Miami Dolphins vs. Indianapolis Colts NFL Week 1 Preview, Injury Report, Keys To Victory

Miami Dolphins vs. Indianapolis Colts NFL Week 1 Preview, Injury Report, Keys To Victory

[Music] We are four days away from the season opener for the Miami Dolphins as they travel to Indianapolis to take on the Colts where they are actually underdogs in this game at least as of filming on Wednesday afternoon. One and a half point favorites are the Colts. The overunder is 46 and a2. On today’s show, we are going to preview this matchup with the initial injury report coming out on Wednesday, my keys to victory, and my official game one prediction at the end of the show. I am Nick Rolloff. But I want to get the vibes flowing, folks. Do not jinx it. If you want the Dolphins to start the year 1 and 0 and get a win on Sunday on the road, hit that thumbs up icon. Let’s get a th000 likes. We get 1,000 likes, we win in week one. All right, let’s go through the Dolphins injury report. We’ll look at Indianapolis’s as well. There were three players that did not participate in practice on Wednesday. Ethan Bonner with a hamstring, Darren Waller with a hip, and Jaylen Wright with a knee. We knew Bonner and Wright were not going to be practicing, but Waller of a surprise. McDaniel said it to the media before practice that it was going to be the case. Now, we know what the actual designation is. He is dealing with a hip injury, but all things indicate he still should be ready to roll for week one. I’ll believe it when I see it. Five players were limited at practice on Wednesday. Devon Achan with his calf. Ashton Davis had a calf injury. We finally know what the actual injury was to Davis. We just knew it was lower body. D. Escridge was back at practice in a red non-cont jersey due to a concussion. Must have suffered it last week in practice. Tyreek Hill was limited with an oblique injury and Austin Jackson dealing with a toe injury. Couple observations here. Davis has a real chance to play if he’s limited on Wednesday. Achan talked to the media and said he feels 100%. So, we’re good there. Thank goodness. Tyreek Hill said he’s good to go and feels great. So, no really concern on any of these five guys if we’re going to be honest when it comes to their status for the opening game. The four players were listed as full participants, but on the injury report, which means no concern about their status in week one. Storm Duck with a hip, Julian Hill with a shoulder, Milfanu and Trader Jr. with hamstring injuries. I wanted to showcase every single player that was on the injury report. That’s the point of this video. Um, but I am not concerned about any of these four guys whatsoever. The Indianapolis Colts, in contrast to the Dolphins having 12 players on their injury report, only had one, that being backup running back Tyler Goodson. He was limited with an elbow, which means he is likely going to be ready to roll for week one. So, Colts pretty much healthy. I’ll admit, I feel like the Dolphins are pretty much healthy as well with all their key players on track to play outside of the season ending injury to CO. Um, it seems like everyone important is going to be ready to roll. All right, let’s get into the keys to victory for the Miami Dolphins. Number one, you got to tack their interior offensive line. This is a completely new center and right guard combination for the Colts up front. Then a year ago in 2024, their starting center was Ryan Kelly and then their right guard is Will Fry. Now, Fry only played in about five games before suffering a season ending injury. But point remains that they have two new guys up front in Tanor Bautellini and then Matt Gonalves, the right guard. Now the important thing with Gonalves is that this is his first ever start at right guard. Last season as a rookie, he was a 2024 third round pick. Borellini was a 2024 fourth round pick. So two secondyear guys. Gonaleves played a lot last year actually. He was their swing tackle. He played only at left tackle and right tackle. So with him having his first ever start at right guard, I would anticipate Miami putting a lot of different looks on the interior, whether it’s Chop standing up in front of him, Chub, Jaylen Phillips, Zack Cer lining up over the secondyear center and right guards. I expect this interior pressure for Miami to pay dividends. And it has to, especially when you’re going up against a quarterback like Daniel Jones, who absolutely crumbles under pressure. The strength of this football team is its front seven and pass rush. The Colts offensive line pretty much completely revamped from a year ago. So, let’s put those new faces to work early on. I mean, you just look at what Daniel Jones did last season when facing pressure. It wasn’t good, man. Faced pressure on 37.3% of his drop backs. Had a 44% completion percentage with a bump up in turnover worthy play percentages, as well as he did have a bump of big time throw percentage, but put the ball in harm’s way a lot more and his efficiency fell off a cliff. You also see that his numbers did take a massive dip when he was blitzed as well with the turnover worthy play percentage staying about the same. I would expect Danny Weaver to dial up a lot of exotic blitzes, a lot of different looks with that awesome pass rush to give this interior offensive line a tough first game of the season, but also make sure you put pressure on a quarterback that really struggles when he faces pressure. Number two, go after our good old friend Xavian Howard. I can’t believe this is on the list of keys to victory, and I can’t believe I’m even saying