*The Indianapolis Colts (7-8) momentarily kept their razor-thin playoff hopes alive with an ugly 18-12 victory over the hapless Dolphins (5-10) in Miami. Here's what we learned: *
- Frank Gore is simply incredible. He has the most rushing yards for a Colts running back since 2007 and, with 85 yards and two TDs on Sunday, gave himself an outside shot at having his ninth 1,000-yard season in his last 10 seasons. His 37-yard touchdown run, which was created by a nice block but continued by Gore's incomparable center of gravity and balletic balance, was one of the few highlights from this one.
- What a disaster the Colts' quarterbacking situation has become. Charlie Whitehurstcame in and aided in the victory, but even rookie Stephen Morris was warming up by the end of the afternoon. The shots of Whitehurst limping on the sideline past Matt Hasselbeck, who left the game early with a shoulder injury and had to be placed in a sling, and an injured Andrew Luck were just depressing.
- Jarvis Landry is fantastic. He and Odell Beckham have teamed up to deliver five of the best catches we've seen all season. This one-armed highlight reel edition showed us what we have believed all season -- Landry is the one Miami Dolphins player consistently giving 100 percent. DeVante Parker is also finally healthy and caught a deep ball that flashed some of his potential. If there is a head coach out there confident he can build up Ryan Tannehill, this is not a bad gig to walk into.
- Dolphins interim head coach Dan Campbell was grounded in the Bill Parcells coaching school, and there's something to be said about a philosophy you believe in. But when you are trailing by nine points in the fourth quarter on fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line, why just take the points? What on Earth is the reward for conservatism there? As Bruce Arians says, no risk-it, no biscuit. The Dolphins could have had a field goal to win it at the end of the game, but instead tried to put it on a battered Tannehill's back.
- Though this will be buried, it's worth noting that Adam Vinatieri hit his 500th career field goal on Sunday in Miami, placing him third all-time in NFL history and first among active kickers. Specialists sometimes don't get the recognition they deserve and the Hall of Fame is just now coming around to punters. Thankfully, Vinatieri's big-game chops won't make this much of a debate. He's one of the greatest to ever play the game.
