Colts beat Dolphins 23-20

INDIANAPOLIS -- It was entertaining, but ultimately, the Dolphins apparently aren't quite ready to win this type of game.

Colts 23. Dolphins 20.

In the end, the defense couldn't come up with the game-changing turnover -- as Sean Smith dropped what might have been a huge interception inside of four minutes to play inside the Colts 30 yard line.

The offense, meanwhile, didn't have a come-from-behind drive in them. They had three minutes to try and turned the ball over on downs.

The secondary, by the way, was shredded today. Andrew Luck completed 30 of 48 passes for 433 yards with two TDs. The 433 yards breaks the NFL rookie record for most passing yards in a game. The old record was previously held by Cam Newton.

Ryan Tannehill, by the way, completed 22 of 38 for 290 yards and a TD. But just not enough.

By anyone.

Comments

[48-Go]

This was the first Game I've seen the Dolphins under Philbin where the whole Team did not put out its best effort. Terrible.

Posted by: oscar canosa | November 04, 2012 at 04:40 PM

-----------------------

I beg to differ. The Houston loss was really bad. Although defense melted today, the game was competitive for 3 quarters.

[Ryan]

Out coached. Long and Smith were exposed. Bad game regardless of close score. Playing against Miami= becoming a legend. Embarrassing.

[oscar canosa]

Also, credit where credit is due. Andrew Luck played a large part in our defeat.

[Kris]

Today we saw 2 rookie QBs.....

One a GAME CHANGER....and one was a GAME MANAGER....

the GAME MANGER was SOLID....

but the GAME CHANGER was phenomenal.....

we ALL just got a lesson in GAME CHANGERS.....and GAME MANAGERS.....

[EMO]

Shameful embarrassing effort. Shoulda took a forfeit & rested up for next game/

[Neil's GhosT]

A glaring example that FIRELAND has done nothing to replace Brandon Marshall. Practice squad scrubs just don't cut it.

[IMAWriter]

Posted by: nyfinfan | November 04, 2012 at 04:42 PM

---------
Agree on all.
How can ANY REAL Dolphin fan give up on this team, the most entertaining team we've had in years?
Fundamentally sound in several areas. we were not expected to do much, and though we're .500, could have been 6-2, even 7-1.
The reason we're not is that we're not that good yet.
Great teams win those games. NOBODY thought we'd be great, or even very good.

Our weaknesses are exactly what we thought they'd be, with the addition of Jake's problematic play.
Today, our defense was prolly on the field 60% of the time. at least it seemed that way.

We don't match up well with this year's Pat's squad, but you KNOW if we go down, we'll go down fighting. TRUE fans ACCEPT THAT from their less than perfect team.

[Turd Ferguson]

I have always been a Jake Long fan. But there is NO WAY they should re-sign him. The injuries have obviously taken their toll.

[Craig M]

Phins78,

This fanbase wanted Thomas, Hartline and Jerry for starters GONE. Now the attention is on Long. Seems that no one has learned ANYHING from past mistakes.

The decision to keep or get rid of Long doesn't need to be made TODAY. WE have 8 game left and lots of time for it all to play out. Guys want Long gone but they wouldn't have a CLUE who the options are to replace him. GREAT strategy!

[CadillacDeville]

Next 3: Tenn-Buff-Sea
That's 3 easy wins for us coming up!

[Angry Elf]

This game was too close to have the foul-mouthed ref missing calls. Some accountability NFL?

[Turd Ferguson]

How do you only rush 3 people on 80% of 3rd downs. Shame on Kevin Coyle.

[bill connors]

miami lost a game they were favored in. never good. will be favored next week also

[oscar canosa]

We put out good effort against Houston, they were just far superior to us. Not so with Indy Today, 48-Go.

[HialeahHoseHound]

Hi fellas.
Anyone want to party?

[Clue]

Are some of you blind??? The Dolphins defense tried everything to stop Luck they bought pressure, went to Zone, went to man. I mean everything possible. Luck will be a superstar QB for years to come. The guy move within the pocket to find opening and threw the ball with great accuracy.

SS needs to donate his game check the the victims of Hurricane Sandy because he looked atrocious out there. I wish we traded him instead if Vontae"I need to call my Grandma" Davis.

[Craig M]

Kris,

Awfully tough to pin this loss on Tannehill. If you're comparing him to Luck, I believe you're comparing him to a once in 20 years QB. I hold him in that sort of space. I think he'll be right up there with Marino and Elway and Favre when it's all said and done.

We have the Titans next week. Time to try and get healthy and figure out what the game plan needs to be. One thing I see, if we don't start running the ball with more authority I think our season is going to be in trouble.

