OVERALL SUMMARY:

The Dolphins showed some signs of life on offense today and John Avery got his first 100 yard rushing game as a Dolphin as Miami dominated the Colts on the way to a 27-14 victory that kept the Dolphins in a tie for first place in the AFC East. The Dolphins amassed 153 yards rushing and 207 yards passing with an offensive display that was easily the most impressive they have put together this year. And while the defense did not record a shutout, they controlled the game, didn't give up any big plays and played solid, consistent football.

The conditions in Miami at gametime were just about perfect. It was 80 degrees and sunny, with about a 15 mph steady wind. Brent Smith and John Bock started for the Dolphins, but Mark Dixon did get some playing time at left guard. Surprisingly, Ed Perry and Lorenzo Bromell were inactive today, along with Barry Stokes, Ron Moore, Richmond Webb, Jeff Buckey, Denis Montana and Damon Huard.

The game started with the Dolphins kicking off to the Colts, who began at their 31 after Mare's short kick was taken by one of the blockers instead of by the normal kickoff returners. Marshall Faulk carried the ball the first 4 plays in a row did manage one first down with a 12 yard run before being stopped. However, facing 2nd and 8 at the Colts' 41, Manning missed Marcus Pollard on a pass and after a third down pass to Harrison was stopped for only a 1 yard gain, the Colts punted from their 45.

The ball carried into the endzone on the punt and the Dolphins started at their 20 with a dump pass to Stanley Pritchett for 8 yards, followed by a quick curl pass to OJ McDuffie for 9 more. After Karim Abdul-Jabbar got 2 yards on 1st down from the 37, the Dolphins faced a 2nd and 8 from their 39. From under center, Marino dropped back and hit McDuffie about 15 yards downfield on a deep slant in. McDuffie was very open and quickly outdistanced the defenders in the middle of the field. About the time he crossed the Colts 30, Oronde Gadsden threw a block on the only Colts with a chance to catch him and McDuffie ran untouched into the endzone for a 61 yard touchdown, giving Miami a 7-0 lead early in the game.

It was OJ McDuffie's first touchdown in 20 games for Miami and the longest pass play this year for the team. It would not be OJ's last score of the day, however.

The Dolphins' kickoff was muffed by Aaron Bailey, but he recovered and returned to the 21. After Faulk slipped on first down and lost 2 yards, a dump pass to the fullback only got back 2 yards and when Zach came untouched on a blitz on 3rd down, Manning was forced to throw the ball away. The Colts then punted from their 21 to Terrell Buckley, who took the ball at the Miami 26 and made a nice return to the 50 yard line. However, when Avery ran into the pile on first down, he was stripped of the ball and the Colts recovered at the Dolphins' 49.

On their second possession, Faulk was stopped for no gain on first down and when Manning tried to go deep to Harrison on 2nd down, Madison and Harrison got their feet tangled up and both fell down. At first, the referee threw the flag for interference on Madison, but after discussing it, the flag was picked up and the referees ruled that there was no interference because the contact was incidental and not either players' fault.

Now facing 3rd and 10 from the Dolphins' 49, Manning threw to Pathon about 5 yards downfield, but the ball went through his hands and Sam Madison got his hands on the ball, but was unable to hold on to the potential interception and the Colts were forced to punt again.

McDuffie took the punt at the Dolphins' 14, but was tackled immediately. From the 14, Marino handed off to Avery who got 10 quick yards behind Bock and Smith. Avery touched the ball 4 more times in a row with a dump pass for 5 yards, a quick screen for 15 more, a 5 yard run and a 3 yard run down to the Colts 48. Now facing a 3rd and 2 at the Colts' 48, the Dolphins had Dan Marino sit down and put in Todd Doxzon at quarterback. Doxzon ran the classic quarterback option play, taking the ball and running to his right, looking for the pitch out, but then tucking the ball in and darting to his left for 3 yards and a first down at the Colts 45.