this, but Xavier Howard is listed as the CB2 on the Indianapolis Colts depart. I I really can’t believe it because he was signed in the middle of camp and I was like, I don’t I didn’t anticipate him being ready for week one. And who knows what the snap percentage is going to be for Howard, but he didn’t play last year. He completely didn’t play. He’s like Darren Walder. The last time he was on the football field was in 2023. So him returning to the football field for the first time this Sunday against Miami. Yeah, I want to take advantage of an older corner that has not played in about two years. And when you look at what he did in his final year playing for the Dolphins in 2023, it was one of his worst years of his career. Actually, you look back, his final two years were his worst in 2022 and 2023, according to his stats on Pro Football Focus. like he struggled a ton in with his age up, not being in the I I wouldn’t say football shape because he clearly is, but hasn’t played a real NFL game in two years. Having to go up against Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Wadd, that is a very tough first game back. So, if I am Miami, I am putting a lot of game scripting together to where I am targeting Xavier Howard because I just simply cannot imagine his first game back in two years. He is going to keep up with the speed, route running, and agility that both Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Wadd possess. We got three more keys to victory to get through, but be a sharp name your top key to victory for the Dolphins. My number one was attack their interior offensive line. Let me hear yours. Number three is you got to get off to a hot start. And now this has nothing to do with the X’s and O’s, but it does have to do with us getting a win here because I do think Miami getting in front early is the biggest key for Miami. Like we can’t stay lockep with the Colts through the first three quarters, nor can we fall behind. You look at this stat from a year ago, and I know this is a different football team, and it’s hard to take last year’s stats into this year’s, but it is just a common stat overall if you look at every trend in the NFL. The Colts last season were 0 and6 when rushing less than 25 times last season. It was tied for worst in the NFL in terms of their winning percentage of a team running less than 25 times a game. So, what’s the takeaway from that stat? Well, it’s to force them to throw the football. And what’s the easiest way to force them to throw the football a lot and not be able to run the ball, at least that 25 time benchmark? Well, it’s getting ahead. You get up early. You take a commanding 173 lead. And guess what happens? Oh, they have time against them, which means they need to throw the football to try to get more chunk plays without wasting time like running the football does. And I will say this as well, you put the ball in the hands of Daniel Jones down by two scores late trying to make things happen through the air to come back. Yeah, good things are going to happen for you, not the team that is employing Daniel Jones. So, if you’re able to get out to a two-score lead early and just continue to build on that and sustain a double- digit lead going into the second half, it limits the amount of Jonathan Taylor, we will see. and it makes Daniel Jones have to beat you, which I’ll be honest, I just simply don’t think is possible. We’ll be live on Sunday, so make sure you subscribe for the first watch party of the regular season. I’m fired up for it. Me and Jeffrey Cooperstein live an hour before the game, so noon Eastern time, 11:00 a.m. Central time. We’ll have a tailgate party, pregame, and then be live for the entire four quarter inaugural game of the 2025 season for Miami. It’ll be very exciting. This our thumbnail, you see it. subscribe, click on it, and join us. Number four, I think Ali Gordon has to be involved in this football game. He just does. And it’s crazy to say after knowing where this Dolphins roster was at two months ago, that I would be on my week one preview talking about RRB before coming into training camp needing to be involved in the game plan early on. I think he needs at least seven carries. And I know that you guys will say that’s not that many carries. Well, he is the RB2 folks. I would expect Devon Ham to get probably 15, 16, 17, anywhere in that range. Maybe Ali Gordon gets a couple or gets that seven, eight mark that I want. You see Malik Washington on an ender round. We know Miami likes to get involved there. I would think that that needs to be an absolute thing for the Dolphins here. And we go back to last year once again and look at a staggering number from Indianapolis. The Colts defense last year missed 156 tackles. That was the most in the NFL. Plus, their opponents broke 76 tackles last season, the second most in the NFL. Takeaway, they are not that good of a tackling team. And I know that was a season ago when they brought in some new defenders like Cam Bayham and different in completely different secondary basically with Bayham, Nick Cross, you have Xavier Howard, they brought in Charvarius Ward in free agency. But the point is this, they were not a good tackling team last season. Fourth quarter time, bring in the Bruiser. If you’re winning, Ali Gordon needs to carry the ball a lot in the fourth quarter because they will be tired. they won’t be ready for the physicality that Ali Gordon brings to the table. So if you want to run with Achan for most of the first G, the first part of this game, two, three quarters, and then when it’s fourth quarter