami's failed drive had chewed up most of the remainder of the 2nd quarter, so the Colts elected to run the clock out and go into halftime with a 2 touchdown lead.
At the half, the Dolphins' offense was running the ball very well, but that's about all they were doing right offensively. Penalties and interceptions killed most of Miami's offensive opportunities in the first half and Jay Fiedler had completed just 4 of 13 passes with no touchdowns and 3 interceptions. And to add insult to injury, the Dolphins had missed their only field goal attempt.
Defensively, they were doing much better, but with the offensive giving the Colts their great field position, there wasn't much the defense could do to prevent the Colts from scoring.
The second half opened with Miami starting at their 30 after the kickoff. Again, running Lamar Smith 7 times on an 11 play drive, the Dolphins moved down the field to the Colts' 2 yard line, where Lamar Smith plunged over for his first touchdown of the game. The biggest play on this drive was Lamar Smith's 24 yard run from the Miami 34 to the Colts' 42. Jay Fiedler dropped back to pass 4 times on this drive, but twice chose to scramble instead of attempting passes when his receivers were covered. This cut the score to 14-7 and put the momentum on Miami's side. It also ran 7 minutes off the clock.
The remainder of the 3rd quarter consisted of 2 short drives by the Colts and a single 3-and-out series by the Dolphins. The 3rd quarter ended with Miami starting at their 28 with a 12 yard pass to OJ McDuffie. The Dolphins opened the 4th quarter by continuing their drive down to the Colts' 19 yard line, with 7 called running plays and 1 quarterback scramble of 11 yards by Fiedler. Unfortunately, Miami failed to convert on 3rd and 3 at the Colts' 19 and had to settle for a field goal, which Mare' made without a problem.
With 10:23 remaining in the game and the score now 14-10, the Colts put together a 9 play drive, starting at their own 23. Passes to Marcus Pollard, Jerome Pathon and runs by Edgerrin James moved the ball to the Miami 32, but after Manning overthrew Marvin Harrison on 3rd and 6, the Colts were forced to try a 50 yard field goal. The kick was easily good, as the Colts' Mike Vanderjagt nailed it, increasing the Colts' lead to 17-10.
The Colts had also run 5:28 off the clock on that drive and after the kickoff, there was just 4:55 remaining in the game. Miami started at their 20 after a touchback and the Dolphins started this drive with an 8 yard pass to Lamar Smith. Lamar Smith ran for a yard on 2nd down and Jay Fiedler made the first down on a quarterback sneak.
Jay Fiedler's pass to Rob Konrad was incomplete on first down, but Fiedler hit Oronde Gadsden on 2nd down for 9 yards and Lamar Smith ran for 3 yards on 3rd down to give Miami another first down at their 44. At this point, the two minute warning was called.
Fiedler completed his next pass to Tony Martin for 9 yards to the Colts' 47 and on 2nd and 1, he scramble right up the middle for 11 yards to the Colts 36. With 1:10 remaining in the game, Fiedler threw incomplete towards Jeff Ogden. On the next play, Tony Martin was called for a false start, putting Miami back to a 2nd and 15 at the Colts' 41 with 1:05 remaining in the game.
From the shotgun, Fiedler dropped back and hit OJ McDuffie to his left. On this play, the ball was thrown a little wide, but OJ reached out with one hand and snagged the ball, before turning and running up the field to the 22. On the very next play, Fiedler went back to OJ on the sideline, and OJ turned and tip-toed up the sideline before being knocked out at the Colts' 9 yard line.
With just 49 seconds remaining, Fiedler dropped back to pass from the 9, but had the ball batted down at the line of scrimmage. His pass on 2nd down missed OJ McDuffie in the endzone and he now faced a 3rd and goal from the 9 with 40 seconds remaining. Fiedler dropped back to pass and threw straight down the field to where Jed Weaver had turned around at about the 3. Weaver turned and dove hard for the goal line, getting his first and only catch of the day for a touchdown.
