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Colts clinch division, first-round bye in win over Raiders

Dec 17, 2007 - 4:49 AM OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- For most of the game on Sunday, it was difficult to tell whether the Indianapolis Colts were on their way to securing a first-round bye in the playoffs or already taking their week off.

Peyton Manning led a fourth-quarter comeback and helped the Colts overcome an uneven first half en route to a 21-14 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.

Indianapolis (12-2) won its fifth straight AFC South Division crown and guaranteed itself a first-round bye in the playoffs with the win when the Pittsburgh Steelers (9-5) lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars (10-4) earlier in the day. The Colts also reached the 12-win mark for an NFL-record fifth straight season.

"You can never take it for granted, winning your division," Manning said. "It's a good accomplishment, obviously, we want to keep it in context. We want to keep improving and try to be playing our best football here in the month of December and January."

"Winning our 12th game and getting that second seed - a lot of big things happened for us today," Colts coach Tony Dungy said. "Again, I am just very proud of our team and the way we have fought all year."

Even though they held a slim 10-7 lead at the break, the Colts were unable to establish any kind of working margin by a Raiders team that ran 39 times for 149 yards, continually frustrating an Indianapolis offense that had scored at least 28 points in each of their previous three contests.

"That was a very hard-fought game," Dungy said. "We had to bring everything to get it done."

With the Colts trailing, 14-13, after a two-yard rushing touchdown from Justin Fargas, Manning responded with a clutch drive on the next series, leading the Colts on an 11-play, 91-yard march that ended with a 20-yard TD catch by rookie Anthony Gonzalez, who scored for the third time in his last two games.

"I would say, bad route, great throw," Gonzalez said. "I really wasn't open but Peyton put it in a perfect spot, which he does quite often. It helps having him throwing the ball. It worked out well and, obviously, we had great protection on the play and (were) fortunate to get in there when we needed it."

"Gonzalez was hitting a couple slants on (No.) 27 (Fabian Washington), so we tried to run a little slant-and-go," Manning said. "The guy had pretty good coverage on that one, so I just threw it on the back shoulder - a little underthrow on purpose - (and) the guy kind of lost the ball and we got into the end zone."

Oakland drove to the Indianapolis 16 with 1:54 remaining, but Josh McCown's pass to Jerry Porter fell incomplete. The Colts then ran out the remainder of the clock.

After Indianapolis converted its opening drive into a 22-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri, the Colts' defense forced a three-and-out on Oakland's first possession. Raiders punter Shane Lechler unleashed a 53-yard punt to Colts punt returner T.J. Rushing, who broke loose for a franchise record-tying 90-yard punt return TD.

"Coming back to the bay, I wanted to have a good performance and the guys blocking for me allowed me to do that," said Rushing, who played his college ball at Stanford.

Already holding a 10-0 advantage to begin the second quarter, the Colts had appeared to take a 16-0 lead on their second drive of the game, but an apparent five-yard touchdown run by Manning was reversed after a replay review when it was deemed the ball did not cross the goal line.

On the next play, Manning's 4th-and-goal pass from the Oakland 1 to tight end Ben Utecht was incomplete.

The Raiders not only denied Manning of a touchdown pass on the play, but methodically marched down the field on the subsequent drive that chewed up nearly all of the second quarter.

McCown capped a 20-play, 99-yard drive that exhausted 11:49 of the second when he executed a play-action fake to the right, rolled left and found Ronald Curry in the left flat to trim the Colts lead to 10-7.

Fargas, who surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the first time in his five-year career on the last play of the third quarter on a six-yard rush, gave the Raiders their first lead with 10:33 remaining in the final quarter, scoring his fifth TD of the season to stake Oakland to a 14-13 lead.

"It's a good accomplishment, something that every runner shoots for," said Fargas of the milestone.

Fargas turned in another workmanlike effort with 89 yards rushing on 26 carries for the Raiders (4-10), who guaranteed their fifth consecutive 10-loss season.

Rookie JaMarcus Russell, the first overall pick in the 2007 draft, made his second career appearance when he started the second half in relief of McCown. He finished 2-of-5 for 10 yards in three series.

"I'm a pretty confident guy but, at times, you can get down on yourself," Russell said. "I'm pretty sure coach (Lane Kiffin) knows what he's doing, so if he wants to put me in or take me out, it doesn't matter to me because I'm making progress."