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COLTS 13, Jets 6
Colts hold off fiesty Jets
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- No rest on the sideline this time for Peyton Manning.
Back on the field the entire game after being relieved for the first time in his two-year career, Manning passed for 198 yards and one touchdown as the streaking Indianapolis Colts survived three turnovers and beat the New York Jets 13-6 Sunday.
"We made it closer than it should have been," said Manning, who was intercepted twice. "It's nice to win and still have a lot of room for improvment. We just need to make the corrections and stop the costly mistakes. We played hard, but didn't quite play smart enough.
"We moved the ball well and had plenty of time to score a lot of touchdowns, but we just made too many mistakes."
It was the seventh straight victory for the Colts (9-2), the longest winning streak for the franchise since the Baltimore Colts won nine in a row in 1975. It put them a game ahead of the Dolphins going into an AFC East showdown next week at Miami.
"It's a nice feeling, but you want to be in first place at the end of the season, at the end of the playoffs," Manning said. "But obviously you have to put yourself in a position to be in first place, and we are. They don't get any bigger than next week at Miami."
Manning, who as a rookie in 1998 was the only NFL quarterback on the field for all of his team's offensive plays, had his streak ended after 1,590 snaps when he was relieved by Steve Walsh with a 44-3 third-quarter lead at Philadelphia last week.
But the Jets (4-7), who lost to Indianapolis 16-13 last month, didn't give Manning and Co. the luxury of a big lead. Manning had a 2-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Pollard in the first quarter, and a pair of field goals by Mike Vanderjagt were the only other points the Colts could manage.
Indianapolis has scored no fewer than 25 points against any other team but got just 29 in sweeping the Jets, who had won three in a row. The Colts came in as the NFL's top offensive team at 378 yards a game, but were held to a season-low 287.
"I knew this was going to be a difficult game," Colts coach Jim Mora said. "They're better than they were the first game, and we certainly didnt help ourselves. We made it tougher than we should have. We made some critical errors.
"Defensively, we played better than we did against them a few weeks ago. The defense didn't give up any big plays, and we played solid, consistent defense throughout the game."
New York moved to the Indianapolis 17 with a chance to tie in the closing minutes, but a holding penalty on Kerry Jenkins set the Jets back to the 27. Two long passes by Lucas were broken up in the end zone by Billy Austin, giving the Colts the ball on downs for the final 1:39.
"That was a play we practiced a thousand times, and I certainly expected to make that catch," the Jets' Wayne Chrebet said of the last pass. "It was just a dropped ball. Anytime you can get your hands on a ball and you don't bring it in, it is definitely a drop."
Edgerrin James, the NFL leader in total yards from scrimmage after a career-high 152 yards rushing against the Eagles, had 74 yards rushing and 53 yards in receptions. Manning's touchdown pass to Pollard gave him at least one scoring completion in 24 straight games, matching the sixth-longest streak in NFL history.
"This is horrible. We gave this game away," Lucas said. "Offensively, we just didn't get it done, and as the leader of the offense, I take that upon me. We had all the opportunities in the world."
Lucas was 12-for-22 for 102 yards, the fewest yards passing the Colts have allowed all season.
"When you hold this team to 13 points you should win," Jets coach Bill Parcells said. "This is the worst loss of the season. It should have been better for us."
The Jets' only points came on first-quarter field goals by John Hall. Vanderjagt kicked a 22-yard field goal with one second to go in the half, his club-record 14th in a row, and he made it 15 straight field goals with a 37-yarder for the final points with nine minutes left in the final period.
Notes: Curtis Martin, the conference's second-leading rusher behind James, had 83 yards and became only the fourth NFL player to start his career with five 1,000-yard rushing seasons. ... Rookie Hunter Smith had a season-best 60-yard punt for Indianapolis. ... The Jets recorded the ninth and 10th sacks of Manning this season. No other team had allowed fewer than 13 going into Sunday's games. ... Marvin Harrison has caught at least one pass for the Colts in 55 straight games. ... Steve Muhammad played for the Colts after missing three games following the Nov. 7 death of his wife from childbirth complications. Muhammad is facing charges of domestic battery.