[WILLIAM C]

THIS MUST HAVE BEEN A NFL RECORD FOR 10+YARDS 3RD DOWN CONVERSIONS

[FinFan13]

Every third down, we were rushing three guys at the line except for the last two drives of the game. You can't sit back and let any NFL QB sit around and look at your D and pick you apart. Get aggressive on third down, that's why you are in third down in the first place, your D held them in check on 1st and 2nd. Poor play calling by Kevin Coyle.

[CadillacDeVille]

No way Tenn can beat us.
No way.

[Kris]

Craig M...NOT pinning the loss on Tanne.....

Just stating the difference in the QB play....

[nyfinfan]

Cadillac,

Let's hope they don't take T-B-S as lighlty as they took the Colts.

[cocoajoe]

I think the coaches had a bad game. It was clear we were outcoached today. This is all part of a young team learning to win. the coaches are not immune to bad days. Today was not their best effort. Not enough adjusmtents were made, especially on the defensive end to slow down the pass attack. Really they were 1 dimentional, and we had no answer, especially on third down. The players must shoulder some blame. Add the coaches to the list as well.

Posted by: Darryl Dunphy | November 04, 2012 at 04:47 PM

____________________________________________________
Darryl, having played the game, I believe you can over coach a upcoming game. I don't know how to explain it exactly but it's a true fact. It all starts with a game plan. This one had the D 'containing' Luck. Which to me means the same as containing Brady. Nope, sorry you gotta hit 'em in the mouth. And that simply wasn't done.

[jpao]

I am a huge Fins fan for >30 years and I am most excited about this team than any other the past 15 years.

That said, this team has a lot of room for improvement before we can realistically view them as a true playoff team.

Sean Smith....the new weak link that every QB facing the Fins will target. It's gonna be ugly when Brady faces this secondary.

I really have been a supporter of Long. But this year he is looking tired. He just doesn't have the ability to play against top flight DE's. I don't want him gone but I just can't see paying big $ for him in FA.

Wilson and Carroll are not able to start in the NFL. They are not nickel CB's either. Got to go in the offseason.

Bush had a nice TD but after that he really didn't do much.

I love Bess and have been impressed by the progress Hartline made. But they will NEVER be starting #1 WR's. Getting rid of The Beast may have been a good move for chemistry purposes. But we have nobody to throw to in the red zone. It's a real problem.

The Offensive Penalties killed momentum the entire second QTR. Holding on Fasano, false start on Incognito, and the twitch by Pouncey put this team back in places that they are not good enough to dig out of.

I am a HUGE SUPPORTER of THILL and see him as the FUTURE. I am excited about him. But Luck proved to be the better QB today...hands down. His ability to play in a squeezed pocket sets him apart.

I don't know why Sherman can't get more plays designed for Clay against LB's. He is too athletic to not utilize him more.

Rebuilding Year....I get it....but it's tough to be in sooooo many tight games and not be able to pull more of them into the Win Column.

[Craig M]

Kris,

Fair enough. I think under the circumstances Tannehill played very well. He made some great throws and the OL and his WRs let him down. Hope to see him healthier next week and have a big game against the Titans.

[Neil's GhosT]

The Colts completely and unashamedly lost games on purpose last year to get Luck. No doubt that they played to lose.

[bill connors]

man im pissed, all right fellas im out, gonna go break something outside.

[nyfinfan]

IMAWriter,

I have hope, but today was frustrating to say the least.

Kris,

Don't give me that game changer game manager moniker. Give Tannehill a HOF WR like Wayne and a TE who doesn't have to baby the tackles with help then we'll see what the kid is all about.

[Phins78]

Craig don't make the mistake of thinking the posters in here represent the fan base. As a matter of fact some aren't even fans as you can plainly see. There are a handful of real objective fans in here. Then you have your non fans and knee jerk morons taking up most of the space. Every win is yipee and every loss is fire everyone. Go back and read who is who then ask yourself why you respond to the jack a&%es, it's not worth it, only encourages their childish ways.

[DEZ]

Should have never called that timout on 4th and 15. Your chances of converting there are terrible. I like our coach and the direction we are headed in but he did not need to use that TO could have saved 35 seconds. We are much improved and will probably finish 8-8 or with a little bit of luck 9 and 7 and sneak in as a wildcard. Good point on the fact we have 5 picks in the first 3 rounds next year. Things are looking up in Miami. STay faithful. FINS UP! Fan for life.

[Phil M]

This was just like watching the Patriots play Miami. In the second half, the Colts offense was just screwing around on first and second down because they new that they could convert whenever they wanted to. SSmith is alright, but Carrol and Wilson just dont seem up to the task. I am looking for us to draft a WR and CB with our first and second draft picks next year (not definitely in that order).

