Peyton Manning tossed two touchdown passes to help the Indianapolis Colts to a 30-17 revenge win over the Houston Texans on Monday night.
Manning completed 26 passes for 268 yards, including touchdowns to Jacob Tamme and Reggie Wayne, as the Colts avenged a season-opening loss to Houston and move top of the AFC South standings with a record of 5-2.
“They [Colts] don’t take things that happen to them lightly, they come back and play extremely hard,” Colts coach Jim Caldwell said, reflecting on his team’s loss.
“We need every single guy on our team, all 53 players plus the practice squad guys need to be ready,” Caldwell said. “It is something we expect. We expect them to be able to go in and perform just like the people they are replacing.”
Tamme, who had just six catches for 47 yards in three seasons with the Colts, doubled his career total by hauling in six passes for 64 yards and his first career touchdown.
Kelvin Hayden intercepted Texans quarterback Matt Schaub and returned it 25 yards for the Colts other touchdown, while Adam Vinatieri contributed three field goals.
The Colts were missing a number of players including two of their top receivers, with Pro Bowl tight end Dallas Clark out for the season with a wrist injury and Austin Collie sidelined with a sore thumb.
Manning said the injuries required the experienced players to step up and the All-Pro quarterback did his part, leaving the safety of his pass protection to run for a rare first down and attempting to throw a block after a Pierre Garcon catch.
“Some guys really stepped up it was a great team effort,” Manning told reporters. “Everybody is dealing with injuries and whoever is in there has to somehow find a way to do the job. It isn’t always going to be pretty or perfect, but you just have to keep grinding and make some plays.”
Backup receivers Tamme and Brody Eldridge both dropped passes on the Colts’ first possession, but Tamme did redeem himself, hauling in two big catches, including a two-yard touchdown pass to cap off the Colt’s first scoring drive.
Indianapolis opened the second quarter with Hayden jumping in front of a Schaub pass and returning it 25 yards.
Neil Rackers connected on a 53 yard field goal to account for all the Texans first-half scoring before Vinatieri answered with 48 yarder to send the Colts into the break up 17-3.
The Colts took the second-half kickoff and marched 70 yards for a touchdown with Manning capping the drive with a 15 yard strike to Wayne, but Houston answered with Schaub finding Andre Johnson down the sideline for a 28 yard touchdown.
Vinatieri added a 23 yard field goal, but the Texans continued to battle, Arian Foster scampering for a five-yard touchdown run to get Houston within 27-17.
It was another productive night for Foster, who was a one-man wrecking crew for Houston in the season-opener scoring three touchdowns, as he picked up 102 yards on 15 carries.
However, that would be as close as the Texans would get as Vinatieri added a 36 yard field goal to close out the scoring.
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