Summary
NFL FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
NY JETS 6 0 0 0 6
INDIANAPOLIS 7 3 0 3 13 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QUARTER: NYJ - FG, JOHN HALL 33 YD, 4:14. Drive: 8 plays, 55 yards
in 4:14. Key plays: Lucas 21-yard pass to
Johnson to Indianapolis 49; Lucas 17- yard pass
to Johnson to Indianapolis 32; Martin 14-yard
run to Indianapolis 18. NY JETS 3-0
NYJ - FG, JOHN HALL 30 YD, 8:08. Drive: 8 plays, 27 yards
in 3:34. Key plays: Jones recovery of James
fumble at Indianapolis 39; Martin 9- yard run
to Indianapolis 30; Martin 3-yard run on
4th-and-1 to Indianapolis 27; 14-yard facemask
penalty on Colts' Poole to Indianapolis 13. NY
JETS 6-0
IND - TD, MARCUS POLLARD 2 YD PASS FROM PEYTON MANNING
(MIKE VANDERJAGT KICK), 14:28. Drive: 11 plays,
84 yards in 6:20. Key plays: Manning 13-yard
pass to Green on 3rd-and-8 to Indianapolis 31;
Manning 16-yard pass to Green on 3rd-and-9 to
New York 25; Manning 23-yard pass to James to
New York 2. INDIANAPOLIS 7-6
2ND QUARTER: IND - FG, MIKE VANDERJAGT 22 YD, 14:59. Drive: 9 plays,
35 yards in 1:24. Key plays: Wilkins 14-yard
punt return to New York 39; Manning 7-yard pass
to Wilkins to New York 20; Manning 10-yard pass
to Pollard to New York 4. INDIANAPOLIS 10-6
3RD QUARTER: NONE
4TH QUARTER: IND - FG, MIKE VANDERJAGT 37 YD, 6:00. Drive: 13 plays,
52 yards in 6:49. Key plays: Manning 5-yard
pass to Wilkins on 3rd-and-4 to Indianapolis
40; Manning 17-yard pass to Harrison to New
York 31; Manning 10-yard pass to Harrison on
3rd-and-9 to New York 20. INDIANAPOLIS 13-6
TEAM STATISTICS
NYJ IND
-------- --------
FIRST DOWNS 14 23
Rushing 8 4
Passing 5 16
Penalty 1 3
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 1-11 5-10
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 2-3 0-0
TOTAL NET YARDS 214 287
Total plays 51 60
Average gain 4.2 4.8
NET YARDS RUSHING 126 100
Rushes 26 27
Average per rush 4.8 3.7
NET YARDS PASSING 88 187
Completed-attempted 12-23 23-31
Yards per pass 3.5 5.7
Sacked-yards lost 2-14 2-11
Had intercepted 0 2
PUNTS-AVERAGE 5-46.4 2-50.5
RETURN YARDAGE 76 117
Punts-returns 1-1 4-37
Kickoffs-returns 3-73 3-80
Interceptions-returns 2-2 0-0
PENALTIES-YARDS 10-72 3-24
FUMBLES-LOST 0-0 1-1
TIME OF POSSESSION 28:02 31:58
PLAYER STATISTICS
Missed field goals: None.
NY Jets rushing: Curtis Martin 19-83, Ray Lucas 3-28, Richie Anderson
2-12, Bernie Parmalee 2-3.
Indianapolis rushing: Edgerrin James 24-74, Peyton Manning 3-26.
NY Jets passing: Ray Lucas 12-22 for 102 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD, Jerald
Sowell 0-1 for 0 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD.
Indianapolis passing: Peyton Manning 23-31 for 198 yards, 2 INT, 1 TD.
NY Jets receiving: Keyshawn Johnson 4-56, Wayne Chrebet 3-21, Curtis
Martin 3-12, Richie Anderson 2-13.
Indianapolis receiving: Edgerrin James 7-53, Marvin Harrison 5-58,
Terrence Wilkins 5-39, E.g. Green 2-29, Marcus Pollard 2-12, Ken
Dilger 2-7.
NY Jets tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial): Marcus Coleman 8-1-0,
Victor Green 8-1-0, Marvin Jones 7-0-0, Roman Phifer 5-0-0, Mo Lewis
4-1-0, Aaron Glenn 4-0-0, Steve Atwater 4-0-0, Ernie Logan 4-0-1, Ray
Mickens 2-0-0, Rick Lyle 1-1-0, Dwayne Gordon 1-1-0, Eric Ogbogu
1-0-1, Anthony Pleasant 1-0-0, Dorian Boose 1-0-0, James Farrior
0-1-0, Jason Wiltz 0-1-0.
Indianapolis tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial): Chad Cota 5-2-0,
Mike Peterson 6-0-1, Jeff Burris 5-1-0, Jason Belser 5-0-0, Cornelius
Bennett 3-2-0, Larry Chester 3-1-0, Chad Bratzke 3-1-0, Mark Thomas
3-0-0, Michael Barber 2-1-0, Tyrone Poole 2-0-0, Ellis Johnson 1-1-1,
Tony Blevins 1-0-0, Billy Austin 1-0-0, Bernard Whittington 0-1-0.
Interceptions: NY Jets (Ray Mickens 1 for 2 yards, Jason Wiltz 1 for
0 yards).
Fumbles lost: Indianapolis (Edgerrin James).
Opponent's fumbles recovered: NY Jets (Marvin Jones).
Officials: Referee-Jeff Triplette, Umpire-Im Daopoulos, Head
linesman-Earnie Frantz, Line judge-Gary Arthur, Field judge-Boris
Cheek, Side judge-Terry Mcauley, Back judge-Bobby Skelton.
A: 56,689; T: 2:44.
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