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    • The Colts manage just enough to beat a bad team 16-10
    New Jersey

    The Colts manage just enough to beat a bad team 16-10

    Seren Anwen Posted on

    INDIANAPOLIS – It may not have been pretty, but the Colts picked up their second straight win on Sunday, earning a 16-10 victory over a listless Dolphins team.

    Indianapolis (4-3) now enters the toughest stretch of its schedule one game over .500 and firmly in the AFC playoff race.

    The Colts defense bends but doesn’t break

    Indianapolis’ battered and battered defense was still struggling against a Miami running game that everyone knew the Dolphins would have to work hard with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa still out of action.

    The Colts haven’t done much to stem that tide.

    Miami rushed 40 times for 188 yards, collecting 4.7 yards per carry and marching down the field.

    But the Dolphins scored just 10 points, limited by backup quarterbacks Tyler Huntley and Tim Boyle.

    Huntley completed 7 of 13 passes for 87 yards and a touchdown, and Boyle completed 8 of 13 passes for 74 yards, but the Colts forced two fumbles, found a way to get stops once the Dolphins broke through the red zone and eventually capitalized one out Miami’s offense was crippled to secure the victory.

    Richardson and Tyler Goodson spark a running game

    Indianapolis’ running game had been a shell of its former self over the past two weeks without Anthony Richardson and Jonathan Taylor in the lineup.

    After breaking the 100-yard mark in each of the first four games, the Colts had failed to break it in the previous two games.

    Taylor is still outside. But Richardson’s return and the team’s decision to highlight Goodson instead of Trey Sermon boosted the running game on a day the Colts’ offense desperately needed.

    Richardson was used as a runner more than ever this season and beat the Dolphins when he had to make plays, rushing for 57 yards on 13 carries, and he had help from Goodson, who collected 51 yards on 14 carries.

    In a more complementary role, Sermon added eight carries for 36 yards.

    Indianapolis finished the game with 156 yards on 36 carries, carrying the offensive load on a day when Richardson didn’t have much to offer as a passer.

    Richardson still struggles as a passer

    Richardson’s return served as a reminder that he still has a long, long way to go to develop into the franchise quarterback the Colts hope he will become on Sunday.

    After missing two and a half games with a right hip/oblique injury, Richardson was back on the roster and was erratic as a passer, completing just 10 of 24 passes for 129 yards.

    Richardson’s problems seemed to be more than just inaccuracies.

    The Indianapolis starter repeatedly threw into coverage, appeared to make late decisions on some throws, and the Colts struggled with Miami’s blitz packages all day – a development that likely rested in part on the quarterback’s shoulders.

    To make matters worse, the big entrance, which has sometimes resulted in shaky Richardson performances in the past, never came. An illegal formation prevented a highlight-reel catch by Alec Pierce in the first half, and Richardson hit Michael Pittman Jr. for a 33-yard gain at the end of the first half and set up a 52-yard field goal by Matt Gay before, but Indianapolis produced no further explosive plays.

    Matt Gay comes through

    Frustrated by injuries and inconsistency for most of the season, Gay was under pressure to prove he was worth the lucrative contract the Colts gave him last offseason.

    Indianapolis needed him three times to get through.

    Gay kicked like the reputation he had built in Los Angeles, hitting field goals of 52, 22 and 38 yards to secure the win on a day that threatened a miss by Dolphins kicker Jason Sanders.

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    Seren Anwen
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