On first down, Pritchett picked up 5 yards on a quick dump pass, but the gain was negated with an illegal hands to the face penalty on Kevin Donnalley, which moved the Dolphins back to a first and 20 at their 45. But Karim Abdul-Jabbar knocked 13 yards with a nifty run, followed by a 19 yard pass to McDuffie down the middle to the Colts' 24. From there, Karim ran for 6 yards on first down as the first quarter ended.

The 2nd quarter opened with the Dolphins facing a 2nd down and 4 at the Colts' 19. A handoff to Karim Abdul-Jabbar got 9 yards to just inside the 10, giving the Dolphins a first and goal at the 10. A quick dump pass to Stanley Pritchett got 4 yards to the 6 and on 2nd and goal from the 6, Marino dropped back to pass. Just before the snap, McDuffie had gone in motion from the left wideout position towards Marino and at the snap, he ran towards the goalline and cut left. Dan threw the ball high and outside where only OJ could get it and McDuffie stretched up and snagged the ball out of the air just over the goalline. This was OJ's second touchdown this year and it put the Dolphins up 14-0 early in the 2nd quarter.

The kickoff was returned by Aaron Bailey for 27 yards from 1 yard deep in the endzone and the Colts started at the 26. After pressure from Bowens forced a poor pass on 1st down, Faulk rushed for 5 on 2nd down and caught a dump pass for 6 more yards on 3rd and 5. Now, on 1st and 10 from their 47, the Colts ran a reverse to Jerome Pathon, who gained 4 yards before Zach Thomas crushed him with a stunning tackle.

Now, with 2nd and 6 from their 41, Manning tried to throw to Harrison on a curl in, but he threw low and inside and Sam Madison was there to make a diving interception and give the Dolphins the ball. Starting at their 49, Avery ran for 4 on first down and on 2nd down Marino hit McDuffie over the middle for 9 yards to the Colts' 38. Then, on first and 10, Marino tried to go deep to Gadsden in the endzone, but the ball appeared to be knocked away at the catch.

However, the Colts' defensive back was penalized for pass interference on the play for contact he made with Gadsden at about the 9 yard line. The call was borderline at best, since the contact didn't appear to inhibit Gadsden's progress, but the Dolphins got the ball with first and goal at the 9.

A 5 yard run by Avery on 1st down put the ball at the 4, but Marino overthrew OJ on 2nd down in the endzone. Then, on 3rd down, Marino dropped back and threw a high pass to Gadsden, who grabbed the ball with a leaping catch and appeared to have a touchdown in the back of the endzone. However, Gadsden was called for offensive pass interference on the play and the ball was moved back 10 yards to the 14.

Replay showed that Gadsden had pushed off on the defensive back about 2 yards from the line of scrimmage, but had no contact after that. Since contact between the receiver and the defensive back is supposed to be legal within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage, the penalty appeared to be completely unjustified.

Nevertheless, on 3rd and goal from the 14, Marino hit Bernie Parmalee with a short pass, but Bernie couldn't quite make it to the endzone and was stopped at the 4, where the Dolphins were forced to settle for a field goal and a 17-0 lead.

Mare's kickoff went 9 yards deep in the endzone for a touchback and the Colts started at their 20. A short pass to Dilger, a draw by Faulk for 7 yards and a run by Faulk for another yard moved the ball to the 32, where Manning tried to go deep to Harrison down the sideline on 2nd and 9, but the ball was overthrown and on 3rd and 9, Manning got the ball to Harrison, but he came up just a few inches short. On 4th and inches, Marshall Faulk vaulted over the top for a first down to the Colts' 42.

However, after Manning overthrew Harrison deep again on first down and Faulk was stopped for no gain on 2nd down, Manning threw to Green on 3rd down for 6 yards to the 48, but that left them with 4th and 4 and they punted, with the ball bouncing into the endzone for a touchback.

There was now 3:22 remaining in the first half and the Dolphins started by running Karim for 4 yards and then Marino hit Lamar Thomas for 6 yards on 2nd down. Now, with 1st and 10 at the 30, Karim ran for 7 more yards and as the 2 minute warning sounded, the Dolphins faced a 2nd and 3 at their 37.