Now the score was tied at 17-17, with 34 seconds remaining. Mare's kickoff bounced to Terrence Wilkins at the 3, but he was dropped at the 20 by Twan Russell and Larry Izzo. Then the Colts made an inexplicable decision. With 28 seconds remaining and all of their timeouts available, the Colts elected to run the clock out and go into overtime rather than try and get in field goal range.
The overtime period started with Miami receiving the kickoff and getting a 10 yard penalty, starting their first drive at their 10. A pass to OJ McDuffie netted 13 yards, but the Dolphins then stalled and were forced to punt from their 29.
The Colts started at their 18 and Manning immediately hit Marvin Harrison for a 30 yard gain to the Colts' 48. A quick pass and a run by Edgerrin James, plus a short pass to Marvin Harrison, moved the ball down to the Miami 31 yard line. On the final pass to Harrison, Miami was penalized for offsides, but instead of taking the penalty and getting another chance at 3rd down, the Colts chose to attempt the 49 yard field goal on 4th down.
It seemed like a good gamble at the time, as Vanderjagt is a very accurate kicker and he had already made a 50 yard field goal earlier in the game. But when he went to attempt this kick, he hit his foot in the dirt just in front of the ball and badly shanked the kick to the right, so that the kick was both wide right and too short.
The Dolphins got the ball back at their 39, and Fiedler's first pass fell incomplete. Then he passed 7 yards to Lamar Smith, followed by a 6 yard strike to Jeff Ogden. On this play, Ogden was hammered immediately from behind, but managed to hang on to the ball for a first down.
Lamar Smith ran to his right for 13 yards on the next play, but a holding penalty moved the ball back to the Colts' 44 yard line. Lamar Smith ran again for 3 yards and then for 2 yards, leaving Miami with a 3rd and 1 at the Colts' 39. Jay Fiedler ran another quarterback sneak for a first down at the Colts' 37.
At this point, Lamar Smith ran for a yard, followed by a Fiedler pass for 13 yards to Gadsden on the right side. At this point, the Dolphins were well within Olindo Mare's range for a winning field goal, but Miami didn't stop there. Lamar Smith then ran for 6 yards on first down and then came the play of the game.
Facing 2nd and 4 from the Colts' 17, Fiedler handed off to Lamar Smith, who ran to the right. At first, Smith headed for the gap between the guard and the tackle, but that closed quickly and it looked like Smith would be dropped after a short gain. But Smith quickly bounced back to his right, outside of Todd Wade. At this point, the linemen and linebackers were headed for the inside gap, while Smith went outside.
As he crossed the line of scrimmage to the outside, the Colts' linebackers were stuck inside and Smith cut back between the cornerback to the outside and the linebacker to the inside and crossed the 10 yard line, running hard. Colts' safety Jason Belser jumped on Smith at about the 3, but Smith kept moving and powered over the goal line for the winning touchdown.
Now Smith was mobbed by his celebrating teammates, who jumped all over him. Smith had just completed the best playoff game a Dolphins' running back had ever had, carrying the ball 40 times for 209 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Despite the fact that the Dolphins got behind early and committed 3 turnovers and several other mistakes, they fought back throughout this game, never quitting and never letting up on the Colts. Ultimately, it was their determination and aggressiveness that kept Miami in the game and gave them the victory that they deserved.
The running game produced 258 yards of offense against the Colts at an average of 5.4 yards per carry. Not only did it pound the Colts' defense into submission, but it also allowed the Dolphins to control the ball for over 43 minutes of the game. It was nearly everything a running game should be.
The passing game was not as consistent impressive as the running game, but in the 2nd half, it came together and helped the running game with efficient throws and first down conversions. In the closing minutes of the game, Oronde Gadsden, OJ McDuffie and Jed Weaver all contributed important catches that kept scoring drives alive.
Of all the offensive statistics the Dolphins amassed in this game, the most impressive was their 47% conversion rate on third down. This is especially important for an offense like Miami's, which relies on the run and on ball control.