time, you’re up seven, you’re up 10, you want to ice this game away, four-minute drill time. Yeah, bring in Ali Gordon and let’s pound him right up the middle. That’s kind of what I want to see here late in this game. Hopefully Miami is the lead, so they’re capable and able to do that. Finishing out the show here in a second, but make sure you take advantage of this huge sale as it is officially time for Dolphins football. $22 off this Dolphins cutoff hoodie. Usually 55, now 33. Go to chatsports.com/mia cututoff sale. Links in description and comments of today’s video. Go grab yours now. Number five. This one goes back to the defense. You have to prepare for the quick throws, the quick passing game. That is what we will see from the Indianapolis Colts. Don’t expect Daniel Jones to dial up a lot of deep shots. They do have a good deep ball wide receiver and Michael Pitman Jr., but they have more guys that are dangerous over the middle of the field. And you look at Daniel Jones average depth of target a year ago playing for the Giants. And I know it’s a different scheme, different team, and different weaponry, but he ranked 19th in all of football in his average depth of target downfield, only going about 7.5 yards down the field every single time he threw the football. And you look at his passing chart a year ago, there is a lot that stands out from this one. He struggles massively throwing deep outside the hashes. a combined four of 24 when he throws 20 yards down the field outside the hashes. Whether it’s left or right, he simply can’t do it. And he puts the ball in harm’s way in the intermediate part of the field over the middle. 74 QB rating, two interceptions, one touchdown, and just over a 50% completion percentage. But you look at his numbers at the line of scrimmage in between the line of scrimmage and 10 yards downfield, his numbers start to look a lot more plausible and not that bad. So I would anticipate Shane Stiken lining up a lot of throws over the middle short, get him in rhythm, easy completions. And the two players that I believe Miami will need to keep an eye on is the wide receiver Josh DS and the tight end Tyler Warren. DS is their slot wide receiver, the former North Carolina Tarheel that has really impressed over his first two seasons of his career. And then the rookie tight end they drafted one spot behind Miami with the 14th overall pick out of Penn State, Tyler Warren. Reports out of Colts camp is that Warren has been very, very impressive. So, I would anticipate Shane Stiken trying to get him involved in their offensive game plan early as well as Josh DS in the slot. Now, we’ll see how the Dolphins line up. Is it going to be three safeties, two corners, three corners, two safeties in their base package, or is it going to be five defensive linemen, the three big headed fellas with two interior guys, two linebackers, and two safeties, two corners? Like, the Dolphins can bring out so many different formations. The point is, you have to know, in my opinion, where DS is at all times in the slot and where Tyler Warren is lined up because it could be in the slot, it could be outside, it could be in the back field, or it could be at the standard tight end position. He’s a guy I’m a little bit nervous about. If you’re looking at weaponies at the Colts offense, so it’s about time to give a score prediction, folks. Predict the score of Dolphins vers Colts. Let me know your thoughts down in the comments. I’m about to give you mine here in one second. I’m gonna have to hold it off just for one more second. Sorry for the tease, folks. But I do feel very good about the Dolphins. Couple fun stats here for all y’all. The Dolphins are 4 and 0 in season opening games. Started by two a tongue of Aloa. When he’s healthy and he starts week one, they win. He averages 319 passing yards per game with seven total touchdowns. He is simply elite in opening games. And in the last three years since Mike McDaniel took over as head coach of the Miami Dolphins, they are 3-0. So Tua is 4-0 as a starter in week one. McDaniels 3 and 0, beating the Patriots at home, beating the Jaguars at home, and beating the Chargers on the road in that unbelievable high-scoring game in 2023. And then when you factor in the Dolphins being undefeated in week one with McDaniel, how about the Colts not winning in their last 11 straight season openers? The last game that the Colts won in their season opener was 2013 against the Oakland. Yes, Oakland Raiders, not the Las Vegas Raiders. That’s how long we have to go back for this. They did tie a team in 2022. Believe it was the Houston Texans. But the point is, Dolphins, they win in their season opener with Tua and McDaniel. The Colts haven’t won a season opener in 11 years, which is why I feel even more confident. Not only the fact that the Dolphins have the better team, they have the better coach, they have the better quarterback, but they have trends on their side as well. So, I think they win by double digits. 2717 is the score that I am going to predict. Um, I feel very good about this. I’ll be honest. I’ll be laying some cheddar down on Dolphins money line. They are underdogs. And I even told producer Coupe, I’m going to alt spread it and take them minus 7 and a half as well. Not a betting expert. Take it with a grain of salt. That’s just how confident I feel in this week one game for the fins. And like I mentioned, we’ll be live on Sunday for week one. So, hit that sub button, lock us in here at the channel, and I hopefully see you there on our watch party this Sunday to kick off the 2025 campaign. [Music]