On the next play, Avery took the handoff and started up the middle, then cut to the right for 17 yards to the Colts' 46. On 1st down from there, Marino got pressured and had to dump the ball off to Karim Abdul-Jabbar, who lost a yard on the play, but on 2nd and 11, a dump pass to Bernie Parmalee got 18 yards down to the Colts' 29.

Now, with just under 40 seconds left in the first half, Marino went to McDuffie for 3 yards on 1st down to the 26 and found McDuffie again for 10 yards on 2nd down to the 16. With time running down, Marino hit Lamar Thomas for 12 yards down to the 4 yard line. Trying to save a timeout, he spiked the ball with first and goal from the 4.

On 2nd and goal with just 7 seconds left, Marino tried to get the ball to McDuffie, but it was batted away in the endzone and the Dolphins settled for a field goal and a 20-0 lead as the first half ended.

At halftime, the Dolphins had completed dominated the game. They had 15 first downs to the Colts' 4. The Dolphins had 279 total offensive yards in the first half - 87 rushing and 192 passing, with Dan Marino completing 16 of his 19 passes with 2 touchdowns. The Colts had 57 total yards in the first half, with Manning completing 6 of 14 passes for 26 yards with 1 interception. About the only thing that the Dolphins weren't able to do well was to sack Peyton Manning, who would last the whole game without getting sacked.

The second half started with Avery taking the kickoff at the 12 and returning it 26 yards to the 38. After he ran for 3 yards, Marino threw the ball away on 2nd down and he couldn't quite get the ball to Gadsden on 3rd down. The Dolphins punted to Aaron Bailey at the 15 and swarmed him under almost immediately.

From their 16, 2 runs by Faulk moved the ball to the 27 where the Colts were penalized for a false start on 1st down. However, two short passes to Harrison and then Pathon got 17 yards and gave the Colts a 1st and 10 at their 39, where Faulk took the handoff for 7 more to a 2nd and 3 at their 46. On the next play, Kenny Mixon got off the line a little too quickly and drew a penalty for offsides and gave the Colts a 1st and 10 at the Dolphins' 49.

Manning then tried to go to Pathon and then Harrison, but threw the ball outside and then overthrew Harrison, leaving the Colts with a 3rd and 10 at the Dolphins' 49. This time, when Manning tried to pass, Danny Stubbs - who was playing in place of Lorenzo Bromell - batted the pass down at the line of scrimmage and the Colts were forced to punt.

OJ made a fair catch at the 21, but after runs of 4 and 5 yards, Abdul-Jabbar couldn't pick up 1 yard on 3rd down and the Dolphins went 3 and out for the 2nd time in the game, punting back to the Colts, who got a 1 yard return to their 17.

From there, Manning passed to Dilger for 10 yards and after running Faulk for 4 yards, the Colts faced a 2nd and 6 at their 31, but Tim Bowens jumped offsides on the next play and now the Colts faced a 2nd and 1 instead. Faulk rushed for 11 yards on the next play, but was given a rest on 1st and 10 at the Colts' 47. Lamont Warren carried the ball for 1 yard on first down and Faulk came back on 2nd down and gained 4 yards. However, on 3rd and 5 at the Dolphins' 48, Marvin Harrison slipped and fell in his route and Terrell Buckley caught the ball for an interception.

He returned the ball 16 yards to the Colts' 44, where the Dolphins took over. On first down, the Dolphins ran a reverse with McDuffie, but Gadsden was called for holding on the play and the Dolphins were forced back to a 1st and 16 at the 50. A pass to McDuffie from there got 9 yards and Avery added 11 yards on a nice run to the 30 for a first down.

Avery got 5 more yards on 1st down to the 25, but was stopped on 2nd down. Now facing 3rd and 5 at the 25, the Dolphins ran the wide receiver screen to McDuffie, who picked up 6 yards and a first down at the 19. From there, Avery picked up 9 yards to the 10 as the third quarter ended.

On 2nd and 1 from the 10, Avery got 2 yards for a first and goal as the 4th quarter opened. Now, with 1st and goal at the Colts' 8, Marino handed off to Avery and the offensive line opened a huge hole right up the middle that Avery ran right through to the endzone for a touchdown and a 27-0 lead.

