By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

INDIANAPOLIS - At the Colts' practice Friday, not one of Peyton Manning's passes fell incomplete, even with defensive mastermind Tony Dungy varying the scripted coverage patterns.

The Colts' quarterback stayed hot Sunday, throwing for five touchdowns and 377 yards in Indianapolis' 41-10 AFC wild-card victory against Denver.

His performance ranks as one of the best by a quarterback in league playoff history.

Indianapolis Colts receiver Marvin Harrison gets up and runs for a TD after catching a pass while falling to the turf and not being "touched down" by a Denver Broncos defender. (AP photo)

The victory snapped a five-game postseason losing streak for the Colts and was Manning's first in four playoff starts.

"It's nice to get that little monkey off my back," said Manning, who had just the fourth perfect passer rating of 158.3 in playoff history. "I'll go and get a shrimp cocktail and a big steak tonight and enjoy myself, then get back to work tomorrow for the Chiefs."

The AFC South champion Colts, 13-4, play Sunday at Kansas City in a divisional playoff game. "I hope people think this was a big game," said Dungy, who won his first playoff game in two seasons as Colts coach. "I've heard about (Manning) not being able to win big games."

Indianapolis scored the first seven times it had the ball, with Manning throwing touchdown passes of 31, 46, 23, 87 and 7 yards.

"It was hard to match their intensity throughout the game," Denver coach Mike Shanahan said.

The Denver defense, which came in ranked fourth in total defense and sixth against the pass, didn't stop the Colts until forcing and recovering a fumble by tailback Edgerrin James with 13:22 remaining in the game.

Manning becomes just the sixth quarterback to throw five touchdowns in a playoff game. The record is six.

Manning becomes the first quarterback in NFL history to throw five touchdown passes in three games, including the playoffs, in a single season. He had six against New Orleans and five against Atlanta during the regular schedule.

The Colts avenged their worst loss of the season, 31-17, two weeks ago to the same Broncos at the RCA Dome. "That first time, we didn't get to play very much," Manning said of the 15th regular season game, when the Colts had the ball for just 15:02.

On Sunday, the Colts worked out of the no-huddle offense for much of the game and used two tight ends more often - which opened up the outside for wide receivers Marvin Harrison and Brandon Stokley.

On Sunday, the Colts had the ball for just 25:22 and ran four fewer offensive plays than Denver.

Perhaps no play signified the Broncos' defensive frustration more than Harrison's 46-yard touchdown catch with 24 seconds left in the first quarter. Denver trailed just 7-3 at the time.

Manning threw a 17-yard crossing pattern to Harrison, who made a diving catch and fell to the AstroTurf at the Denver 29-yard line. Though four Broncos defenders stood within arm's reach of Harrison, not one bothered to touch him down. Harrison rolled to his feet and ran into the end zone.

"Coach always tells us that when you are on the ground, you get up until the (referee) blows the whistle," said Harrison, who had 133 yards and two touchdowns. "I didn't feel anyone touch me. I was trying to get up slowly so I wouldn't get knocked in the head."

Still, the day belonged to Manning, who heard chants of "MVP, MVP" from the sellout crowd of 56,586. He and Tennessee quarterback Steve McNair were voted co-recipients this past week.

"My wife made me a cake; that was the extent of the celebration," Manning said. "This is one playoff win. We want to keep playing."

Denver	3	0	0	7-10
Indianapolis	14	17	10	0-41

First Quarter

Ind-Stokley 31 pass from Manning (Vanderjagt kick), 11:55.

Den-FG Elam 49, 3:48.

Ind-Harrison 46 pass from Manning (Vanderjagt kick), :36.

Second Quarter

Ind-Harrison 23 pass from Manning (Vanderjagt kick), 7:28.

Ind-Stokley 87 pass from Manning (Vanderjagt kick), 1:51.

Ind-FG Vanderjagt 27, :00.

Third Quarter

Ind-Wayne 7 pass from Manning (Vanderjagt kick), 5:19.

Ind-FG Vanderjagt 20, :55.

Fourth Quarter

Den-R.Smith 7 pass from Plummer (Elam kick), 7:04.

A-56,586.

	Den	Ind
First downs	20	23
Total Net Yards	322	479
Rushes-yards	26-146	23-85
Passing	176	394
Punt Returns	0-0	0-0
Kickoff Returns	6-133	2-34
Interceptions Ret.	0-0	2-52
Comp-Att-Int	23-30-2	26-31-0
Sacked-Yards Lost	2-5	0-0
Punts	2-42.0	0-0.0
Fumbles-Lost	2-1	3-1
Penalties-Yards	5-55	5-40
Time of Possession	34:38	25:22

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Denver, Portis 17-68, Griffin 6-60, Plummer 3-18. Indianapolis, James 17-78, Rhodes 4-8, Manning 1-0, R.Williams 1-(minus 1).

PASSING-Denver, Plummer 23-30-2-181. Indianapolis, Manning 22-26-0-377, Huard 4-5-0-17.

RECEIVING-Denver, R.Smith 5-66, Sharpe 5-31, Droughns 5-19, Adams 2-18, Griffin 2-18, Carswell 2-12, Portis 1-10, Lelie 1-7. Indianapolis, Harrison 7-133, Wayne 5-43, James 5-37, Stokley 4-144, Walters 3-1, Pollard 1-25, Davenport 1-11.

MISSED FIELD GOAL-Denver, Elam 46 (BK).

Return to Bengals front page...