The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS - Peyton Manning visited his hometown Sunday night and humiliated his dad's old team.

Manning became the first NFL quarterback in more than a decade to throw six touchdown passes, leading the Indianapolis Colts past the New Orleans Saints 55-21.

The Colts are 4-0 for the first time since 1996.

Manning went 20-of-25 for 314 yards, with TD tosses that covered 17, 14, 79, 12, 32 and 11 yards. Marvin Harrison caught six passes for 158 yards and three of the TDs.

With his father and former Saint, Archie, watching in the stands, Manning set a team record and came close to the NFL record for most touchdown passes in a game - seven, shared by five players: Sid Luckman, Adrian Burk, George Blanda, Y.A. Tittle and Joe Kapp.

Manning is the first quarterback to throw six in a game since Mark Rypien did it for the Washington Redskins against the Atlanta Falcons on Nov. 10, 1991.

Manning grew up attending games in the Superdome and cheering for the Saints. Archie Manning is the only New Orleans quarterback to go to the Pro Bowl.

How dominant was Indianapolis on both sides of the ball?

The Colts took a 14-0 lead before the Saints (1-3) had a single first down.

On the second play of the game, Saints wide receiver Donte' Stallworth batted a pass into the air, and then into Jim Nelson's hands. Three plays later, Manning hit Ricky Williams for a 17-yard touchdown pass to put Indianapolis up 7-0.

On the Colts' second possession, Manning hit Harrison for a 14-yard score to go up 14-0.

Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks completed 16 of 28 passes for 166 yards with two interceptions. Deuce McAllister carried 17 times for 101 yards.

Indianapolis opened the second half with a 42-yard Vanderjagt field goal. Then Brooks was sacked and fumbled, and Manning threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Dominic Rhodes to put the Colts up 34-10 with 81/2 minutes left in the third quarter.

Carney's 43-yard field goal made it 34-13. Manning added a 32-yarder to Harrison and an 11-yarder to Dallas Clark putting Indianapolis up 48-13 at the end of the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Brooks was sacked and fumbled. Dwight Freeney picked up the ball and ran 19 yards for a touchdown that made it 55-13.

Saints backup quarterback Todd Bouman threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jerome Pathon in the fourth quarter, and a 2-point conversion made it 55-21.

Broncos 20, Lions 16

DENVER - Coming off a win over Oakland and with a trip to Kansas City next on the schedule, Denver was due for a letdown against Detroit.

It happened - of course - but the Broncos still found a way to win thanks to Jake Plummer.

Plummer completed 16 straight passes in the first half and threw for two touchdowns as the Broncos held on to beat the Lions 20-16 Sunday for coach Mike Shanahan's 100th career win.

"I think he responded well to the pressure," Broncos running back Mike Anderson said. "You can tell he's a guy who is getting more and more comfortable with this system. He's starting to really get it."

Even with running back Clinton Portis out with a bruised chest, the Broncos figured to have an easy time with Detroit, which hadn't won on the road in nearly three years

Yeah, right.

With a second rivalry game in three weeks just over the horizon, the Broncos played like they were looking ahead. Denver had just 79 yards rushing, 136 total yards in the second half and let the Lions hang around until the end.

It wasn't until Joey Harrington's fourth-and-10 pass from Detroit's 32-yard fell incomplete that the Broncos secured their fifth 4-0 start in team history.

"It's scary because you only have to have one or two guys who are off their game a little bit and all of a sudden it's a dogfight just like it was today," Shanahan said.

Plummer picked up where he left off last week against the Raiders.

He had his first pass broken up, but didn't miss again until overthrowing Reuben Droughns on the first play of the third quarter. He was 16-for-17 for 185 yards and two TDs at halftime.

Plummer finished 25-for-34 for 277 yards.

"He's that guy, that added dimension that an athletic quarterback gives an offense," Lions coach Steve Mariucci said.

Harrington matched Plummer's two touchdowns after having none in the previous two games, but he wasn't exactly sharp. With tape holding his fingers together, he finished 15-for-33 for 149 yards and missed badly on some of his attempts.

Still, the Lions kept it close.

Denver took a 17-10 lead on Jason Elam's 37-yard field goal late in the third quarter, but Detroit answered with a 43-yard touchdown pass from Harrington to Scotty Anderson to start the fourth.

Jason Hanson had to pull up on the point-after attempt because of a low snap, leaving Denver in the lead.

Elam made it 20-16 on a 41-yard field goal with 3:13 left.

The Lions haven't won away from home since Dec. 17, 2000, against the New York Jets, a span of 18 games.

"I think we grew up a little bit today," Mariucci said. "We have more growing up to do, obviously, but I think we learned something today - that if we play as well as we can, we can beat some teams."

Cowboys 17, Jets 6

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Troy Hambrick went to Dallas coach Bill Parcells with a request. He wanted to help get the running game going.

Hambrick did that and more Sunday against the New York Jets.

He ran for 127 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries as the Cowboys racked up 202 yards on the ground and won 17-6, sending the Jets to their first 0-4 start since 1996.

Parcells, who coached the Jets from 1997-99, is 2-0 against his former teams this season.

The Cowboys (2-1) beat the New York Giants 35-32 in overtime two weeks ago.

Redskins 20, Patriots 17

LANDOVER, Md. - The Washington Redskins thought they had taken over their game with New England with their first fumble recovery of the season.

They nearly blew it in the last two minutes.

Led by Champ Bailey, Washington's defense intercepted Tom Brady three times, while the Redskins were turnover-free as they had 28 rushes and threw just 22 passes in Sunday's victory.The pass attempts were a new low in Steve Spurrier's year-and-a-quarter as head coach.

Leading 6-3 at halftime, the fumble recovery helped them open it to 20-3 in the third quarter. But two touchdown passes by Brady put the Patriots within three points with 2:10 remaining in the game.

The Redskins then mismanaged the clock, throwing two incomplete passes and committing three false-start penalties - both by Pro Bowl tackle Chris Samuels.

Bryan Barker's punt gave the Patriots the ball at Washington's 45 with 1:39 to go, and they drove to the 38 before Brady's fourth-and-3 pass was broken up by Ifeanyi Ohalete.

Patrick Ramsey, who threw just seven times in the second half, finished 10-for-22 for 147 yards.

Brady was 25-for-38 for 289 yards.

Eagles 23, Bills 13

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - Brian Westbrook capped what amounted to a breakthrough for the Philadelphia Eagles' beleaguered offense.

The Eagles, who scored just 10 points in their first two games, were clinging to a three-point lead Sunday over Buffalo when Westbrook's 62-yard touchdown run sealed Philadelphia's win.

Philadelphia (1-2) almost squandered a 16-point edge in the fourth quarter against the Bills, who lost their second straight game after opening the season 2-0.

The Bills managed just 129 net yards of offense through three quarters before Drew Bledsoe closed the gap with a furious fourth-quarter flourish.

He hit Bobby Shaw for a 3-yard touchdown and ran for a score from the 1 to cut the Eagles' lead to 16-13 with 2:49 remaining.

But the Eagles ended Buffalo's comeback hopes on their next possession on Westbrook's carry.

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