[Turd Ferguson]

Defensive scheme was suspect. But what do you do when Jimmy Wilson can't cover anone & no one can put pressure on the qb other than Wake. Once again scheme was bad. Didn't see Vernon rush very often. Just disappointing...

[DEZ]

Go G-Men and Go Tampa both would help us a lot for wildcard.

[ericatl]

a huge slap in the face reminder we aint there yet!!!

[Andrew]

Craig, replacing Long is easy. Just move Martin over. He played LT in college and is a high round pick. Finding a new RT shouldn't be that hard at all. Long will want a big new deal and he isn't worth it.

[IMAWriter]

Sheesh, i keep forgetting we don't have the Pats for a while.
Titans have lots of injury problems at LB and O-Line. He HAVE to attack them, and must run the ball with a lot more authority.
Locker may be back at QB next week. He's far more mobile (who isn't?) than Hasselback.

Again, enough with the anti-Tanny stuff.
Missed DEFENSIVE stops on 3rd down, and missed INT opportunities cost us this game. That penalty on the punt return at the end should be reviewed by the league, but it shouldn't have come to that.

[nyfinfan]

Jpao,

I agree! Well said.

[juz sayin]

.and he becomes like Oscar...a NON-FACTOR.....

Posted by: Kris | November 04, 2012 at 04:39 PM

Well just the fact that you bring him up so much shows that he is certainly a factor to you.

[Kris]

Anyone up for some quiche and rye bread dip? Also, if anyone has a spare waxing kit, may I borrow it? Forgot to do my legs last night. Thanks.

[Jaymesh Patel]

All you True Dolphin fans please don't knock them as we lost today, we played a pretty decent team today and it could have gone either way. To be honest we have only really lost one game vs the Texans, the other 2 in overtime we should have won. The season is far from over, and we've played 5 on the road which is always hard to win and only 3 at home. So now we have 5 games at home which I'm sure we can win, the toughest won at home is against the Patriots. But believe, this Miami team is only going to get better and I have a good feeling about this team. We could finish 9-7 or if we split with the Patriots we could go 10-6.
Only time will tell!!!
Philbin and RT are real steals for this organisation.

Go Miami, we will lay the beat down on the Titans next week.

[Mags1972]

Guys think about things for 1 minute here, Luck is a 4 year starter, once in a decade type QB, Tannehill had 16 or 19, not sure which,starts in College. The difference is experience. Talentwise I believe Tannehill is the equal of Luck IMO, once he catches uo in experience which he is doing faster than expected THEN he will be his equal. These 2 guys will be lighting it up for years to come, mark my words.
Add to the fact Miami lacks a Reggie Wayne, their TE Allen was awesome today, our TE, Fasano, scares no one and was invisible today as he often is.

[ericatl]

if we dont find an answer to stopping the TE. NE will beat us 50 -10

[RexRyan Sucks]

EMO:

Got a kick out of your brilliant comment regarding Matt Barkley. Have you ever seen him play? This guy's arm is weaker that Sanchez'. We are fine at QB, for years. This game is almost entirely on the defense. Like I said before the game, no pass rush means we are in trouble. We already knew our secondary blows, so without pressure we will lose almost every time and never get off the field, like today.

[TAO]

Haven't got this HOT watching Fins game since..I dont even know. Comes with the recent higher expectations i guess, let alone the fact that all the sudden i am hearing Madden, the TV announcers, and many more just rave about them of late. But i am sorry i just cant understand the 3rd down Defence performance and Sean Smith's performance today. Responsible for 2 tds and should have been 3 although that was a collobarative blow-by effort saved by a tuff drop. Only play he made was when receivers dropped balls and THEN!.. the F$%^&& possible game-winning interception drop. and he had a sad showing on tackling as well. Dont think he has had a worse performance. I just couldn't get passed his horribleness today. Runner-up horrible ness goes to Jake long and dare i Say Pouncey? Jake got beat all freakin day. So much i was surprised every time RT1 got up. Martin contributed to Tannehill's durability test as well. And Pouncey just was his unusual jumpy-self today. AFter a rare lightning strike from Clay and a vintage Reggie video game type of play the 2nd half continuation of Defensive dissapointment just hurt even more. And to finish off with a epic fail to stop a 3rd and 7 to close out game. Running back was tiptoing backwards for 10 yds. The offense did about as good as can be expected but our superiour defense just blew chunks today- ala Sean Smith.- no more smoking weed on sunday mornings please Sean. honorable mention to the lack of pressure put on Luck w. exception of Wake on one play. Luck made us look like a JV team on 3rd down. Ok thanks for letting me vent.

