Indianapolis Colts vs Miami Dolphins: Overcoming injuries on offense

Brissett out

Colts don't have much luck with their QB's this season. Days before the start of the season, Andrew Luck decided that he is going to retire. That decision offered an opportunity to Jacoby Brissett to step up and be the leader of this team. And he's been doing well so far, but unfortunately, he got injured in the first half of the Steelers game. One of his guards got pushed back and landed awkwardly on the side of Brissett's leg injuring his knee. Luckily, he only hurt his MCL. It's an injury that can be played through, but Colts obviously didn't feel the need to force their starting quarterback back in play against Miami.

Chad Kelly got lifted from the practice squad, while Brian Hoyer got another opportunity, after playing the majority of the game in Pittsburgh last week. And he was pretty good. Aside from that interception by Fitzpatrick that was returned for a 99-yard touchdown, Hoyer was composed, accurate and managed to move the offense down the field. That is not a huge surprise, considering his experience in the league. He was in these kinds of situations many times before. Also, he is protected by a very solid offensive line. They are running the ball efficiently through Marlon Mack, so the supporting cast is not bad at all. He will not be asked to do too much here. Managing the game and avoiding turnover will probably be enough for an easy victory.

Dissmising 0-16 talk

Miami won its first game of the season last week. Considering how poorly they looked on the field since the beginning of the season, there was a lot of talk about them possibly going 0-16 this year. But coach Brian Flores was having none of that. He is looking to lay some solid foundation at the beginning of his tenure as a Dolphins head coach and being ok with losing will obviously not be part of it.

Putting veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick back under center helped them a lot on offense. His elusiveness and ability to make off-script plays is very valuable when you don't have a very good offensive line. Their passing game is what earned them a win over the Jets. But I don't think there are great chances for them to repeat that kind of performance on the road in Indianapolis. Especially after Preston Williams tore his ACL last week. Defensively, they are simply lacking talent. There are some bright spots such as LB Jerome Baker, but without Reshad Jones and Xavien Howard in their secondary, they are not doing a great job at covering opposing receivers.

Colts vs Dolphins best bet

Miami is probably feeling lucky that they don't have to deal with TY Hilton today. But there are few sneaky options that are flying under the radar in the market, that are able to take adventage of their poor coverage unit. First one that comes to mind is Zach Pascal. He is in very good form at the moment, coming off a 5 catches/76 yards game vs Steelers. He had couple of bad outings this season, where he stayed below 10 yards, but right now he's a clear No.1 option with a favorable matchup. There is a danger that Colts jump out into a double digit lead and become very run-heavy in the second half. But I still believe that this line is at least 10 yards too short.