Quick thoughts from South Florida Sun Sentinel staffers on the Miami Dolphins’ humbling loss to the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday:

Chris Perkins, Dolphins Columnist

The Dolphins didn’t even compete. This was a rough one on offense, defense and special teams. Coaching won’t get a break here, either. This was a total system failure. The Dolphins now face a near must-win game next week at home against New England because they go to Buffalo in Week 3. The Dolphins are 0-4 in Buffalo in the coach Mike McDaniel era.

David Furones, Dolphins Writer

Disastrous start to the season, rivaled only by the 59-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in 2019. Lack of preparation and execution on both sides of the ball. The seat only gets hotter by the minute for coach Mike McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier after an embarrassing season opener.

Steve Svekis, Assistant Sports Editor

One of the true opening-day debacles in Dolphins history. Daniel Jones dissected Miami’s defense with short and intermediate passes and threw in some mobility, and Tua Tagovailoa looked utterly unprepared for what the Colts defense brought at him. This was really one of the more winnable games on paper. Gulp.

Keven Lerner, Assistant Sports Editor

The Dolphins offense somehow looked worse than the Tua-less version that trundled to Indianapolis last year, and the defense was annihilated, where last year, they held up. Where will the wins come from on the rest of this schedule?

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/09/07/instant-analysis-indianapolis-colts-33-miami-dolphins-8/