MIAMI — Miami had musician Jimmy Buffett, who did a pregame concert. The Dolphins rolled out their “Orange Carpet” treatment for honorary captains Dan Marino and Bob Griese, Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterbacks, and for limited ownership partners Venus and Serena Williams, Gloria and Emilio Estefan and Marc Anthony and his wife, Jennifer Lopez.

The Colts countered with Tiger Woods, quarterback Peyton Manning’s buddy, in blue shirt, on their sideline.

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The stars were out on a muggy, 84-degree South Florida Monday night on which 66,227 filled Land Shark Stadium.

Colts tight end Dallas Clark shone brightest. He caught seven passes for a career-high 183 yards to help the Colts overcome a huge disparity in offensive snaps and the Dolphins 27-23.

Quarterback Peyton Manning’s 48-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Pierre Garcon with 3:18 to play was the game-winner. Garcon resides just up the road from Land Shark, in West Palm Beach.

Safety Antoine Bethea preserved Manning’s 37th game-winning drive by intercepting a Chad Pennington pass in the end zone to snuff the Dolphins’ final bid.

“That was a real fight, just a grind,” said Clark, who scored one touchdown with an 80-yard reception and set up another with a 49-yard catch. “Give credit to the defense. They are going to be sore and tired tomorrow.”

The Colts (2-0) are precocious prime-timers. They have won eight of their past nine appearances on “Monday Night Football,” which celebrated the 40th anniversary of its debut Monday.

They also have won their past 11 regular-season games and their past five road openers, the NFL’s longest such streaks.

The game was of special significance for Manning. It ran his record as a starter to 119-59-0, carried him past John Unitas on the club list and into a tie for fifth with Unitas (119-63-4) on the NFL career list. After 17 seasons with the Baltimore Colts, Unitas won one game with San Diego in 1972, his last season.

Minnesota’s Brett Favre is No. 1 with 171 victories.

Miami (0-2) rushed for 239 yards and controlled the clock for 45:07 to the Colts’ 14:53. Never in NFL history had a team had the ball so little and won. The Dolphins ran 84 plays to the Colts’ 35.

“We took advantage of them,” Colts coach Jim Caldwell said. “That’s sometimes the way it is in this league. It comes down to the last couple possessions.”

The Colts couldn’t stop the run. They missed tackles. They got run over. Running back Ronnie Brown rushed 24 times for 136 yards and two touchdowns.

The Dolphins converted 15-of-21 third downs. The Colts defense couldn’t get off the field and the Colts offense couldn’t stay on it. The Colts ran three plays for minus-1 yard during the third quarter. By the time Brown scored on a 3-yard run to make it 20-13 early in the fourth quarter, Miami had run 61 plays, the Colts 25. Miami had scoring drives of nine, 13, nine, 13 and 10 plays.

“We couldn’t get them stopped enough. That’s something we’re going to have to work on,” Caldwell said.

Miami used direct snaps to Brown in its wildcat formation to keep the Colts off-balance. Those 12 plays produced 107 yards and one touchdown.

The Colts won because Manning and the offense made the most of their few opportunities and Clark piled up the fourth best receiving yardage total by a tight end since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.

The Dolphins frittered away their huge advantages by mysteriously playing for a field goal by diving up the middle on third-and-6 at the Colts 30 on their second-to-last possession, then managing the clock poorly on their final series.

The game was the Colts’ first at Land Shark Stadium since they beat the Chicago Bears 29-17 to win Super Bowl XLI on Feb. 4, 2007.

It also was the first in a seven-day odyssey that will take them from Monday night in Miami to Sunday night in Phoenix and consume seven hours of flight time to cover 2,524 miles.

Figure the Cardinals game to be a tight one. Counting Monday night, 15 of the Colts’ past 23 games, including playoffs, have been decided by seven points or fewer.

Mark of a winner

Quarterback Peyton Manning eclipsed John Unitas’ club record with his 119th career victory Monday night against the Dolphins. Unitas’ 119th win came with the San Diego Chargers. A look at the NFL’s top 10:

[chart]
|Record|Quarterback|
|171-100-0|Brett Favre*|
|148-82-1|John Elway|
|147-93-0|Dan Marino|
|125-109-6|Fran Tarkenton|
|119-59-0|Peyton Manning|
|119-63-4|John Unitas|
|117-47-0|Joe Montana|
|107-51-0|Terry Bradshaw|
|102-98-0|Warren Moon|
|101-59-0|Jim Kelly|
[end chart]

* — active

Manning: Going deep

The longest TD passes of Peyton Manning’s career:

[chart]
|Yds|Player|Opponent|Date|
|86|Marcus Pollard|at New Orleans|Nov. 18, 2001|
|80|Dallas Clark|at Miami|Sept. 21, 2009|
|80|Marvin Harrison|vs. Pittsburgh|Nov. 28, 2005|
|80|Dallas Clark|vs. Houston|Nov. 14, 2004|
|80|Terrance Wilkins|at Philadelphia|Nov. 21, 1999|
[end chart]