Dolphins vs. Colts: 10 Keys to the Game for Indianapolis

The Indianapolis Colts (4-3) are coming off of a very emotional road win and return home to take on the surprising Miami Dolphins (4-3). The win for the Colts was their first win away from Lucas Oil Stadium since the end of December in 2010. The overtime victory could propel this team to a great end-of-the-season run.

The Dolphins are also coming off of a great divisional win on the road. They surprised the New York Jets by dominating them and coming out ahead. Miami is 2-2 on the road this season and coming into Indianapolis the winners of their last three games.

If Indianapolis is going to win, this is what it's going to have to do on Sunday.

Don't Beat Yourself

The Colts have been finding ways to try to lose games this year. They did that against the Jets a few weeks ago and did so against the Tennessee Titans last Sunday.

Indianapolis left four opportunities of guaranteed points off the board last Sunday. They were in scoring distance four times and left with zero points. Mix that with four 15-yard penalties against the Titans, a missed Rob Bironas field goal and a crucial jumping offsides penalty when the Colts fumbled, and the Titans tried to give the game away. The Colts weren't wanting to take it until the end.

With a young team like the Colts, they can't afford to give games away and not take the opportunities for win when given to them. Miami is a young team too and will give the Colts chances for the win.

They need to take them for once and ride off with an easy win.

Win the Turnover Battle

The Colts have been giving the ball up too often lately. That has to stop. No more interceptions, fumbles or sacks with fumbles. It's time to maximize possessions and win the game in the trenches.

The NFL has been a game of inches this year. Most of the games have been decided by turnover margins. Teams that turn the ball over more than their opponents lose more than 80 percent of the time.

The Dolphins are an inexperienced team and can sure turn the ball over.

If the Colts can limit turnovers to basically none, they will win this football game. That's crucial, as the defense hasn't been giving the offense help in that battle. They rarely make turnovers for the opposition, but if the offense can get out unscathed, the Colts will win.

Protect Your Home Turf

The Colts have been extremely good in the friendly confines of Lucas Oil Stadium this season. They're 3-1 so far this year at home and are arguably one bad defensive play away from being 4-0.

The defense usually plays stout, and the offense looks much crisper at home. They need to play to that level on Sunday.

If games with the Vikings, Packers and even the Browns were on the road, the Colts more than likely would have been beaten.

Also, the Colts struggle on the road, despite their win on Sunday. The remaining road games are at Jacksonville, New England, Detroit, Kansas City and Houston. All of those places are hard to play in, despite a few of those teams having bad records. If the Colts want a shot at the playoffs, they have to win at home.

Crowd Noise

This kind of goes with the last slide, but the home crowd is such an advantage for the Colts and the reason they should be 4-0 at home this year.

The defense seems to play much faster and gets more stops at home. That's all due to the crowd noise and the team feeding off of it. With Miami being such a young team, the crowd can sway this game to a win no matter what happens.

Look at the Green Bay game. That game was won with the emotion of the crowd. The players fed off of that in the second half and made a miraculous comeback. The crowd needs to be loud and emotional on Sunday.

Too many times at games with early start time starts, the crowd is lethargic and not into it. If it's not a big game—like when the Packers or Patriots are coming to town—the crowd is kind of quiet and sitting down until it needs to be loud. Why do you think the team gets crucial stops in the end of games when needed?

If the fans would realize this, cheer and get loud all game, the Colts could seal it off earlier. This game is on you, Colts fans.

Defense Needs to Make a Play

Head coach Bruce Arians must be looking for his defense to make a play. They can't keep doing just enough to get by. Someone needs to go above and beyond.

The Colts have failed to do this all season. No one wants to get an interception, force a fumble or get a sack-fumble. The defense is content with giving up yardage and stopping opponents eventually to force punts or field goals.

That's not good enough for today's NFL.

It's time for Indianapolis to finally force some turnovers. The defense needs to help the offense out. It gives up way too many long drives. The Dolphins have been intercepted six times this year and sacked 14 times. They're due to make mistakes, and the Colts need to finally capitalize.

Continue Success on the Ground

The Colts have done much better the last two weeks on the ground, and they need to keep doing that. If you look at the games they've won, they rushed for near or over 100 yards in all of them. In the games they lost, they failed to get ground game going.

Sunday will be another test, as the Dolphins are the third-best team in the league against the rush. They only give up 82 yards per game on the ground. Compare that to the Colts averaging 107.1 yards per game on the ground.

The Colts need to get at least to their average, if not better, if they want to win.

