The Miami Dolphins went into the mile high city to face future hall of fame quarterback Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. Both teams were hobbled by injuries, but especially the Dolphins, who lost starting left tackle Brandon Albert, who was lost for the year earlier this season, and left corner Cortland Finnegan, who has been out with an injury and hasn't been able to make a return. This game brought more injuries to both sides. Aqib Talib left the game early for Denver, but it was Miami who suffered disastrous injuries in this game, with this year's 1st round draft pick right tackle Ja'Wuan James helped out of the field in the 2nd quarter, and out for the rest of the game, and 2nd round pick from a year ago corner Jamar Taylor, who left the game in agonizing pain and who was in for the injured Finnegan.
It was the Dolphins who jumped out in front early, when Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill led his normally slow starting offense all the way down the field for a touchdown. Denver tried to answer back but only managed to score 3 points. Both teams failed to produce any points on their ensuing drives and the 1st quarter ended with Miami leading Denver 7 to 3. The Dolphins marched down the field and Miami scored another TD in the early minutes of the 2nd period. The score was now 14 to 3. Manning answered back later in the 2nd quarter with the first Denver touchdown, and Tannehill replied for Miami with a touchdown of his own, when he connected with Mike Wallace. The score was now 21 to 10 in Miami's favor but in the last minutes of the 2nd half, the Broncos scored their 2nd TD and the score at halftime was Miami 21, Denver 17.
Miami has owned the 3rd quarter this year and as the Broncos' offense took the field at the start of the 2nd half, the expectation was for Miami's dominance of the period to continue. The Broncos failed to score any points on the opening drive of the 3rd quarter, but the Dolphins' ensuing possession did not fair any better and had to punt the ball. Denver's Isaiah Burse fumbled the punt on the return which the Dolphins' recovered at the Denver 12, and went on to score Miami's 4th touchdown of the game. Miami's lead was again 11. That would be the Dolphins' last score until late in the 4th quarter.
What happened next and through most of the final period of the game, was total domination by the Broncos on offense and defense. Denver's offensive and defensive coordinators Jack del Rio and Adam Gase managed to adjust to the Dolphins and take advantage of Miami's many injuries, keeping Miami scoreless for most of the quarter and scoring 22 unanswered points which put Denver ahead 39 to 28. Ryan Tannehill brought the Dolphins back to score 8 points with 1:39 left in the game, but failed to catch the onside kick and went on to lose the game by the final score of 36 to 39.
The Broncos weren't known as a running team going into this game, and yet they ran the ball very effectively. The Dolphins' defense was ranked #2 in the NFL against the run and yet failed to stop the Broncos on the ground. Everything that was expected going into this game did not happen, and the contest in the mile high city turned out very different from what had been predicted. Injuries, altitude and Denver's ability to make adjustments at halftime, sealed the fate for the Dolphins who now fall to 6–5 and see their playoff hopes take a hard hit, with 5 games left to play in the season and a depleted offensive line. Denver survives a superb Dolphins team and stays one game ahead of Kansas City in the Western division on the AFC. This was, at the end of the day, a hard fought contest on both sides, one that lived up to the billing, the young against the old, the future against the past, perhaps even the present.