On defense, the Dolphins didn't get any turnovers or big plays, but they did do a good job controlling the Colts' offense. Edgerrin James ended the day with 107 yards on 21 carries, but he didn't score and failed to convert in several short yardage situations. Also, many of his yards came on the 1 run of 34 yards. On 20 of James' runs, he averaged 3.6 yards per carry and the Colts' net rushing yardage for the game was 99 yards.
Peyton Manning passed for less than 200 yards and even though he wasn't sacked or intercepted, he was pressured a number of times and seemed to be somewhat hesitant towards the end of the game. Marvin Harrison caught 5 passes for 53 yards, didn't score, and was largely ineffective throughout the game.
Special teams play was good, covering the Colts' returners very well and doing a good job returning the ball themselves. Olindo Mare' missed one field goal, but made one and did a good job putting kickoffs deep.
The game plan the coaches put together worked very well (when it was executed without mistakes, that is) and Dave Wannstedt made the right choice in not pulling Jay Fiedler out of the game at the end of the first half, even though he was played very poorly in the first half.
This was far from the perfect game and there were plenty of things for Miami to work on for this Saturday.
The first thing they need to stress is reducing the mistakes. While the Dolphins ended the game with a victory, they still committed 7 penalties and 3 turnovers. They can't continue to play that way and expect to win any more playoff games.
Also, the team needs to start games better than they have. The Colts have a mediocre defense, which was part of the reason the Dolphins were able to stage a comeback. None of the defenses that Miami may face in the remainder of the playoffs are going to be as poor as the Colts. That means that Miami is not likely to be able to stage any more 2 touchdown comebacks.
And, obviously, Jay Fiedler has to play smarter for the entire game, rather than just the second half.
Jay Fiedler gave us his Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde impersonation on Saturday. Fortunately, he saved his best for last. In the first half, Fiedler was 5 of 14 with 3 interceptions for a dismal 42 yards. 2 of his 3 interceptions were serious mistakes on his part and he only ran the ball once. That's a quarterback rating of 4.8.
In the second half and overtime, Fiedler redeemed himself by completing 14 of 20 for 143 yards, with 1 touchdown and no picks. That is a quarterback rating of 106.9. More important than that, however, is the fact that he ran 6 times for 40 yards after the first half instead of risking interceptions. His improved decision making in the 2nd half was one of the keys to Miami's victory.
Lamar Smith was the hero of the game. He set an NFL post-season record by carrying the ball 40 times and a Dolphins' post-season record by gaining 209 yards. He also caught 3 passes for 18 yards. He ran hard and smart and scored the winning touchdown in overtime. And he accomplished all this after spraining his ankle in the first quarter. There aren't enough superlatives in the dictionary to describe his performance.
Rob Konrad did not play the whole game, rotating blocking duties with Deon Dyer after aggravating his back injury. He only had one pass thrown his way and that was knocked down by a linebacker.
Deon Dyer replaced Konrad for many of the blocking duties and did a very good job knocking Colts' linebackers away from Lamar Smith. However, he didn't touch the ball in the game, either.
Autry Denson caught 2 passes for 18 yards and returned 1 kickoff for 31 yards. One of his catches converted a 3rd down for Miami on their first touchdown drive, but otherwise Denson did little to help the team.
JJ Johnson also caught 2 passes for 18 yards, one of which was also on Miami's first touchdown drive.
OJ McDuffie was a key to Miami's success again this week, catching 4 passes for 4 passes for 57 yards, including his spectacular one-handed grab on the Dolphins' tying touchdown drive at the end of the 4th quarter. In fact, McDuffie had 2 catches on that drive, getting first downs in each case, keeping the drive alive.
Oronde Gadsden was the focus of most of the Colts' pass coverage throughout the game and, as a result, his stats were not as impressive as they have been in some other games. However, he did make important catches on each of the Dolphins' last 2 touchdown drives. He ended the game with 4 catches for 38 yards.
Tony Martin caught 2 passes for 21 yards and ran a reverse for 6 more yards. He was not the deep threat that the Dolphins had hoped he'd be.
Jed Weaver only caught 1 pass in this game, but it was the game-tying score with 34 seconds left in the 4th quarter. Weaver has become a very important threat for the Dolphins, although Chan Gailey seems to be keeping him in reserve for special situations.