On the kickoff, Bailey was run out of bounds at the 29 and the Colts started from there. After Manning missed Jerome Pathon on first down and Faulk was dragged down from behind by Barron Tanner on 2nd down, the Colts faced a 3rd and 7, but a 7 yard dump pass to Lamont Warren picked up the first down at the 39. Two runs by Warren got the Colts a first down at the Dolphins' 48, but a holding penalty on first down moved the Colts back to a 1st and 20 at their 42.

A rushed throw on 1st down was dropped by Dilger and Faulk got 7 yards on 2nd down on a dump pass, leaving the Colts facing a 3rd and 13 at their 49. Manning tried to go down the sideline to Harrison, but the ball was not on target and fell incomplete. However, another questionable pass interference call was made on Terrell Buckley and the Colts were given a 1st down at the Dolphins' 37.

Faulk picked up 12 yards on a draw play on first down to the 25 and added 3 more yards for a 2nd and 7 at the 22. A pass to Pathon for 4 yards and an offsides penalty on Derrick Rodgers moved the ball to the Dolphins 13, where a pass interference penalty on Patrick Surtain gave the Colts a first and goal at the 6. On the next play, Faulk ran for 6 yards and stretched the ball over the goalline for the first touchdown scored on the Dolphins' defense in Miami since week 2. They then went for two and completed a short pass to the tight end in the endzone, narrowing the gap to 27-8.

It was a well engineered drive by the Colts, but it was assisted by 3 penalties on the Dolphins' defense and it used up 6:29 on the clock in the 4th quarter, when the Colts couldn't afford to waste any time.

The Dolphins got the ball back with 7:42 remaining and Avery returned the ball to the 34 on the kickoff. After Avery ran for 4 yards on first down, a pass to McDuffie was thrown low and he couldn't come up with it. On 3rd and 6 from the 38, Marino appeared to overthrow Gadsden, but the referees made another questionable pass interference call and gave the Dolphins a 1st and 10 at the Colts' 46. A 3 yard run by Avery on 1st down got the Dolphins to the 43, but a pass to McDuffie was throw behind him and then a deep pass to Lamar Thomas when over his head. The Dolphins then punted on 4th and 7 from the 43 and downed the ball on the Colts' 25.

Faulk lost 2 yards on 1st down when he caught a swing pass, leaving the Colts with a 2nd and 12. Torrence Small picked up 5 yards on 2nd down, but Faulk was dropped after 4 yards on third down, leaving the Colts with a 4th and 3 at their 32.

Terrell Buckley took the punt at the Dolphins 22 and had a nice return to the 35, but after Avery ran for 3 yards on 1st down, the Dolphins lost 5 yards on a false start on Donnalley and on 2nd and 12, Marino tried to pass to Gadsden down the sideline. However, the Colts' defensive back cut off Gadsden and intercepted the ball, returning it to the Dolphins' 22 before Avery pushed him out of bounds.

The ball probably shouldn't have been thrown, but Gadsden didn't help Marino by trying to come back for the ball, so they must both share responsibility for the turnover.

With 3:19 remaining in the game, the Colts ran a draw with Lamont Warren for 7 yards. On 2nd and 3 from the 15, a pass to Pathon fell incomplete, but Harrison picked up 5 yards on 3rd down to give the Colts a 1st and goal at the 10. On the next play, Manning found Ken Dilger in the endzone for a touchdown, but the two point conversion failed, leaving the Colts behind 27-14

With 2:20 remaining, the Colts tried an onsides kick, but Sam Madison fell on the ball at the Colts' 38 and the Dolphins took over. The Dolphins ran Avery 4 times in a row for 4 yards, 3 yards, 1 yard and minus 1 yard on 4th down, but they did force the Colts to use up all their timeouts and when the Colts took over at their 31 with 1:49 remaining, they had no timeouts left.

