Peyton Manning Leads Colts to Victory over Jaguars
After losing to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 13, the New England Patriots knew that they must win their next four games to secure a spot in the playoffs.
Peyton Manning threw two touchdown passes on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and threw no interceptions for the second game in a row. This win basically saved their season with a final score of 34-24.
"Since that Cowboys game, we knew we really had four must-win games and we've won two of them," Manning said. "It's a good win, but it's just one game and we've got to be able to do that again next week."
Well, that’s next week and the week after next, with the Colts playing against the Oakland Raiders next week and the Tennessee Titans the week after. If they win both games, they will win their seventh AFC South crown in eight years.
The defeat was a sour one for the Jags who are always chasing the Colts but can never seem to catch up. They have been trying to get the division title from the Colts for more than a decade.
The Colts had to win on Sunday or else forget dreaming about the playoffs. The win made them tied with the Jaguars, both of whom are 8-6, as the AFC South leaders.
Manning just would not give up and the four-time MVP played one of his most efficient games this season. He went 29 for 39 for 229 yards. If he had just 71 more yards, he would have broken Dan Marino’s record for the most 300 yard games in his career. Marino
has 63, while Manning has 62. Will his next game break the record?
However, that was the last thing on Manning’s mind. He wanted to help out in the most important game of the season. Actually, every game after their loss to the ‘Boys was, and still is, important…
Indy had 155 rushing yards, with Donald Brown scoring a touchdown on a 43 yard run. He rushed 14 times for a career high 129 yards. This was his first 100 yard game since he went pro two years ago.
"When you're getting to the second level, and that's the first time you're getting touched, that makes my job a lot easier," Brown said. "We just want to help complement the passing game any way we can."
On the other hand, the Jags just weren’t playing so well. Maurice Jones-Drew rushed for over 100 yards in six successive games, until this one. He rushed 15 times for only 46 yards in his worst performance against the Colts yet.
"Really, for us, it's disappointing that we didn't close the deal here," Jags coach Jack Del Rio said. "We really expected right now to be in here with a division crown captured. It didn't happen."
It didn’t happen, Jack, because of the old Manning coming back.
He started the game with a touchdown pass for 7 yards to Austin Collie. He then went for Collie again with a 27 yard touchdown pass. Early in the second, the Colts were ahead 14-3.
However, the Colts closed the lead with a 78 yard punt return for a touchdown, which they Colts argued that he had signaled a fair catch.
Not that it really mattered. Two plays after the Jags turned the ball over on downs, Brown found a gap and ran 43 yards to make the score 21-10. Jacksonville then gave up two more turnovers, allowing Indy to set up for two field goals, putting the Colts
ahead 27-17.
"We've been very strong in closing out ballgames and taking advantage of opportunities," Del Rio said. "I really and truly believed at the end that we would somehow find a way to get that onside kick and go win the game."
"It's all about Oakland this week," Manning said. "If you take a step back these two wins won't mean much, so we hope we can continue to build on the momentum."
The Colts will play against the Raiders on Sunday December 26 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum while the Jags will be at home against the Washington Redskins on the same day.
Stay tuned!
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