The battle of the QBs lived up to its billing but Andrew Luck was the best this day

 

 

When the Colts Head Coach Chuck Pagano delivered the pregame speech to his team it seemed as if the cards were already played. On this day when Pagano took time away from his battle with Leukemia to speak to his team it was the inspiration for a team that is following the golden arm of the brilliant rookie Andrew Luck. Yes, Tannehill was good. But Luck was great. And this was most apparent when the final minutes were in play. Luck needed a winning drive and brilliantly, accurately, drove his team down and scored the go ahead TD. When Tannehill only needed a field goal to tie it, he was tight...the famous "poise" cracking before our eyes as he missed his target throw after throw and then on 4th down threw it short of the needed distance to keep the drive alive. We got to see the difference between being the first overall pick and the eight overall pick. Ryan Tannehill played well and we as Dolphins fans have to feel good about him. But make no mistake about it...Ryan Tannehill is no Andrew Luck. So on this day we gracefully bow and tip our hat to the better man.

 

Of course Luck's day was made so much easier when the Dolphins defense played so poorly. I mean really bad. Maybe the worst game we have seen from a Miami secondary in a long time. It's not like the Colts with Avery and Hilton feature premiere players. But they were consistently wide open against coverage and when the coverage was there they just outplayed the defenders for the ball. The defense looked...flat. Almost complacent. Not the same dominance at the line and pressure on the QBs we have seen. Even the heralded Coyle blitz packages were just ineffective. This was the worst defensive performance of the year and makes you wonder if the defense had gotten a little too cocky and sure of themselves and forgot to bring the fire with them this game. 

 

So now we lick our wounds...and hope that the team can find themselves against the Titans. It really is gut check time. And hopefully they find the answers to their passing defense. If not you know that Tom Brady, Alex Smith, and Russell Wilson or licking their chops down the road.