Jeff Ogden caught only 1 pass in the game, but that was a very impressive reception. He was slammed hard as he caught the ball, but held on to it, even though he had to be helped off the field after the play. He also returned 3 punts for 30 yards.
The offensive line did an excellent job this week, opening holes for Lamar Smith and dominating the Colts' defense up front. They only gave up 2 sacks and were instrumental in helping Lamar Smith to his record setting day.
Derrick Rodgers led the team in tackles with 7 this week and knocked down one pass. His only mistake was an offsides penalty late in the game.
Zach Thomas also had 7 tackles, but appeared to have a little trouble this week in over-running some plays. Overall, though, he did a good job helping to slow down Edgerrin James.
Brock Marion had 6 tackles and was instrumental in run support against James. He and the rest of the defensive backs also did a good job covering the deep routes to prevent big plays by Marvin Harrison and the other receivers.
Patrick Surtain also had 6 tackles and did a good job on Marvin Harrison. His run support also helped the Dolphins control the Colts' offense.
Brian Walker had 6 tackles and helped out in run support.
Jason Taylor did not get any sacks this week, but did put some pressure on Peyton Manning and had 6 tackles. Most important of all, Taylor was not fooled on the Colts' fake field goal attempt and made the tackle for a 6 yard loss on that play.
Daryl Gardener had 4 tackles, continued stuffing the middle of the line and put pressure on Peyton Manning. He also stopped Edgerrin James for no gain on a 3rd and 2 play that ended a Colts drive.
Robert Jones had 3 tackles and knocked down a pass during the game. While not flashy, he played steadily and didn't make any big mistakes.
Sam Madison also had 3 tackles, including some important ones in run support. He is also credited with knocking down one pass.
Trent Gamble continues to get playing time as a defensive back and made one tackle, but would have been beaten for a touchdown by Jerome Pathon if Pathon hadn't dropped the ball. He is also credited with a special teams tackle.
Kenny Mixon and Trace Armstrong had one tackle apiece, but neither made any big plays this week.
Tim Bowens also had only one tackle and while he did a good job in the middle, stuffing the line of scrimmage, he didn't have any big plays.
Jerry Wilson played as a nickel defensive back this week and knocked down a pass early in the first half for Edgerrin James. Otherwise, he provided good coverage but didn't get credit for any tackles.
Larry Izzo, Twan Russell and rookie Antonio Freeman each had one special teams tackle and provided outstanding coverage of the Colts' return men.
Matt Turk overcame some severe personal grief to average 46 yards per punt in this game. His biggest punt was in overtime when the snap went over his head, but he was able to grab it and kick it 53 yards. If he had not handled that ball, it could have been a disaster for Miami.
Olindo Mare' hit one of two attempted field goals, which is not his best effort, but he did put 2 of his 4 kickoffs in the endzone for touchbacks.
Most of the injuries were minor this week. Lamar Smith sprained his ankle in the first period, but should be OK in time to play against the Raiders on Saturday.
Rob Konrad aggravated his back strain and may not start against the Raiders. However, Deon Dyer is more than capable of subbing for him.
Jeff Ogden bruised a rib, but should be able to play on Saturday.
This was the Dolphins' most exciting playoff win since the 1990 playoff win over the Chiefs in Miami and will undoubtedly go down in Dolphins' history as one of the biggest wins of all time.
And to think that I almost turned the TV off at halftime....
Past history has taught us that the Dolphins do not play well when behind and do not overcome mistakes easily. But past history doesn't seem to have anything to do with this team from Miami - other than reminding them that they have a great tradition to uphold.
This victory conclusively put the stamp of success on this year's Miami Dolphins. From a team that was widely predicted to finish last in the division, to a team that is obviously the best in the AFC East, Miami has come a long way in just one season.
Credit for this achievement goes to this year's coaches and players, but also goes to Jimmy Johnson and even Don Shula for building the organization we now see in Miami.
Overall, the Dolphins are still improving, but have proven that they can play competitively with any team in the league.
As the Raiders will find out on Saturday.