Colts lead Dolphins 20-17 going to fourth quarter

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Dolphins offense slowed down in the third quarter.

The Colts did not.

The Colts got a touchdown on a 36-yard pass from Andrew Luck to T.Y. Hilton in the quarter to give them a 20-17 lead. The Dolphins, meanwhile, punted twice.

This game will be down to the wire. As they all have been.

The live blog continues in the comments section below.

Comments

[We Have RB's]

"A good learning experience for Tannehill. We will be fine."

Gary,

Agreed.

[Tom]

Well I know that Seen, but Smith gets at least one 'dropped INT' in the books.

[gl]

Philbin will be the next coach on the hot seat once we are 5 and 9.

[Fire Ireland for this joke secondary]

Tom u idiot, how is it not an embarrasment when u just said we dropped picks and the defense got whipped. Damn u dumb!

[CadillacDeville]

Hang in there

[cocoajoe]

Overall, not a good team today. You can point out (I did) Long or Smith (I did) or others but in the end, not good as a team.

Have the feeling, eventho I like Philbin he had 'em wound too tight. Learning process for him too

[Clue]

Austin from 13th street in PP?

[Zonk]

I think its safe to say Matt Moore wins this game.

[will]

Tanny is the future, we have a QB. Next year we get receivers who can strech the field. Unlike the rest of you so called "fans" who know nothing about how a team is built and can't see that we are about to be very good for a very long time.

[Fire Sherman Immediately]

Right before halftime, we had the ball after the 2-minute warning. We had the lead and the momentum. Brilliant genius Mike Sherman called for pass plays. Incompletions stopped clock, gave Indy Momentum, and gave them 3 cheap points before halftime. Sam way Sherman gave away the game at Arizona...passing the ball with 2 minutes left while we have the LEAD. Please, I cannot keep saying this 8 weeks in a row. Please fire Sherman immediately.

[RC]

Oh, and how bout Jake Long, he got dominated the entire game. Great #1 pick.

[DolphinCoacesRemainIdiots]

If Dolphins win a Super Bowl in next 5 years, a lot of the players criticized on this blog will not be on the roster for the simple reason that any organization that builds a super bowl team does so by upgrading their talent.

Only a handful of good players can be acquired each year, so the fact that there are lots of holes on this team is neither surprising or concerning. Sean Smith (put name here) does not need to be cut - he'll be rifted out along with many others in due time.

However, the play-calling, especially late in games, is weak. It is the MO of Sherman who has often put up lots of stats along with a lot of head scratching losses, and its a reason he gets chased out of town. Its easier to support a lovable loser than an underachiever.

Big concern that no matter what is done with talent, can this guy direct this team to close victories?

Even though this team is mediocre at best - right now the offense performance late in field goal games has been consistently bad.

[jcurrier31]

I get that the secondary was really really really awful, but we only rushed 4 guys all day, if the secondary was getting diced up anyway, why not send a couple guys on a blitz every once in a while? This is on the coaching staff for not identifying a terrible weakness and adjusting with more pressure

[jeff]

Put this on the coaching staff. Horrible horrible game plan. Tanny never should have started. The defense played soft pass defense the entire game. 10 3rd down of 10 plus the Colts made. horrible ...

[Fin 77]

The same people that loved Henne ....like Tannehill. Hmmm.

[David]

Ireland-you're back on the clock-the only team in the NFL with only 2 receivers-it's a real shame-what happened to your Sean Smith + Long-Long instead of Matt Ryan-almost as bad as Fiedler replacing Marino

[tim]

WOW total garbage

[sato]

The refs really, really hate Miami. i saw Wake get held at least 4 times. no calls. on the TD to Wayne, he ran a stunt and would have crushed the qb had he not been hooked and actually dropped to a knee. then there was obviously the kickoff return fantom hold.

Still, despite all that, if Sean Smith were'e human garbage, we win.

as for thill, he was tight when it mattered. sure didnt help the cause in the 2nd half.

as stated by many. this one really does hurt.

[David]

One of the Best defenses in the league does NOT permit a passing record-does not drop 2-6 interceptions

[72perfectstill]

Tannehill had an awesome game
Moore would've thrown two picks
Refs bad calls also cost us the game as well as Sean Smith

[RC]

Sean Smith looked like a boy playing with men today! WAT THE TRUCK!!

[Fish Boy]

Worst Defense in the NFL, let Rokkie set new NFL record when we know they can not run. Forget playoffs, we have been exposed, we suck!

[promichael]

This is an example of why the Dolphins must draft a CB, safety, and get a linebacker who can cover in place of Misi. The Dolphins are strong on run defense and weak on pass defense. The NFL offensive coordinators will be coming after the pass defense every game. Moreover a TE and a receiver with break away speed. All can be picked up in the first 3 rounds of the draft.

[King Shula]

Well it was a good close game but they lost this one,and BTW they are weak against the pass but not as weak as they were in this one.

[Belgian Fin Fan]

so sad... what kind of coverage was that? no pressure... painfully sad.

[Mitch]

Could the secondary be any worse???????

[nyfinfan]

I thought this season would be hard on us fans. Our would be okay and O-line needed to gel. I thought we'd have ups and downs because of inexperienced players, especially the QB.

Ironically, it was the ROOKIE QB who looked in command. He controlled the line threw well didn't make any costly mistakes. I was expecting growing pangs with Tannehill. Not with a mature defense, who was awful on 3rd downs. Or a second round or "all-pro" tackles.

There is no way in hell I would pay Sean Smith with a big contract, nor would I give a Long (pun) term deal either. This game was hard to swallow because of the caliber of team they were playing. A bad run team and we couldn't run. Their secondary had more injuries than any other team we've faced this year.

I'm done venting. But I still have faith in Philbin. At least the future looks bright.

[Few920]

Sean Smith sucks, cost us the Arizona game on 4th down and forever, cost us today. But Clemons seems to be non existent as well, seldom see him make more than one play a game. We are who we are at 4-4, haven't really beaten anybody but we have found our quarterback. Now we can fix the rest of the holes. 8-8 with rookie quarterback and rookie head coach, going in the right direction. But today hurts because it was there to be taken, 13-19 on 3rd down says it all.

[cocoajoe]

Put this on the coaching staff. Horrible horrible game plan. Tanny never should have started. The defense played soft pass defense the entire game. 10 3rd down of 10 plus the Colts made. horrible ...

Posted by: jeff | November 04, 2012 at 04:30 PM
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I have to agree. The thing that most people don't understand is, when you get hurt, there's a mental thing going on. You worry, you compensate, it affects your game.

But the bigger thing here is, just bad execution overall. Long actually whiffed on one play, blocked the wrong guy on another...the list goes on. Game plan was 'contain' Luck. LMAO, he's too quick. I blame Philbin for this.

D was just pathetic, that's all you can say. We all hoped it was getting better but it's still bad. Smith shutdown corner? Only in his dreams.

At least Philbin knows what he's got to do now.

[Real Fin Fan]

the left side and most experienced part of our line is a total joke. We desperately need a shut down corner and Miller needs more touches. Tanny fought a hard game to the end & is showing he can be a big time quarter back. Carpenter had 2 bad games this year but was clutch his whole career until those games. Get off his back. They hurt bad, but the play calling in those games hurt more. We're still in 2nd place in a year where we were picked to have only 4 wins or less. GO PHINS!!

[Fin 77]

Tannehill cost us for the 3rd time this year. Philbin's making the same mistake Sparano did not starting Moore.

[FED UP]

Tannehill = RoboHenne

[Jeffrow]

Fed up Go troll on some other blog... Why do you come here if you dont like the team