As Sunday afternoon pressed on, the Colts collectively realized if they were going to beat the Miami Dolphins, they were going to have to win in ugly fashion. This mostly applied to an offense that struggled to move the ball for large portions of this game – they went three-and-out on six of their 12 possessions – and it meant a handful of little things became significant in a low-scoring, six-point victory.

We'll start 5 Colts Things today with three little things that made a big difference.

1. The first little thing: Anthony Richardson was pressured but not sacked.

This is not meant to paper over Richardson's 10-of-24, 129-yard afternoon, which head coach Shane Steichen shouldered the blame for after the game ended.

"I've got to put him in better positions," Steichen said. "And you go back, and we'll watch the tape, but I mean, there wasn't a lot of stuff open, to be honest, when I was out there watching it. So that's on me. I've got to be better."

Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver was consistently unpredictable his fronts, coverage schemes and blitz packages, which worked in concert to make things difficult for the Colts' offense. Richardson was blitzed on 19 of his 29 dropbacks, with 12 of those blitzes generating pressure and seven of those pressures coming within 2.5 seconds of the snap. Richardson completed six of 14 passes for 59 yards and scrambled five times when blitzed; on those seven quick pressures, he completed one of five passes for five yards and scrambled twice.

The Colts, of course, would've liked to have found more answers for Miami's defense on Sunday. But in lieu of those answers, Richardson didn't allow the Dolphins to turn any of those pressures into momentum-generating sacks – or, worse, turnovers. Richardson's one turnover came when he dropped a snap before a mesh point with running back Tyler Goodson in the first quarter.

One example: Midway through the third quarter, with the score tied at 10 and the ball on the Colts' 16-yard line, Miami sent a five-man pressure with cornerback Jalen Ramsey sprinting unblocked toward Richardson's blindside. As Richardson set his feet to throw, Ramsey connected with him, wrapping his arms around the quarterback's torso. Richardson held on to both the ball and his balance, and as Ramsey spun him around in an attempt to bring him to the ground, Richardson managed to get a pass off that landed on the Dolphins' sideline, but was very much in the vicinity of tight end Mo Alie-Cox and wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr.

On the next play, Ramsey again blitzed and generated an unblocked pressure, with Richardson narrowly avoiding a fumble on an attempted pass.

"They do a good job mixing it up with their fronts and their coverages and their rolodex and stuff," Steichen said. "And credit to them, they did a really good job. But like I said, I've got to be better for our offense."

Still, Richardson became the fourth quarterback this season to be pressured at least a dozen times in a game and not be sacked, per Pro Football Focus:

It's not easy to win the way the Colts did on Sunday – quarterbacks are 4-17 over the last five seasons when completing under 42 percent of at least 20 pass attempts – and this team readily acknowledged they need to clean plenty of things up heading into Week 8's AFC South showdown against the Houston Texans. But sacks create momentum, and Richardson didn't open that door no matter how much pressure the Dolphins were able to get on him.

"Anthony did a hell of a job not taking the sacks," Steichen said. "I think that kind of goes unnoticed a lot of times. He's in the backfield and Ramsey's all over him, spinning out of it and making a play to have to throw it away or get out of the pocket. They did a good job with their pressure package but I thought our guys overall handled some things pretty well on the fly and adjusted on the sideline."

2. The second little thing: Michael Pittman Jr.'s block late in the fourth quarter.

Facing a third-and-four on the Dolphins' 30-yard line with 3:36 left in the game, Steichen called a designed run for Richardson. A Miami stop would mean kicker Matt Gay would need to hit about a 45-yard field goal to give the Colts a six point lead; more importantly, it'd give possession back to the Dolphins for a shot at a game-winning touchdown with just under three and a half minutes left.

Before the snap, the Colts sent running back Tyler Goodson in motion to the right, but unexpectedly, linebacker/edge rusher Chop Robinson went with him. Robinson, though, followed Goodson back toward the formation just before the snap and wound up exactly where the Colts wanted him.

Richardson took the direct snap and sprinted to his right (the field side of the play). Right guard Dalton Tucker and center Ryan Kelly locked up defensive tackle Da'Shawn Hand while right tackle Braden Smith worked into space ahead of Richardson.

The play worked, though, because of a hole opened up by wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. Pittman quickly got his hands on Chop Robinson, Miami's 2024 first-round pick, and pinned the 6-foot-3, 254 pound rookie as tight end Kylen Granson cleared out safety Marcus Maye, creating a lane for Richardson to run through for an eight-yard gain. Pittman's block was highlighted in an offensive meeting on Monday by offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter as the block of the game.

"It was a big-time play by Pitt," Steichen said.

With a fresh set of downs, the Colts were able to bleed another minute and a half off the clock before Matt Gay connected on a field goal after Miami called its final timeout. Which brings us to...

