Peyton Manning needed the 37th game-winning drive of his illustrious career to surpass Johnny Unitas as the franchise leader in wins among quarterbacks, and the Indianapolis Colts secured a 27-23 victory over the Miami Dolphins at Land Shark Stadium.

Manning's offense had the ball for only 14:53 in the entire game, the lowest total for a winning team of any game since 1977 -- Indianapolis ran only 35 plays, while the Dolphins totaled 84. But the reigning NFL MVP completed 14-of-23 passes for 303 yards and two touchdowns on the way to getting his 119th career win -- all with the Colts.

"I'm very proud to wear the same uniform as (Unitas)," Manning said. "He was very nice to me the times I was around him. I never saw him play, but my dad told me how good he was and what he meant to the city of Baltimore. It's very humbling to be mentioned with (Unitas), but it's a team record."

Indianapolis (2-0) has won its two games this season by a combined six points, and extended its regular-season winning streak to 11 games -- the longest active one in the league.

Dallas Clark was the main beneficiary of the passing attack Monday, catching seven balls for a career-high 183 yards -- including an 80-yard touchdown on the first offensive play of the game. Pierre Garcon caught only one pass in Anthony Gonzalez's absence, but it was a big one - a 48-yard touchdown reception with 3:18 left in the contest.

"I hope we don't have to do it that way," Colts head coach Jim Caldwell said. "We don't go into it thinking we're only going to have one possession in the third quarter. This league is based on possessions. We're not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but we're certainly efficient."

Donald Brown added a 15-yard touchdown -- the first of his career -- for the Colts, who garnered just 61 yards on the ground due to their premier aerial attack.

Ronnie Brown led a dominant Dolphins (0-2) rushing attack with 136 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. Miami's offense held the ball for more than 75 percent of the game, and Chad Pennington was an efficient 22-of-33 for 183 yards and an interception. Ted Ginn, Jr. had 11 catches for 108 yards in defeat.

"It's not about statistics. It's about winning games," Pennington said. "When you have an opportunity to score touchdowns, you can't kick field goals. I'm at a loss for words, I really am."

The Dolphins totaled 239 yards rushing and went 15-for-21 on third down opportunities, but in the end Manning's quick-strike offense proved to be too much.

"It's really disheartening," said Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano. "I don't have to ask you guys how many times you've seen games where you have the ball for 45 minutes...It's exactly the formula to beat that team. Exactly the formula."

With 10 minutes remaining and the game tied, the Dolphins took over on their own 22 and went to the passing attack, a stark difference from the dominating rushing game they used for the first 50 minutes of the contest.

Facing a 3rd-and-5 right away from the 27, Pennington found Ginn in the middle of the field for a 15-yard gain. After two unsuccessful run plays, Pennington hit Ginn again for 21 yards down to the Colts' 34.

The drive stalled from there, and Dan Carpenter's 45-yard field goal attempt split the uprights for a 23-20 lead with 3:50 to play.

But as Manning has done all his career, he led the team to the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@