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Title talk Colts move closer to AFC East crown with 20-15 win
Posted: Tuesday December 14, 1999 01:56 AM
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Sure, Peyton Manning has emerged as one of the NFL's top quarterbacks in guiding the Indianapolis Colts into the playoffs. But, somebody had to haul in all those passes and take all those handoffs. Thanks to Marvin Harrison and Edgerrin James, two-thirds of the flashy young Indianapolis trio, the Colts are on the brink of their first AFC East title since 1987. Harrison had 118 yards in receptions and set up both of Manning's touchdown passes, and James rushed for 101 yards and scored a TD to lead the Colts to their ninth straight victory, 20-15 over the New England Patriots on Sunday. "It makes it so easy for me when the defense is concentrating on Marvin," said James, who tied an NFL rookie record with his ninth 100-yard rushing game and broke Marshall Faulk's Colts record for rushing yards by a rookie. "I get 3, 4, 5 yards but Marvin hits them for 15, 20, 25. They start concentrating on Marvin and then they don't stop me." Harrison's 118 yards came on six catches, including one for 52 yards on the Colts' first play, breaking team records for receptions and reception yardage in a season. The Colts, whose 11-2 start is the club's best since the then-Baltimore Colts began 11-1 in 1968, clinched a playoff spot hours after the game when Miami lost to the New York Jets 28-20. Indianapolis leads Miami and Buffalo by three games with three to play. At 5-2 in the Eastern Division, they've clinched the tiebreaker over Miami. Buffalo is 4-2 in the division is the only remaining team that can deprive Indianapolis of the division title by winning its remaining three games with the Colts losing their final three. "I was surprised by my stats," said James, who had only 9 yards at halftime. "Coming in at the half, I knew I wasn't doing anything. I'm not making any plays, I'm not in the passing game or anything. I like to be a part of everything and show what I'm capable of doing. "In the second half, we started attacking the outside and the offensive line did a terrific job." New England (7-6), which overcame a 28-7 halftime deficit to beat Indianapolis 31-28 in September, is now a long shot for a playoff berth after losing four of its last five games. "This is a sick feeling," Patriots coach Pete Carroll said. "We knew how important this game was and how much we could gain by winning. We had our shots in the red zone, but we were getting field goals instead of touchdowns. That was obviously the difference in the game." Harrison, who leads the NFL in receiving yardage, raised his season totals to 88 catches and 1,357 yards. He broke the team records of 86 catches by Faulk in 1998, and 1,298 yards by Raymond Berry in 1960. Harrison also tied Berry's team record with his seventh game this season of at least 100 yards receiving. James raised his rushing total to 1,311 yards, breaking Faulk's rookie record of 1,282 set in 1994. His nine games with 100-plus yards also tied an NFL rookie record held by four others and broke the Colts mark for a rookie or veteran, set by Eric Dickerson in 1988. "A guy like Edgerrin, you expect him to run 100 yards. Sometimes it takes awhile for him to get a feel for things. Sometimes it just takes time," Colts coach Jim Mora said. "That's why you play 60 minutes." The 52-yard reception by Harrison took the Colts to the New England 20. Two plays later, Harrison had another catch for 9 yards, and three plays after that, Manning passed 5 yards to Marcus Pollard for the first touchdown. Manning finished 15-of-27 for 186 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. "We thought in the first half, they gave us some more single coverage and we were able to utilize it," Manning said of the passes to Harrison. "Marvin was motivated today and made some big plays. In the second half, we were able to run the ball more effectively. "Everybody says, 'How do we stop No. 88? How do we stop Marvin?' He just finds a way to do it." Drew Bledsoe, who passed for 379 yards, completed his first seven attempts for the Patriots, moving them to the Indianapolis 10 before the first of three field goals by Adam Vinatieri cut the Colts' lead to 7-3. Rookie Kevin Faulk left the game late in that drive with a broken ankle. Vinatieri's second field goal, from 28 yards midway through the second quarter, brought the Patriots within 7-6, but the following kickoff went out of bounds, giving Indianapolis the ball at the 40. On the next play, Manning hit Harrison for 22 yards, and three plays later a 27-yard pass to Harrison took the Colts to the New England 13. Manning then ran 11 yards and flipped a 2-yard shovel pass to James for the touchdown and a 14-6 halftime lead. Bledsoe pulled New England within 20-15 on a 10-yard TD pass to Shawn Jefferson with 3:07 left in the final period, and New England got its final chance when Manning fumbled a snap. The Patriots reached the Indianapolis 22, but Bledsoe was sacked by Mike Peterson and a fourth-down pass to Jefferson was no good, giving the Colts the ball for the final 47 seconds. "It was just too little, too late," Bledsoe said. "Our defense did a good job. we were fortunate to get the turnover late, but it's my job to put one in the end zone and I didn't get it done. It's very frustrating." Notes: Manning's streak of 26 straight games with at least one TD pass is the fifth longest in NFL history. Manning also became the third quarterback in league history to pass for 7,000 yards in his first two seasons, joining Bledsoe and Dan Marino. ... The Patriots had won seven straight games against Indianapolis since 1995. ... Besides Kevin Faulk, New England also lost cornerback Steve Israel (ankle) and safety Chris Carter (hamstring) during the game. ... Chad Bratzke had two sacks for the Colts, his first in five games, and leads the team with nine for the season. ... Cornelius Bennett was credited with 11 unassisted tackles and assisted on four others. His previous high this year was 11.
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