The Colts did drive down the field with short passes all the way to the Dolphins' 23, but with the clock running and the Dolphins putting more pressure on Manning, his last 4 passes fell incomplete and the Dolphins took over on downs at their 23 with 16 seconds left. Marino then knelt down to end the 27-14 victory.

GOOD STUFF:

The offense was basically unstoppable in the first half. There is still a lot of room for improvement, but the Dolphins scored on 4 of their first 5 possessions and they did it with the run and the pass. The balance of the offense was excellent.

And the defense played just as well as the offense throughout most of the game. The pass defense in particular, even though it didn't get any sacks, was very tough. The longest pass play given up today by the Dolphins was 18 yards and Marvin Harrison averaged just 6.4 yards per reception.

The new guys in the offensive line did a fine job. Marino was not sacked today and the running game picked up 153 yards and averaged 4.6 yards per carry.

The best part of the game for me, though, was the explosion of OJ McDuffie. After having had a pretty mediocre season so far, OJ caught 9 passes for 132 yards, including the 61 yard touchdown catch.

Special teams played well, especially on punt coverage and punt returns. Aaron Bailey had 3 punt returns for the Colts for a total of 3 yards. Terrell Buckley had 2 punt returns for a total of 38 yards.

THINGS TO WORK ON:

I was a little disappointed by the letdown in the 4th quarter by the offense. In a game that was almost all positive, the fact that the offense stalled after the final touchdown was in contrast to the rest of their performance. If the Dolphins want to get to the next level, they must play a full game every week.

The defense also had a little letdown late in the game, but that was partly due to the fact that they were paying more attention to the pass and the Colts were still running the ball. Again, though, the whole team must play a complete game to be a championship team.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:

Dan Marino a great day, especially in the first half, when he completed 16 of his first 19 passes and had 2 touchdowns. He ended the day 18 of 27 for 207 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception for a quarterback rating of 98.8.

John Avery, while not technically the starter, got more carries than Karim today. He carried the ball 21 times for 100 yards exactly, averaging 4.8 yards per carry and scoring a touchdown. He also caught 2 passes for 19 yards and returned two kickoffs for 55 yards.

Karim Abdul-Jabbar carried 9 times for 48 yards (a 5.3 yard per carry average), but only caught 1 pass for -1 yard. He played well when he appeared, but was clearly the secondary back today.

Stanley Pritchett was more involved in the gameplan today, catching 2 passes for 12 yards. That doesn't sound like much, but it's better than nothing.

Bernie Parmalee contributed his unique brand of play today, catching 2 passes for 28 yards in key situations. He didn't have any special teams tackles today, however.

I've already talked about OJ McDuffie, but just to rehash the obvious, OJ had 9 catches for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns. It was arguably his biggest game in 2 years.

Oronde Gadsden did not catch a pass today, but I think he was robbed on the touchdown that was called back and he did throw a number of impressive blocks, including one on the 61 yard touchdown pass to McDuffie, where Gadsden took out the last Colts' players who had a chance to catch McDuffie.

Lamar Thomas caught 2 passes for 17 yards and was not a big factor today.

Brent Smith and John Bock did just fine in their first starts. Marino was not sacked and neither player was penalized.

Troy Drayton did not have a catch today and Ed Perry was not active. The tight ends did not figure in this game as receivers at all.

On defense, Brock Marion led the team in tackles and is credited with forcing a fumble. He had a better day than he's had in a while and seemed much more involved in coverage than he has been.

Zach Thomas had 7 total tackles and was credited with one pass defensed. He also had a couple of pressures on blitzes.

Patrick Surtain was more involved in this game than he has been in other games and he ended the day with 6 tackles. However, he had a pretty important pass interference penalty late in the game.

Robert Jones had 6 total tackles also and had a better day than he had last week against the Bills.

Calvin Jackson had 5 tackles today, and helped in limiting the Colts' passing attack.

Terrell Buckley had 4 total tackles, knocked down one pass and intercepted another. He now has 5 picks on the year. He did have one pass interference penalty, but it was borderline at best and T-Buck was not beaten deep today.

On the other side, Sam Madison only had 1 tackle, but he also knocked down one pass and picked off another. He is also credited with recovering the onsides kick, although I could have sworn that it was Brian Walker who actually recovered the kick.

