Colts Only Need 15 Minutes to Beat Dolphins on Monday Night Football, 27-23

Dolphins fans have to be wondering about some of Tony Sparano’s play-calling a day after the team’s 27-23 loss to the Colts. Specifically, some questionable run plays in obvious passing situations late in the game. Sparano wants you to know it’s totally not his fault. And if he had, you know, some kind of control over these things, he would have done it differently. The problem, you see, was the dumb players.

``We did not, contrary to popular belief, just call a run play,‘’ coach Tony Sparano said. ``We called an either-or play, a `check-with-me’ play to try to give us the best situation possible. And, really, the play we ran was the best situation. I don’t second-guess the call. Now, whether or not we executed the play well enough . . .

Our Miami blog Phinsider put this loss on the defense, which makes sense when you consider that the ’Fins offense held the ball for over 45 minutes and put up over 400 yards:

Peyton Manning just had a field day – throwing for 303 yards on just 14 completions. That’s a whopping 21.6 yards per completion for Manning. All total, the Colts ran 35 plays in the entire game and averaged over 10 yards per play. That’s just ridiculous.

Most of the blame for the defensive struggles has to go to the Dolphins’ safeties. Gibril Wilson missed tackle after tackle. There’s no excuse for missing the tackle on Dallas Clark on the first play of the game and turning a 35 yard pass completion into an 80 yard touchdown. Wilson was also trucked by rookie RB Donald Brown as he steam-rolled into the endzone for his touchdown in the fourth quarter.

The linebackers get some blame as well. Basically anyone that even attempted to cover Dallas Clark shares some responsibility. Clark caught 7 passes for 183 yards and a touchdown. And to a certain extent, you have to blame the coaches. There were a couple of plays where Channing Crowder was matched up on Clark – which is a total mismatch. Most linebackers wouldn’t be able to cover Clark one-on-one – let alone Crowder, who isn’t exactly speedy. Crowder was also asked to cover Donald Brown on his big 24 yard reception to help set up that field goal attempt right before halftime. You can’t put Akin Ayodele and Channing Crowder in those kinds of situations – especially asking them to cover Clark, who is essentially a bigger wide receiver more so than a tight end.

The Dolphins apparently need a ton of time to run an effective offense. That’s the lesson from the Chad Pennington-led two-minute drill; the Dolphins took way too much time getting up to the line on several plays, made catches in the middle of the field, and in general didn’t use their time efficiently, leaving their hopes to rest on a final 30-yard heave from Pennington.

It didn’t go so well. The Colts intercepted Pennington’s pass and stole a win — if that’s a fair term to use, given that Miami’s defense was so regularly porous — in a game in which they controlled the ball for less than 15 minutes. Total. For the entire game.

And that does it: Manning breaks Johnny Unitas’s record for franchise wins, and proves that he doesn’t need any time at all, really, to put together long, electric touchdown drives.

For as little as Peyton Manning has been on the field tonight, he’s been awfully productive. In just :32 seconds, and by focusing on Dallas Clark in medium-range situations, Manning got the Colts back on the scoreboard very quickly. The scoring play was especially Manning-esque: Peyton audibled to a slip screen directed at wideout Pierre Garcon, and Garcon caught the ball, got one inside block, and sprinted away from any relevant Dolphins defender. 27-23 Colts. Miami’s turn now?

With just under four minutes left to play in the game, the Dolphins are still managing to find ways to move the ball on the Colts defense. Most recently, Pennington and Ted Ginn, Jr. made a series of connections — including on play action, which is a logical choice at this point in the team’s offensive arsenal — and got close enough for a 45-yard go-ahead field goal. Now it’s Manning’s turn to move the Colts ahead. You probably want to watch this; it’s going to be good.

Dallas Clark and Peyton Manning and Donald Brown didn’t take long to answer the Dolphins’ long, emphatic touchdown drive. In just a few minutes, the Colts offense engineered one of its own, capped off by a powerful 15-yard run by Brown, the rookie running back from UConn. (Optimistic Brown fantasy football owners everywhere are pumping their fists tonight.)

Try as they may, the Colts really can’t stop the Dolphins’ Wildcat. It feels like I’m exaggerating when I say this, but I’m not. It’s just that impressive.

An 80-yard drive — much of it earned on the ground, and much of it triggered by Ronnie Brown’s command on direct snaps — yielded the Dolphins’ first touchdown of the second half, and it didn’t even look all that complicated. A bunch of run plays, a punishing push by the offensive line, and voila: touchdown.

Meanwhile, the Colts are only down seven points; considering they’ve run 25 plays to the Dolphins’ 61, that’s not too bad at all.

After a Miami field goal, instant replay saved the Colts from an interception, and Peyton Manning hit Dallas Clark within field goal range with two seconds left. Adam Vinatieri nearly missed the field goal, hitting the left upright before bouncing the kick in. And so the Colts tied a pretty well-played, back-and-forth game at the very end of the first half 13-13.

In the meantime, the Wildcat has been a lot of fun to watch. It’s entirely possible this is many football fans’ first experience with Ronnie Brown’s Wildcat abilities; if so, they’re enjoying a treat.

Ronnie Brown continuing to prove he's the master of the Wildcat formation. He “wildcatted” his way into the endzone from 14 yards out to put the ’Phins on the scoreboard. The game is now all tied up at seven all.

Who does Manning celebrate with as soon as he walks off the field after his 80-yard touchdown pass? The greatest golfer in the game.

John Daly.

Nah, not really. It was Tiger Woods, of course. And when I say “celebrate,” I mean, “Tiger pats Peyton on the back and smiles.” That was about it. But still! Tiger is at the game! Hooray!

You don’t normally see a tight end catch an 80-yard touchdown pass, but hey, this is the NFL, folks.

On the first play of the game, Peyton Manning ran play action and found Dallas Clark open up the seam. Clark broke one tackle and almost fell down, but stayed up long enough to spring into the end zone.

And just like that, the Colts are up, 7-0.

ESPN’s suddenly ubiqitous Adam Schefter has a pair of pregame updates for us. The first:

Once again, Chad Henne is the Dolphins #3 QB and Pat White is the backup — here comes the Wildcat.

Good news. And then there’s this:

Colts WR Austin Collie starting in place of the injured Anthony Gonzalez.

The former is much more interesting than the latter, at least to me, because no matter how many forms of the wildcat make their way through the NFL, its recent progenitors and most effective users are the Miami Dolphins. Bring that show to primetime, and you’ll keep plenty more people — or at least football nerds that love antiquated running offenses — happy. By which I mean: me.