NFL / Teams & Games

McCord Makes His First Start for Miami in Indianapolis

LIVE — Colts 14, Dolphins 7 at halftime: three second-quarter touchdowns after a scoreless first.

Miles Rook2 min read Updated Nov 15, 2:28 PM ET

Jonathan Taylor in 2022 (archive); Taylor is the Colts' last star standing after their deadline fire sale. Photo: All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Summary

A debut quarterback, a fire sale, and three combined wins — the early window's most honest game.

Tap a passage. React to the part that matters.

LIVE — Colts 14, Dolphins 7 at halftime in Indianapolis. A scoreless first quarter gave way to three second-quarter touchdowns: Seth McGowan's 4-yard run for the Colts, Jalen Tolbert's 34-yard touchdown catch for Miami, and Daniel Jones' 7-yard strike to Laquon Treadwell with 39 seconds left in the half.

Some games are about January. Miami (1-7) at Indianapolis (2-7) is about the men who'll still be employed in January. The Dolphins and Colts meet at Lucas Oil Stadium at 1 p.m. ET on CBS, and the most important player on the field has never started an NFL game.

Kyle McCord gets the start for Miami because Malik Willis is on injured reserve with a core injury. The Dolphins acquired McCord from Green Bay, and his college résumé is real: a 21-4 record as a starter at Ohio State and Syracuse with 61 total touchdown passes. None of that was against an NFL pass rush, and the Colts know it.

Indianapolis spent the last two weeks holding the league's most aggressive fire sale, trading guard Quenton Nelson, defensive tackle DeForest Buckner and receivers Josh Downs and Keenan Allen in four separate deals. Daniel Jones and Jonathan Taylor were expected to go too. They didn't — which leaves the Colts in the odd position of being a rebuilding team whose two best players are still in the building.

That makes Taylor the game's fulcrum. The Colts have lost five straight, and a home game against a first-time starter is the kind of afternoon where a great running back simply decides the result. Miami's counter is to make McCord's debut a short-field, quick-throw exercise and hope the kid's college poise translates.

Indianapolis nearly won the game it was supposed to be dismantled by, losing 27-23 to Dallas last week in what was widely expected to be Jones' and Taylor's final game as Colts. The front office blinked, the stars stayed, and now the Colts get a home game against a debut quarterback with a five-game losing streak to bury.

This story updates live once the game kicks off and closes as the game's full summary at the final whistle.