A win is a win, as they say, and that’s starting to become the Colts’ motto. But nonetheless, having navigated a number of injuries this season, the Colts sit at 4-3 following Sunday’s win over the Miami Dolphins.
The Indianapolis defense was able to do its job for much of the game, while the offense did just enough to help secure the victory.
Now that we’ve had time to look back and digest what we saw, let’s take a look at the Colts’ performance with the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all.
The Good
Takeaways: The Colts not only won the turnover battle 2-1, but those forced fumbles were crucial in terms of impacting the scoreboard. The first by Segun Olubi set the Colts offense up with excellent field position that they were able to take advantage of with a touchdown. The second came with the Dolphins inside the red zone. At a minimum, that is a 10 point swing.
Anthony Richardson in the run game: Richardson totaled 56 yards in the run game, which led the team. However, his impact on the ground was far greater than the few designed rushes dialed up. His ability to escape pressure and extend plays helped the Colts offense avoid a number of negative plays. Also, the attention that he draws helped open up some opportunities for Trey Sermon and Tyler Goodson.
Limiting Hill and Waddle: Combined, the Dolphins’ two dynamic pass catchers totaled just 19 receiving yards. I do think Mike McDaniel could have done more to get the ball in the hands of his playmakers, but the Colts secondary did well to take away any downfield opportunities along with making the Miami quarterbacks go elsewhere with the ball.
Matt Gay: In a game decided by six points, obviously Gay going 3-for-3 on field goals was huge, but also of note, one of his kicks was good from 52 yards. As we all know, those long distance kicks have been an issue for him.
End of half, third quarter sequence: With the Dolphins taking a 10-0 lead along with beginning with the ball in the third quarter, it felt like the game was on the verge of getting out of hand. However, with hardly any time on the clock, Richardson got the offense into field goal range and then the defense forced a punt after just four plays to begin the third quarter. With the Colts potentially facing a three score deficit in the face, they got the ball back in the third quarter down only a touchdown.
The Bad
Third down offense: Miami came into this game as one of the best third down defenses in football–although the Colts have also been a pretty good offense in those situations. But in this game, the Dolphins would get the better of the Colts, holding Indianapolis to just 4-for-13. A lot of those issues started with the passing game struggles, putting the offense in long down-and-distance situations.
Run defense: The success that the Dolphins had on the ground was a collective effort. De’Von Achane led the team with 77 rushing yards, but Miami finished the game with 188 as an offense at 4.7 yards per attempt. A positive for the Colts was that, while the stat sheet looks good, they didn’t allow the Dolphins to take the game over on the ground. Miami scored just 10 points, were a modest 6-of-15 on third downs, and the time of possession battle was fairly close.
The Ugly
Colts’ passing offense: Richardson finished the game 10-of-24 passing for 129 yards at just 5.4 yards per attempt. For some context, that 5.4 figure would rank 36th out of 39 eligible quarterbacks if averaged over the course of the season. Richardson was off for much of the game, perhaps shaking off some rust, but there also wasn’t any sort of rhythm either, which Shane Steichen took the blame for afterward, mentioning that he didn’t put together a good enough gameplan. From the start, everything felt disjointed. Even with some ability to move the ball in the run game, there didn’t seem to be any unifying qualities between the run and passing games where they built off of each other. Instead, they operated as two separate entities.