MIAMI (AP) – With a little luck and a lot of help, Peyton Manning broke his losing steak against the Miami Dolphins.

Manning threw for 266 yards, survived a potentially disastrous interception in the closing moments, and the Indianapolis Colts beat Miami 23-17 Sunday.

Indianapolis and Manning had lost four games in a row to the Dolphins, and he’s just 3-8 against them. But a fluke completion helped the Colts take the lead for good, and they turned away a scoring threat by Miami with two minutes left when Brian Griese lost a fumble.

The Colts improved to 7-1, matching their best start since 1977. Only Kansas City (8-0) has a better record.

The Dolphins fell to 5-3, the same record they had at midseason in 2002, when they missed the playoffs. All of their defeats have been at home. With the help of two Colts turnovers, Miami tried to rally from a 23-14 deficit in the final four minutes.

After Olindo Mare’s 23-yard field goal trimmed the margin to six, Terrell Buckley intercepted Manning by stepping in front of a short pass intended for Reggie Wayne, giving the Dolphins the ball at the Colts 15 with 2:45 left. But on second down Griese fumbled when sacked by Dwight Freeney. Raheem Brock recovered, and Indy ran out the clock.

The ball also bounced Indianapolis’ way on a pivotal play in the second quarter. A pass by Manning slipped through the hands of Marvin Harrison to teammate Marcus Pollard for a 51-yard gain, setting up the field goal at the end of the first half that put Indy ahead to stay.

Manning threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Troy Walters, and the Colts controlled the ball for nearly 38 minutes, in part because their defense was so stingy.

Miami’s Ricky Williams ran for just 36 yards on 13 carries, his fifth consecutive game under 100 yards. Griese, making his second start in a row with Jay Fiedler sidelined by a sprained knee, was 18-for-29 for 231 yards. He lost two fumbles, both forced by Freeney.

Indy’s Mike Vanderjagt kicked field goals of 50, 44 and 25 yards. He’s 21-for-21 this season and has made his past 25 attempts dating to last season.

Edgerrin James ran 26 times for 89 yards against a defense hurt by uncharacteristically sloppy tackling.

Still, Miami led for most of the first half until that odd completion gave the Colts the momentum.

With rain falling, a short pass slithered through the hands of Harrison and was caught 10 yards farther downfield by a wide-open Pollard, who sprinted to the 11.

Pollard caught a touchdown pass on the next play, but the score was negated by a holding call on Ryan Diem. As the half ended, Indianapolis settled for a 25-yard field goal and a 9-7 lead.

Harrison also dropped a pass that would have given the Colts a first down in the third period, and he lost a fumble in the final quarter.

But he was sure-handed on a flea-flicker, curling back to catch an underthrown pass by Manning for a 30-yard gain. That led to a 1-yard touchdown run by James to put the Colts ahead 16-7.

The Dolphins needed only four plays to answer. Griese threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Chris Chambers – the first catch by a Miami wide receiver – to make the score 16-14.

Manning capped a 91-yard drive with the scoring pass to Walters with 9:40 left.

Harrison’s fumble at midfield gave the Dolphins a chance to rally. They had a first down at the Colts 5 but settled for Mare’s field goal with 3:10 remaining.

AP-ES-11-02-03 1629EST