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The Colts have released 23-year old TE Tom Santi. Santi did not play in any games this season for the Colts. Last year as a rookie, Santi caught 10 passes for 64 yards (6.4 avg) with 1 TD grab. The Colts shouldn’t miss Santi too much as they have three TEs on the roster that they like better than him.
The Colts will be without leading tackler Gary Brackett on Sunday Night against the Cardinals due to a knee problem. Brackett has 17 tackles already this season for the Colts. Freddie Keiaho will start in Brackett’s place and he has 2 tackles this season but he has a lot of starting experience with the Colts. It’s hard to say if this will hurt the Colts’ D or not as they have allowed a stunning 176.5 yards rushing per game this season.
Peyton Manning showed his greatness tonight as the Colts only had the ball for 14:53 of this game but they still rolled up an amazing 356 total yards on offense (61 rushing, 295 passing). Things were looking bad for the Colts with 3:50 left in the game as Dan Carpenter of the Dolphins put them up 23-20 with a 45 yard field goal. Peyton Manning then tossed a 48-yard TD pass to WR Pierre Garcon (his only catch of the game) 32 seconds later to give the Colts a 27-23 lead. The Dolphins then drove right down the field getting to the Colts’ 30 yard line which is where the game ended. Peyton Manning completed 14 of 23 passes for 303 yards with 2 TD passes and 0 interceptions. Joseph Addai didn’t get much work in this game as he carried the ball 6 times for 32 yards (5.3 ypc) and he also caught 1 pass for 7 yards. Rookie RB Donald Brown had a solid game carrying the ball 4 times for 26 yards (6.5 ypc) with a TD run and he also caught 1 pass for 24 yards. TE Dallas Clark was the biggest impact player for the Colts on offense other than Peyton Manning last night. He caught 7 passes for 183 yards (26.1 avg) with a 80-yard TD catch on the first play of the game. The Dolphins did shut down Reggie Wayne who only caught 3 passes for 37 yards (12.3 avg). The Colts were the first team to ever win a NFL game only having possession of the football for 14:53.
The defense was pretty awful for the Colts last night. LB Clint Session (9 tackles) and S Antoine Bethea (8 tackles, interception) “led” the way for the Colts on D. The Dolphins finished up with 403 total yards on offense (239 rushing, 164 passing) in this game. The Colts are now 2-0 on the season.
The Colts will have a much tougher time dealing with the Dolphins in Miami than they did last week with the Jags at home. That means they must protect the football. The Colts need more out of the running game from Joseph Addai and Donald Brown against a Dolphins’ D that held Michael Turner and the Falcons to 68 yards rushing and 2.5 yards per carry. If the Colts can’t run the ball the Dolphins will be sending a lot of blitzers at Peyton Manning. The Fins will no doubt be doubling Reggie Wayne the whole game but that doesn’t mean the Colts won’t be throwing to him. In any event, Tony Gonzalez had a huge game against the Dolphins last week so look for Dallas Clark to be more heavily involved in the offense this week.
The Dolphins like to run the ball and throw short passes. They need Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams to have big games against the Colts’ D which allowed 114 yards rushing and 4.4 yards per carry. If the Dolphins have success running the ball then look for Chad Pennington to attack them deep with some play action passing. Pennington will stay with the short passing game if the Dolphins are not running the ball well.
PREDICTION: DOLPHINS 21, COLTS 20
The Colts have signed 27-year old WR Hank Baskett. Baskett played in the season opener for the Eagles catching 1 pass for 6 yards. He has now played in 48 games in his NFL career and he has caught 72 passes for 1,052 yards (14.6 avg) with 6 TD grabs. Baskett came to the perfect place to jumpstart his career as Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie are the only things between him and a starting job. This was a good move by the Colts.