NFL Recap (Indianapolis-Miami)
Posted: Sun November 8, 1998 at 6:16 p.m. EST
MIAMI 27, INDIANAPOLIS 14
MIAMI (Ticker) -- Dan
Marino threw a pair of touchdowns to O.J. McDuffie as the Miami Dolphins built a
20-point halftime lead en route to a 27-14 victory over the Indianapolis Colts and
maintained at least a share of first place in the AFC East.
Marino connected with McDuffie on scoring plays of 61 and six yards
and Olindo Mare kicked
a pair of short field goals to give Miami (6-3) a 20-0 halftime advantage.
Marino completed his first nine pass attempts.
"The first half was a real poor exhibition by our football team,"
Colts coach Jim Mora lamented. "Obviously, we were flat and I was
concerned that the game was going to get totally out of control. We came
out in the second half and played like we're capable of. But you can't win
when you play just one half."
The Dolphins started the day in a four-way tie for first-place with
the New York, Buffalo and New England in the AFC East. The Jets are
hosting Buffalo today and the Patriots suffered a 41-10 loss to Atlanta.
Marino, who has 21 wins against the Colts, his most against any team,
finished 18-of-27 for 207 yards and McDuffie caught nine passes for 132
yards as Miami improved to 5-0 at home. The nine passes were a regular
season career high for McDuffie, who had 11 grabs in a playoff contest
against Buffalo in 1995.
McDuffie's first TD got the Dolphins on the board 5:36 into the
contest. Miami moved 80 yards in just four plays as Marino was 3-for-3 for
78 yards in the air.
"Today was one of those days where it worked out for me," McDuffie
said. "On the first TD, we had some guys crossing and they just lost track
of me."
Marino and McDuffie combined to double Miami's margin when the duo
hooked up on a six-yard scoring play 89 seconds into the second quarter.
The 12-play, 86-yard drive ate up 8:11 and made it 14-0.
"O.J. and I have been doing that for a long time together, and we have
a good feeling," Marino said. "I missed him on one, he should have had
three touchdowns."
Mare booted field goals of 21 and 23 yards in the second quarter. The
last one came as time expired and sent the Dolphins to the lockerroom with
a 20-0 advantage.
"You just cannot come out and let Miami control the game like they
did," Indianapolis' Marshall Faulk said. "We
came out in the second half and decided to join them on the field. For the
first half we were just not there."
Rookie John Avery,
who scored on an eight-yard run, capping a nine-play, 44-yard drive, to
push the Dolphins lead to 27-0 in the fourth quarter, finished with 100
yards on 21 carries. It was the first time that Miami had a runner and
receiver reach the 100-yard mark in the same game since Keith Jackson and
Terry Kirby turned the trick against the Jets on September 18th, 1994.
"I didn't know I had 100 yards today," Avery admitted. "I'd like to
give credit to (fullback) Stanley Pritchett. He was
out there putting people on that buts all day, creating room for me to
run."
"John's a big-play guy," Marino said of Avery. "Not only when he's
running the ball, but when he's out of the backfield in space, he's gaining
positive yardage."
Indianapolis (1-8) suffered its fourth straight loss but avoided the
shutout with two touchdowns in the final 7:42. Marshall Faulk, who
finished with 88 yards on 21 carries, scored from six yards out to get the
Colts on the board. The 11-play, 71 yard drive took 6:29. It was the first
touchdown the Dolphins yielded at home in 17 quarters. Miami has already
posted two home shutouts this season.
Tight end Ken
Dilger, who suffered a concussion last week against New England,
returned to catch a nine-yard scoring strike from Peyton Manning.
"Although we got a little sloppy at the end, it was good for us to
pick up the win," Miami coach Jimmy Johnson said. "It was good to see John
Avery get involved. I thought at the start of the game, Dan was sharp and
O.J made some big plays."
Manning completed 22-of-42 passes for 140 yards but threw a pair of
interceptions, increasing his league-leading total to 18.
"I didn't think anyone played well during the first half, including
Peyton," Mora said. "He played better in the second half but overall, this
was not one of his better games."
"We knew coming in that we were going to have to play well, and we
didn't," Manning agreed. "It wasn't a matter of the defense fooling us, it
was a matter of execution. You can't rush experience and I'm trying to
learn more each game."
Marino had just 15 yards passing in the second half, all to McDuffie,
who became the first Dolphin receiver to go over the 100-yard barrier since
Charles Jordan caught
five passes for 106 yards at Oakland last November 30th.
The Dolphins continue to dominate the all-time series, increasing
their margin to 39-19 with a sweep of both meetings this season.
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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