3. The third little thing: Forcing the Dolphins to burn a timeout in the fourth quarter.

With the score tied at 10 and just under nine minutes remaining, the Colts brought out their field goal unit for a 22-yard attempt after Richardson's third-and-goal pass from the four-yard line fell incomplete. As the Dolphins subbed on their field goal block unit, Richardson and Kelly ran back on to the field, with the Colts' kicking battery – Gay, holder Rigoberto Sanchez and long snapper Luke Rhodes – lining up in a trips formation as wide receivers to the left. On the right were tight ends Mo Alie-Cox and Drew Ogletree.

"For a second I thought, Jalen Ramsey was going off the field, I thought he was going to be marking me for a second – I had a route planned for him that I was going to get back on one my old teammates (with the Los Angeles Rams)," Gay said, tongue firmly planted in cheek. "That was one of those fade balls, go up in the corner jump ball, go get it Michael Pittman style."

Confusion followed for Miami, and head coach Mike McDaniel sprinted about 50 yards to call his first timeout of the second half. After the timeout, the field goal unit stayed on the field, with Gay connecting on the go-ahead chip shot. The impact this bit of gamesmanship had, though, became pronounced as the clock increasingly worked against Miami later in the game.

"Those are the type of special plays that win or lose games," linebacker Zaire Franklin said. "Shane making that (call) and getting them to burn a timeout, that helped us win the game."

The Dolphins were only able to stop the clock twice with timeouts on the Colts' nine-play, 36-yard possession, which began with 5:23 left in a 13-10 game. That meant when Miami got the ball back down 16-10, they had 1:54 to drive 70 yards for a game-winning touchdown.

As Miami drove down the field, time continued to bleed off the clock. Two key moments in the final two minutes: Wide receiver Tyreek Hill started jawing with Franklin after an eight-yard catch (his only reception of the day) to open the drive, leading to a 21-second gap between Miami's first and second snap of the possession; cornerbacks Jaylon Jones and Kenny Moore II tackled running back De'Von Achane in bounds after a minus-one-yard reception with under 30 seconds left, which forced quarterback Tim Boyle to spike the ball on third-and-two at the Colts' 33-yard line. Boyle's incomplete pass on the ensuing fourth down sealed the Colts' win.

The clock was always going to work against the Dolphins late in Sunday's game. Through preparation and quick thinking by Steichen and the folks in the coaches booth – including game manager Charlie Gelman – the Colts were able to put even more time-related pressure on Miami on Sunday.

"There's opportunities for them," Steichen said of everything that led to Miami calling that first timeout. "They don't come up all the time, but there's spots on the field and situations in the game where you can use those things. Does it work every time, no, but it came to fruition obviously last week. And that was a big one because they had no timeouts when they got the ball back."

4. No matter Miami's QB situation, the Colts' smothering of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle was impressive.

By just about every measure, Sunday was one of the least productive games in the respective careers of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.

For Hill, his output was comparable with several games from his rookie season (2016), two games in which he got hurt (2019) and an end-of-the-season game with nothing to play for (2022).

Taking all that into account, there's an argument to be made Sunday was the smallest impact Hill has made on a full game since his rookie year, when he hadn't yet become the dominant receiver he's proven to be; in that 2018 game, he was at least targeted six times.

Waddle, meanwhile, set a new career low in targets (two, his previous low was four), tied a career low in receptions (one) and had his second-lowest yardage output (11).

"Really just communication, staying disciplined, executing the game plan — coaches put us in great positions to play today," Jones said. "We just executed the game plan and did our job."

The Dolphins, even in digging deep into their quarterback depth chart (Tyler Huntley and then Boyle, who replaced an injured Huntley in the second half), were either unable or unwilling to get the ball to Hill and Waddle. Both players ran a handful of downfield routes the Colts had covered; pressure affected both Huntley and Boyle, too, which didn't allow them to rip throws to those two speedy wideouts.

Defensive coordinator Gus Bradley called for plenty of two-high safety coverages designed to take away Hill and Waddle, and it worked. No matter who was behind center for Miami – it's absolutely notable that Hill and Waddle had easily their least productive combined game since becoming teammates three years ago, and individually Sunday was among the least productive games of each player's career.

5. One bit of perspective on the Colts' schedule.

The Colts are 4-3 despite facing a gauntlet of opposing defenses to begin the season:

It's not like the Colts' schedule lightens up much, too: They face the Texans again in Week eight, then the Minnesota Vikings (5.1 yards/play allowed, 6th) on Sunday Night Football in Week 9. They also have games remaining against the New York Jets in Week 11 (4.8 yards/play allowed, 4th) and Denver Broncos in Week 15 (4.4 yards/play allowed, first).

To put it another way: The only team currently in the top 10 in yards per play allowed the Colts do not face this year is the Los Angeles Chargers (8th).

By points per game, the Colts have faced or will face nine teams in the top 12: Pittsburgh (14.4, 2nd), Denver (15.1, 3rd), Chicago (16.8, 4th), Minnesota (17.8, 6th), Buffalo (19.4, 8th), Detroit (20.0, 9th), Green Bay (20.4, 10th), the New York Jets (20.7, 11th) and the New York Giants (21.3, 12th).