[finzfan131]

Countless mistakes....the only silver lining in this embarrassing loss is that it was the Colts, I wouldn't sleep for a month if it was a Division Rival. I hope our secondary rebounds (especially Sean Smith)!!!
Tanny looked good until the end....clearly too nervous to finish overthrowing Thomas and Bess. What I don't understand is why Gaffney only comes in on 3rd down?

[Darryl Dunphy]

...Wilson had a tough game, no excuses. But Croyle didn't help much with his alignments of the corners one bit. Luck was insane today. What got me is that he was able to get pretty good reads on our guys because they were so far off the freekin ball. Oh I have Wilson one on one with Reggie Wayne and he is 10 yards off the line of scrimmage with no help playing with his shoulder on the inside of the chest of Wayne..Hmnnn tough throw? Wilson had no chance. This happened for the better part of 3 quarters until the fourth, where we were picked apart by the tight end in the slot . The fact is that we could not fool Luck with our looks in the secondary. We played to soft in coverage, and could not pressure. We can blame the secondary all day. They failed to execute. But to me, it was more about Luck being out of his mind, and a coordinator that came up short. Then the lack of ability of our players alone.

[King Shula]

Wow a loss and the angry posts have begun and probably will last until midnight makes me kind of think that the posters are using screen names and might even be management themselves padding the numbers.I picked the Colts to win and was immediately labeled a Jets fan and a troll,from the looks of this blog your opinions dont last very long even in your own minds.

[dolfanman13]

Fins secondary is garbage. Waaay to many 3rd down conversions by the Colts offense. Not enough of a pass rush either. Miami STILL hasn't given Cam Wake any help. Vernon has had more impact on special teams than defense.

[King Shula]

Inotherwords the posters are using different screen names to spew hate and keep every one argueing.Phins for Life and bobbyb Im one up on both of you in forcasting games,sorry I think A luck brought you and the Phins bad luck.

[DEZ]

Think about our last 13 years. Think about who was coaching and who was behind center during that time. We finally have a future. Tannehill and Philbin are good for us. There is REAL hope again in Miami. When you have been as bad as we have for so long patience is a difficult thing. I am miserable right now but only bcause we lost not because I dont like the team or the effort on the field. It has been a while since i could say that. Everything will be fine. All BS aside a loss by the Steelers and Raiders and we are the 7 seed behind San Diego but tied at 4 and 4.

[EMO]

Its over.

Fire Ireland.
Phire Philbin.
Tank Tannehill.

Wait til next year.

[King Shula]

Rex Ryan sucks enuff said with your name.

[Craig M]

Andrew,

Respectfully bud, I've heard this crap before. This idea that you can just move Martin over and it's easy to find a RT, it NEVER quite works out that way. First of all, I don't believe Martin is NEAR the player that Long is. Long's not playing well right now but he's under the microscope. There is NOTHING that guarantees your plan. If so, there wouldn't be as many teams in the league with problems at tackle. Tackles don't grows on trees. Martin's had hios problems at RT, primarily with guys that are stronger than him. So now you and others are ready to get rid of a 4 time pro bowl LT. This after us FINALLY getting our line figured out. I'm not ready to make such a decisive move at this point in time. Long has struggled at times but I think we need to figure out why before we knee jerk.

[nydolfan19]

Craig Merlin is that u??? It's Joel

[Darryl Dunphy]

..Why is it so wrong to say the Colts were just a better team today? They deserved to win. I think a lot of us underestimated them going into this week. Fact is we still had an opportunity to win the game in the fourth quarter. Didn't happen. We will learn, and move on. And hopefully be better next week. Most of us have enjoyed the Philbin suckfest for the better part of a month. Now lets support the coach after a tough loss, and see how the team responds next week.

[Craig M]

nydolfan19, I'm not Craig Merlin...sorry.

Andrew, I guess what I'm saying, so many guys were ready to get rid of Jerry, Hartline, Burnett and Thomas. It was 'knee jerk'. This is the same. Before we send Long off to Neverland let's see how the rest of the season pans out and look at our options. Without looking it up tell me who the top 3 options are in the draft at RT, and the top three in FA. DOn't tell me 'we can get anyone'. That's not planning. That's 'knee jerk'.

[RexRyan Sucks]

King:

Trolling on here will not compensate for your tiny package.

[blkultra]

Dolphins haven't beaten a team at or above 500 this year.When the dolphins defense faces a quality quaterback they really struggle getting off the
field,example Andrew Luck over 400 yards..It is
going to be a long year.

[Craig M]

DD @ 5:24pm,

Well said. This team has been in EVERY game except the first one against the Texans. They'd won 3 in a row. Could have won today, except they didn't execute when they had to. That's how it goes. We need to deal with and get ready to kick the Titans butts!

[RexRyan Sucks]

And King:

Your Jets still suck.