The Dolphins have such a good rush defense that they can afford to send all-out pass blitzes at the quarterback. They have 22 sacks on the year and have eight interceptions. Cameron Wade has 7.5 sacks just by himself, so the Colts need to counter that with a solid run game.

It's been no secret that the Colts offensive line has struggled to protect Andrew Luck. If it weren't for Luck's ability to get out of the pocket and extend plays, they could be winless right now. They struggled last Sunday to keep Luck off his back, but where they helped him is finding out ways to build holes for the run game.

The Colts figured that out and did nearly all play-action passes in the second half of the Titans game, having great success doing so. The rush kept the defense honest and allowed Luck a bit more time to hit open guys.

The Colts have to do this on Sunday. I can't put enough importance on that.

The Dolphins are going to bring pressure and are going to be ball-hawking. If Indianapolis can get a solid running game going, it will negate that and give the Colts enough time to score points.

The game will be decided on the Colts' rushing total. If they're below 100 team yards, they will likely lose.

Getting Healthy at the Right Time

The Colts have been one of the most banged-up teams in all the NFL this year. They've been without many key starters on both sides of the ball and have had to rely on backups and rookies.

That's actually led them to a 4-3 record, and the future looks bright now, as the key players are all getting healthier.

Last week, the Colts got Donald Brown, Joe Reitz and Cory Redding back. The week before that, they got Vontae Davis and Pat Angerer back. Davis suffered an injury last Sunday, and his status for this week is unknown, but most of the others left on the injury report should be back.

This could be the first full game in which the Colts will have Redding, Angerer, Fili Moala, Drake Nevis, Robert Mathis, Dwight Freeney, Kavell Conner and Jerrell Freeman all healthy on the defense. It also will be the second straight game the Colts have had four valuable running backs healthy.

This gives the Colts depth and can keep fresh guys on the field at all times, as the backups have earned more minutes and playing time. That could be troublesome for the Dolphins, as the Colts could be lights out on Sunday.

Stopping the Run

The Colts have done a pretty good job at stopping the run at home. Without one big rush by Maurice Jones-Drew, they would have held all the running backs they've played against at Lucas Oil Stadium under 100 yards. That's a big key to their winning success at home.

Sunday, the Dolphins bring in an explosive rushing attack. They have Reggie Bush, who has 493 yards already this season on 112 attempts. He is tied for a team-high three touchdowns on the ground.

Miami also has backups Daniel Thomas, who has 155 yards on 51 attempts, and Lamar Miller, with 23 carries for 126 yards. Thomas is tied with Bush for three touchdowns, while Miller has reached the end zone once.

The Dolphins have scored eight of their 13 total touchdowns on the ground. Their rushing attack gives way to home-run deep plays. They rely on that due to the receivers being below average.

If the Colts can get stops and stuff the run, the Dolphins will be forced to beat them through the air. They haven't proven to be able to do that this year, as they've had a solid running game in all of the games they've won.

If the Colts can keep the Dolphins backs all under 60 yards, they should win this game.

Pressure the Quarterback

It doesn't matter who lines up behind center for Miami on Sunday; the Colts just need to get a solid pass rush going. When they do, they're tough to be beat. The crowd noise helps the team get energy, and they get stops and create turnovers that way.

Look at the Packers game. The Colts sacked Aaron Rodgers five times in the second half. That prevented them from doing anything through the air, as he even threw an interception.

That allowed the Colts to stage a miraculous comeback.

If Indianapolis can get a good pass rush and stop the run, Miami may not reach 10 points. The Dolphins don't have any star power besides Reggie Bush, and that will surely get the Colts the W.

The Dolphins have given up 14 sacks this season, so they're susceptible to giving up hits on the quarterback. With the Colts finally getting healthy, they should get effectively rush the quarterback on Sunday.

I'd expect Freeney and Mathis to each get at least a sack and someone else on the defense to get a few and an interception.

That gives the Colts all they need to move to 5-3.

Andrew Luck

If the Colts can't get a run game going on Sunday, the victory is going to come down to how well Andrew Luck plays. The Dolphins are sure to bring a pass rush, as they've had 22 sacks on opposing quarterbacks this season. Luck needs to be mobile and think quickly.

Luck also needs to be accurate. Indianapolis can't afford turnovers and ill-advised throws.

Many people are saying RGIII would have been the better pick for the Colts, but they're failing to see how solid Luck has been. He needs the same poise he's had all year and to start hitting targets instead of overthrowing them.

If Luck can be accurate and lead Indianapolis to some touchdowns, they will win.

If he's off target, rattled and throwing interceptions, the Colts will lose.