Colts Get 27-23 Win At Miami With Only 35 Plays From Scrimmage

NFL News - September 22nd, 2009 - Written by Scott

The Indianapolis Colts pulled out a thriller Monday night as they rallied to beat the Miami Dolphins 27-23. Peyton Manning threw an 80 yard touchdown pass to Dallas Clark on the first play of the game. From then on, the Colt's offense would spend most of the night watching their defense struggle to keep the Dolphins from moving the ball up and down the field and completely controlling the time of possession. The Colts had the ball for less than fifteen minutes the entire game. Manning, however, made the most of what little time he had and their offense responded with only 35 plays from scrimmage. The Colts only had the ball for 14:53 which is the lowest for any winning team in the NFL since 1977.

With Miami leading 23-20 with 3:18 left in the game, Manning hit Pierre Garcon on a 48 yard touchdown pass to give the Colts the win. Miami had its chance on the next drive to get the come from behind victory. They drove the ball down to Indianapolis 30 yard line, but Chad Pennington's desperation pass with six seconds remaining was intercepted by Antoine Bethea and sealed the win for the Colts. This was the only turnover by both teams all night.

"Give credit to our defense," Clark said. "They were out there for probably 100 plays, and for that last drive I know they were tired. For them to come up with those plays and keep them from scoring was just tremendous effort."

Manning and the Colts had an answer every time the Dolphins scored. The win gives Manning 119 wins as the Colt's starting quarterback and breaks the record held by Johnny Unitas. The humble quarterback has a great deal of respect for Unitas and does not like the comparisons he is receiving to the legendary Colts signal caller.

"I don't feel comfortable with these comparisons to Unitas," Manning said. "But I'm very proud to wear the same uniform as Johnny Unitas. He was a real winner."

Miami went ahead 20-13 early in the fourth quarter on an 80 yard scoring drive that ate up almost nine minutes. As they did all night, the Colts quickly responded and tied the game on a fifteen yard touchdown run from Donald Brown. Miami then regained the lead on a 45 yard field goal from Dan Carpenter to put the Dolphins ahead 23-20 with 3:50 left to go. Manning then went to work and put the Colts ahead for good with his touchdown pass to Garcon.

Miami had the ball on offense for 45:53 seconds and were led by running backs Ronnie Brown (136 yards) and Ricky Williams (69 yards). Peyton Manning finished the night connecting on 14-23 passing attempts for 303 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Colts move to 2-0 on the year while the Dolphins drop to 0-2.

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