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Manning rallies Colts as winless Lions fall to 0-14

Dec 14, 2008 - 11:41 PM INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts moved a step closer to the playoffs while the Detroit Lions remained on pace for the first 0-16 season in NFL history.

Manning passed for 318 yards and Dominic Rhodes ran for two touchdowns Sunday as the Colts posted a hard-fought 31-21 victory over the winless Lions.

"The only pressure (of preventing an 0-16 finish) is coming from you all (media), not from me," Lions coach Rod Marinelli said. "We work each day to improve and go to work to try to win."

Colts head coach Tony Dungy was not surprised by the Lions' spirited effort.

"Every game in the NFL is tough. We expected this one to be tough, and it was," Dungy said. "I think some of that you have to give credit to Detroit and some credit goes to us.

"We had a good week of practice and were ready to go. Every time we got a little margin, we couldn't make the play we needed to put the game away because they continued to fight, which is credit to them. We saw (how much they fight) on tape, so we weren't surprised."

After getting off to a slow start this season, Indianapolis (10-4) has won seven straight contests to climb back into playoff contention. If they win their final two games (at Jacksonville and home for Tennessee), the Colts would secure an AFC wild card berth.

"(Close finishes) have sort of been the theme of our season, at least during this little winning streak," Manning said. "They've all been kind of four-quarter games. We were playing against a team today, not a record.

"Detroit played hard, but we certainly did some things, like turnovers on special things, that made it a little harder on ourselves."

Detroit (0-14) needs to win one of its final two games to avoid joining the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-14) as the only winless team in NFL history.

The Lions, who became just the third 0-14 team in NFL history, host New Orleans (7-7) next week before closing out their season at Green Bay (5-9).

Despite facing a pair of 11-point deficits in the second quarter, Detroit did not quit in this one and forged a 21-21 tie on Kevin Smith's 1-yard TD run two minutes into the fourth quarter.

But Manning, who struggled for most of the first half, orchestrated a seven-play, 88-yard drive in which he completed all four of his pass attempts. The two-time league MVP hooked up with Reggie Wayne for a 39-yard reception to the Lions' 1-yard line, setting up Rhodes' go-ahead TD run with 8:39 remaining.

After forcing Detroit to punt on the ensuing possession, Indianapolis chewed up nearly five minutes of the clock on an 11-play drive capped by Adam Vinatieri's 31-yard field goal that made it 31-21 with 39 seconds left.

Manning finished 28-of-37 with one touchdown, a 3-yarder to tight end Dallas Clark with 47 seconds left in the first half. Clark enjoyed his best game of the campaign, hauling in 12 catches for 142 yards - both season highs.

"They mix in some zone and man coverage and Dallas did a great job against the zone," Manning said. "He caught the ball and got good yardage after the catch. The couple of times they played man, he did a good job beating the coverage.

Wayne had seven catches for 104 yards while Rhodes, filling in for the injured Joseph Addai, ran for 86 yards on 20 carries.

Detroit's Dan Orlovsky, returning from a five-game absence due to a thumb injury, completed 23-of-34 passes for 233 yards and a TD.

Orlovsky's favorite target was the dynamic Calvin Johnson, who had nine catches for 110 yards and a 33-yard TD reception in the second quarter.

Lions kicker Jason Hanson connected on a 51-yard field goal with 4:45 left in the first quarter to set an NFL record with 41 career field goals of at least 50 yards, breaking the record held by Morten Andersen.

Hanson is 8-for-8 this season from at least 50 yards, tying Andersen's single-season record.

"I think we've owned up to what's going on," Hanson said. "We know what we've been facing and we played real hard. ... We've got two more times to fight and we'll see what happens."