Colts Beat Jaguars on Monday Night Football

I N D I A N A P O L I S, Sept. 26, 2000 -- There’s more to the Indianapolis Colts thanPeyton Manning and the other members of the triplets, MarvinHarrison and Edgerrin James.

Terrence Wilkins for one. A defense led by Chad Bratzke foranother.

Manning passed for a franchise-record 440 yards and threw forfour touchdowns as the Colts dominated the second half to beatJacksonville 43-14.

Wilkins, playing his first game of the season, chipped in withnine catches for 148 yards and a touchdown. And the defense thatblew a 21-point lead at home to Oakland two weeks ago showed upthis time, sacking Mark Brunell five times including a safety, andpicking off a pass that set up a score.

“It was good for us to show people that we have otherweapons,” Manning said of Wilkins, who looked like the secondreceiver the Colts need to take pressure off Harrison.

“If they do double team Marvin, we can beat them with otherguys.”

Manning Back on Track

The defense thrilled coach Jim Mora.

“They took a lot of criticism, a lot of it from me and from themedia,” Mora said. “They shut them down in the second half, theygot sacks, turnovers, played extremely well. You don’t beat teamslike Jacksonville with just three players. You do it with completeoffense, with defense and with good kicking game performance.”

But it was Manning’s show as the Colts went on a 22-0 run in thesecond half after leading by only a touchdown at halftime.

After throwing three interceptions in his first two games, hewas perfect on Monday night, starting with a 76-yard TD pass toHarrison on the Colts’ third play from scrimmage. Manning also hada 27-yarder to Wilkins and a 16-yarder to Jerome Pathon asIndianapolis (2-1) took a 21-14 lead.

Manning added a 4-yarder in the final quarter for the firstfour-touchdown game in his two-plus NFL seasons. James completedthe scoring with a 14-yard TD run.

Manning, who completed 23 of 36 passes, broke his own teamrecord of 404 yards set against San Diego last Sept. 26. JohnnyUnitas’ top total was 401 for Baltimore.

Wilkins, who missed the first two games with a concussion,almost doubled his career high of five catches as a rookie lastyear.

“I just seemed to connect with Terrence during the offseasonand in training camp,” Manning said. “It was good to have himback.”

‘A Debacle’

The Indianapolis defense, which entered the game with one sack,had five this time, two each by Bratzke and Ellis Johnson. Bratzkesacked Mark Brunell for a third-quarter safety, the first safety bythe Colts since 1997. Mike Peterson had an interception that set upone of the first-half TDs.

“It was just a debacle,” Jacksonville coach Tom Coughlin said.“That was about as big a nightmare as it gets.”

Brunell was 21-of-35 for 229 yards for Jacksonville (2-2) withtouchdown passes of 9 and 26 yards to Jimmy Smith. But aftergetting 159 in the first half, Brunell had only 3 yards in thefirst 25 minutes of the second half, while the Colts were puttingaway the game — in the third quarter, the Colts outgained theJaguars 143 to minus-2.

Fred Taylor, who played his first game of the season forJacksonville after missing the first two with a knee injury, ranfor 57 yards on 14 carries.

Huge Pass Got Things Started

The game started with an explosion, the 76-yard bomb fromManning to Harrison behind Aaron Beasley on the Colts’ third playfrom scrimmage.

Then it settled down until midway through the second quarter,when Brunell hit Smith with the 9-yarder that was first ruled outof bounds, then overturned on replay.

It turned out to be the first of four touchdowns, two by eachteam, in the final 7:36 before intermission.

But the second half was no contest as the Indianapolis defenseasserted itself. Mike Vanderjagt’s 41-yard field goal and thesafety made it 29-14 after three quarters and two quick TDs in thefinal quarter put it away.

“Peyton stayed in the pocket and made some good throws. Theymade some good catches,” Jacksonville cornerback Fernando Bryantsaid. “That’s the bottom line. You give them time, someone’s goingto be open.”

This night, it was Wilkins.

That only makes it scarier for opposing defenses.