Editing Indianapolis Colts (section)

====Miami Dolphins====
{{more citations needed|section|date=April 2022}}
Baltimore's post [[NFL-AFL merger]] passage to the AFC saw them thrust into a new environment with little in common with its fellow divisional teams: the [[New York Jets|Jets]], [[Miami Dolphins]], [[Buffalo Bills]], and [[Boston Patriots]]. One angle where Baltimore and Miami did have something in common, however, came in new Miami coach [[Don Shula]]. Shula had coached the Colts the previous seven pre-merger seasons (1963–69) and was signed by [[Joe Robbie]] after the merger was consummated; because the signing came after the merger the NFL's rules on [[tampering (sport)|tampering]] came into play, and the Dolphins had to give up their first-round pick to the Colts.

Powered by QB [[Earl Morrall]] Baltimore was the first non-AFL franchise to win a division title in the conference, outlasting the Miami Dolphins by one game, and leading the division since Week 3 of [[1970 NFL season|1970]]. The two franchises were denied a playoff confrontation by Miami's first-round defeat to the [[Oakland Raiders]], whereas Baltimore won its first Super Bowl title that year.

Yet in 1971, the teams were engaged in a heated race that went down to the final week of the season, where Miami won its first division title with a 10–3–1 title compared to the 10–4 Baltimore record after the Colts won the Week 13 matchup between them at home, but proceeded to lose the last game of the season to Boston. In the playoffs, Baltimore advanced to the AFC title game after a 20–3 victory over the Cleveland Browns, while Miami won in double overtime against the [[Kansas City Chiefs]]. This set up a title game that was favored for the defending league champion Colts. Yet Miami won the AFC championship with a 21–0 shutout and advanced to lose [[Super Bowl VI]] to Dallas. In 1975 Baltimore and Miami tied with 10–4 records, yet the Colts advanced to the playoffs based on a head-to-head sweep of their series. In 1977 Baltimore tied for first for the third straight year (in 1976 they tied with the now-New England Patriots) with Miami, and this time advanced to the playoffs on even slimmer pretenses, with a conference record of 9–3 compared to Miami's 8–4, as they had split the season series. The rivalry in the following years was virtually negated by very poor play of the Colts; the Colts won just 117 games in the twenty-one seasons (1978–98) that bracketed their 1977 playoff loss to the [[1977 Oakland Raiders season|Oakland Raiders]] and the 1999 trade of star running back [[Marshall Faulk]]; this included a 0–8–1 record during the NFL's strike-shortened 1982 season.

In 1995, now as Indianapolis, the two both posted borderline 9–7 records to tie for second against [[1995 Buffalo Bills season|Buffalo]], yet the Colts once again reached the post-season having swept the season series. The following season they edged out Miami by posting a 9–7 record and winning the ordinarily meaningless 3rd-place position but qualifying for the wild card. The two clubs' [[1999 Miami Dolphins season|1999]] [[1999 Indianapolis Colts season|meetings]] were dramatic affairs between [[Pro Football Hall of Fame|Hall of Fame-bound]] [[Dan Marino]] and up-and-coming star [[Peyton Manning]]. Marino led a 25-point fourth-quarter comeback for a 34–31 Dolphins win at the [[RCA Dome]], and then in [[Hard Rock Stadium|Miami]] Marino led another comeback to tie the game 34–34 with 36 seconds remaining; Manning, however, drove the Colts in range for a 53-yard field goal as time expired (37–34 Colts win).

The last truly meaningful matchup between the two franchises was in the 2000 season, when Miami edged out Indianapolis with an 11–5 record for the division championship. The two then met in the wild-card round where the Dolphins won in overtime 23–17 before [[2000 Oakland Raiders season|being blown out by Oakland 27–0]] (the Colts themselves had suffered a bitter loss to the Raiders in Week 2 of the season when the Raiders erased a 24–7 gap to win 38–31). In [[2002 Indianapolis Colts season|2002 the Colts]] moved to the newly created [[AFC South]] division; the two clubs met at the [[RCA Dome]] on September 15 where the Dolphins edged the Colts 21–13 after stopping a late Colts drive. The rivalry was effectively retired after this; the two clubs did meet in a memorable ''[[Monday Night Football]]'' matchup in 2009 where the Colts, despite having the ball for only 15 minutes, defeated the Dolphins 27–23.

The rivalry saw a rekindling after the [[2012 NFL draft]] brought new quarterbacks to both teams in [[Ryan Tannehill]] and Luck. The two met during the 2012 season with Luck breaking the rookie record for passing yards in a game in a 23–20 win over the Dolphins, but Tannehill and the Dolphins beat the Colts 24–20 the next season. The Dolphins win began a slump for Luck and the Colts against [[AFC East]] teams (eight straight losses by the Colts) that ended in December 2016 against the [[2016 New York Jets season|Jets]], when they defeated them by a score of 41–10. As of the 2023 season, the Dolphins lead the all-time series 48–28.<ref>{{Cite web |title=All Matchups, Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts vs. Miami Dolphins |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/game_query.cgi?tm1=clt&tm2=mia&yr=all |access-date=2024-08-18 |website=[[Pro Football Reference]] |language=en}}</ref>