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Colts crush Ravens for fourth straight win

Dec 10, 2007 - 5:54 AM BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- -- Last week, the Baltimore Ravens gave the New England Patriots all they could handle, but on Sunday they were no match for the Indianapolis Colts.

Peyton Manning threw four touchdown passes, including the 300th of his career, as the defending Super Bowl champion Colts rolled to a 44-20 victory over the reeling Baltimore Ravens.

Baltimore was coming off a crushing last-minute defeat to the unbeaten Patriots on Monday night. Although the Ravens dominated play, they watched the Patriots march 73 yards in the final 3:30 for the winning touchdown - helped in large part by a defensive holding call in the end zone that would have ended the game.

The Ravens left Monday's game feeling robbed but they could not pin this loss on anything but their own shoddy play. Kyle Boller threw three interceptions and Baltimore lost a pair of fumbles - way too many mistakes against Manning, who took advantage.

"They just jumped out on us and we couldn't recover," said defensive tackle Kelly Gregg. "We played sloppy on defensive and sloppy on offense. To have an effort like that is just inexcusable,"

Manning completed 13-of-17 passes for 249 yards and four touchdowns in the first half. He left the game in the third quarter but not after joining John Elway, Fran Tarkenton, Dan Marino and Brett Favre as the only quarterbacks with at least 300 career TD passes.

Joseph Addai also had a big night with three touchdowns. He caught a 19-yard TD pass from Manning and scored on runs of one and 11 yards. Rookie Anthony Gonzalez had a pair of long TD receptions, the first two touchdowns of his career, and finished with six catches for 134 yards.

The victory, paired with a loss by the Tennessee Titans to San Diego earlier Sunday, locked up Indianapolis' sixth straight playoff berth.

"We're real pleased by the performance," Colts coach Tony Dungy said. "We thought with their emotional game last week, with a short week and a lot of guys banged up, if we could get on them early and get the lead, it would help, and that's what happened."

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Baltimore, which has lost seven consecutive games, playing for little more than pride and a chance to get a look at young players for next season.

Troy Smith, the 2006 Heisman Trophy winner out of Ohio State, made his debut for Baltimore late in the fourth quarter and gave the Ravens at least a little something positive to take out of what otherwise was a lost night.

Smith led the Ravens on a 41-yard scoring drive in seven plays, completing 3-of-5 passes for 33 yards and capping the march with a six-yard TD run.

"It definitely leaves a damper on the moment because we didn't get the win," Smith said. "Regardless of what I did, that means nothing in the big scheme of things because we need a win for the team. Moments like that are for your family."

Head coach Brian Billick was asked if this game was rock bottom for him and the Ravens.

"I don't know. I'll let you determine that," Billick said. "This is very,very disappointing. We now have to go on the road for the next two weeks so you have to find a way emotionally, mentally and intellectually to take on that challenge."