Miami Dolphins vs. Indianapolis Colts preview, prediction and injury report for this 2025 NFL Week 1 matchup coming at you on Dolphins Today! Miami looks to begin the 2025 NFL Season the right way on the road after missing the NFL Playoffs. Today’s Dolphins YouTube video features the Miami Dolphins injury report and Indianapolis Colts injury report for NFL Week 1. Dolphins Today host Nic Rohloff has the Dolphins keys to victory for their matchup with the Colts. The Dolphins injury news focuses on Tyreek Hill, Darren Waller, and De’Von Achane as they all showed up on the Miami Dolphins week 1 injury report. Tua Tagovailoa, Jaylen Waddle and head coach Mike McDaniel look to pick up a win in the first game of the 2025 NFL Season.

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Miami Dolphins injury report:
Ethan Bonner, CB, Hamstring
Darren Waller, TE, Hip
Jaylen Wright, RB, Knee
De’Von Achane, RB, Calf
Ashtyn Davis, S, Calf
Dee Eskridge, WR, Concussion
Tyreek Hill, WR, Oblique
Austin Jackson, OL, Toe
Storm Duck, CB, Hip
Julian Hill, TE, Shoulder
Ifeatu Melifonwu, S, Hamstring
Dante Trader Jr., S, Hamstring

Indianapolis Colts injury report:
Tyler Goodson, RB, Elbow, Limited

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Miami Dolphins keys to victory for NFL Week 1 vs. Indianapolis Colts:
#1: Attack their IOL
#2: Go after Xavien Howard
#3: Get off to a hot start
#4: Ollie Gordon II must be involved
#5: Prepare for the quick throws

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Miami Dolphins 2025 captains:
Tua Tagovailoa, QB
Bradley Chubb, EDGE
Zach Sieler, DL
Aaron Brewer, C
Jordyn Brooks, LB
Alec Ingold, FB

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Go down in the comments Dolphins fans and answer the following questions:
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