INDIANAPOLIS — Football was most certainly played on Sunday. The quality? That's left up to your interpretation.
The Indianapolis Colts welcomed a struggling Miami Dolphins team to Lucas Oil Stadium in search of a second straight win. The team would have to do so without running back Jonathan Taylor for a third straight contest. Linebacker EJ Speed also was inactive for this game. Michael Pittman Jr. and Josh Downs were both active, and quarterback Anthony Richardson returned to the field after missing the better part of three games with an oblique injury.
From the very first drive, it was evident that this game would be an offensive struggle for both teams. The game began with three consecutive three-and-outs — two of which by the Colts. Miami finally got on the board midway through the first quarter courtesy of an 11-play, 58-yard drive. Tyler Huntley hit Jonnu Smith on a crucial 3rd and goal for a 10-yard touchdown to put the Fins on top 7-0.
The Colts responded with a long, sustained drive of their own, only to fumble inside the 10-yard line. Richardson couldn't handle the snap, and the Dolphins took over.
Back and forth these teams went, trading punts and struggling to offer up explosive plays. After trading field goals to end the half, the Dolphins took a 10-3 lead into the locker room.
Out of the halftime break, the Colts' defense made the play of the day. Linebacker Segun Olubi forced a fumble by Miami's Raheem Mostert, recovered the fumble and set the Colts up inside the redzone.
A couple plays later, Indy capitalized courtesy of a Tyler Goodson seven-yard touchdown to tie the game at 10-10. It was Goodson's first career touchdown.
That score held until the fourth quarter. The Colts drove the ball down the field admirably in the final frame—a 12 play, 69-yard drive only resulted in three points. Matt Gay drilled a 22-yard field goal to put Indy on top by three with just 8:41 remaining in the game.
The Dolphins proceeded to attempt a 54-yard field goal with five minutes to play as Jason Sanders' kick doinked off the left upright and was no good.
Gay tacked on another field goal, the Colts' defense stood tall down the stretch, and Indianapolis came away with an ugly 16-10 win at home.
"Gutsy team win – found a way. Defense stepped up big time, but again, found a way. 16 points, obviously we want to be better. It starts with myself offensively, but defense stepped up. And it's good momentum, obviously, heading into Houston next week," Colts head coach Shane Steichen said postgame.
"I mean, shoot, at the end of the day, yeah, we’ve got to play better, I’ve got to coach better on offense and help the guys out, but finding ways to win in this league, that's what all that matters, is we win the game," Steichen said. "We talk about keys to victory, and I say every Wednesday morning, our No. 1 key to victory is to win the football game, no matter how we do that. Because at the end of the day, you look back at the end of the season and you say, ‘Oh, we won the game.’ Whatever, 16-10, you found a way to win. That's what was most important.”
It certainly was not a banner day for the Colts offensively. Richardson went just 10-24 for 129 yards on the day. He also ran the ball for 56 yards. Goodson ran the ball 14 times for 51 yards and the Colts' lone touchdown on the day.
“Whatever they did, they did a great job. They were dialing it up. We were trying to adjust to it, but they just kept bringing it. We tried to execute some of our plays that we had thought of earlier in the week, but they just did a great job, and we just couldn’t really adjust," Richardson said after the game.
"It feels good when my team has the trust in me. Just to go out there and make plays and just do what I do. They told me on the sideline, just keep being me, just keep doing what I'm doing, despite us struggling a little bit in the first half and a little bit in the second," Richardson said. "They still trust in me. Shane (Steichen) trusting me with the play calls and just to make some plays. So, it feels good just having the trust and support from the guys, and it just allows me to go out there and play free."
"I’ve got to do better. I’ve got to put (Richardson) in better positions. And you go back, and we'll watch the tape, but I mean, there wasn't a lot of stuff open, to be honest, when I was out there watching it. So that's on me. I’ve got to be better," Steichen said.
"Overall, again – I mean, shoot, we’ve got to be better. I’ve got to be better. But we found a way to win the game and that's what matters," Steichen said. "There's room to grow. That's the good sign, is that we haven't played our best ball yet. We haven't put the whole complete package together. But again, like I said into October, we’ve got to start hitting our strides here coming up.”
Defensively, the Colts had one of its better games in this contest.
Grant Stuard, who played for the injured EJ Speed, had a career-day tallying 19 total tackles including a tackle-for-loss. Olubi had a forced fumble as well as a fumble recovery, Zaire Franklin forced a fumble that Taven Bryan recovered, and Franklin also tallied 16 tackles.
Indianapolis improves to 4-3 on the season and travels to Houston next week to take on the Texans. With a win, the Colts will be first place in the AFC South.