Barron Tanner led all defensive linemen with 3 tackles and made a nice grab of Marshall Faulk from behind late in the game.

Kenny Mixon had 3 tackles, but also jumped offsides at one point. He was not as impressive in this game as he has been in some other games.

Derrick Rodgers also had 3 tackles and got some pressure on Faulk on a couple of blitzes.

Darryl Gardener only had 2 tackles, but was getting some good pressure on Manning up the middle.

Brian Walker got to play a little more than usual and got 2 tackles in this game. Plus, I could have sworn he recovered the onsides kick, but Sam Madison got the credit. Trace Armstrong got some good pressure on Manning, but only ended the day with 1 tackle and no sacks.

Dwight Hollier and Jason Taylor each had one tackle apiece. However, Jason Taylor is still suffering from a lack of sacks.

Tim Bowens had one assisted tackle and jumped offsides at one point. He had no impressive stops in this game.

Jerry Wilson had one assisted tackle.

Danny Stubbs had no tackles and was pretty invisible today except for the one time he knocked down a pass on third down.

OJ Brigance had an exceptional day on special teams, getting two solo tackles and being very effective in coverage.

Nate Jacquet continues to impress on special teams, getting down the field in coverage and today he had one special teams tackle.

Olindo Mare' had kind of a mixed day. He made both his short field goal attempts, but he hit a couple of short kickoffs. He also drove one 9 yards into the endzone.

Klaus Wilmsmeyer continues to be a little inconsistent, although he had a pretty good day, averaging 39.7 yards per punt and putting 2 of his 3 punts down inside the 20.

And last, but certainly not least, Todd Doxzon got his first play as the quarterback for the Dolphins, converting a 3rd and 2 by running the option play and scrambling for 3 yards.

INJURIES:

Sam Madison banged up his leg late in the game, but the injury looked to be minor. However, Robert Jones left the game with an injured tendon, probably in his elbow, late in the game. If it's strained, it shouldn't be a problem, but if it's torn, he could miss several games.

My Comments:

Well, I was prepared for the Dolphins to win this game, but I was not prepared for the high level of play they showed me, especially in the first half. The Dolphins have been showing some progress on offense, but today it really started to come together as a unified whole for the first time.

The way the Dolphins ran and passed the ball in the first half was the way that I'd like to see them play offense for the rest of the year. It was certainly the best they've looked all season. Of course, a lot of the success today was due to OJ McDuffie, who had been relatively quiet this year.

On the other hand, Oronde Gadsden was shut out today, but now that Gadsden is a serious threat, it becomes harder for teams to effectively cover both Gadsden and McDuffie simultaneously. And that will create more opportunities for both players.

The only real problem I had with this game was the way the team relaxed in the 4th quarter. If the Dolphins are going to really compete with the best of the league, they're going to have to play good football through all 4 quarters of a game. I never felt that the game was in doubt after the middle of the 2nd quarter, but I really felt that the team relaxed late in the game.

Overall, I'm very happy with the way the team played today and I was especially happy with the improvement and development of the offense. While the Colts are not exactly a team that will strike fear into the hearts of opposing teams, you have to be able to beat the bad teams convincingly before you can beat the good teams. And the Dolphins beat the Colts convincingly today.

There is one question I have to ask - when is the NFL going to fix the way in which pass interference is called? I don't care what criteria they use, but it should be consistent so the players can know what is going to get them in trouble. But when one referee is calling penalties that another doesn't, it hurts the game and it isn't fair to anybody.

OK, I'm done ranting - for this week. The Dolphins move on to take on the Panthers next week and if they hope to have any chance of beating the Patriots in two weeks, they'll need to find the formula to beat teams on the road. The Panthers are a good team to help the Dolphins find this formula.

While the Panthers are not a very good team, they are a dangerous team because they have nothing to lose at this point in the season and they have enough talent to be very dangerous.

Related Info:

• ESPN.com: Game Recap
• NFL.com: Gamebook
• Dolphins Endzone: From the Game