Manning Picks Apart Cardinals Defense As Indianapolis Rolls Past Arizona

NFL News - September 28th, 2009 - Written by Scott

After getting off to a slow start Sunday night, Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts finally got their offense rolling and went on to defeat the Arizona Cardinals 31-10 in Arizona. In his third straight game, Manning passed for over 300 yards and added four touchdown passes to lead the Colts and kept their undefeated streak going in this young season. Manning out-dueled Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner and completed 35 passes for 379 yards as the Colts move to 3-0 on the year.

The Cardinals could not get anything going on the ground and a stout Colts defense allowed only 24 yards rushing. Warner was pressured all night long, unlike Manning, who's offensive line gave him plenty of time to distribute the ball. Warner finished the game with 332 yards and 1 touchdown, but threw 2 interceptions.

“I think that was the key to the game, personally,” said Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney. “Our offensive line did a great job protecting Peyton, giving him time to find his receivers. And then I think collectively as a defense we put pressure on Warner and had him uncomfortable all game.”

The Cardinals opened up the scoring with a field goal in the first quarter, but Manning quickly responded with three touchdown passes in the second to give the Colts a 21-3 lead heading into half time. On the final drive of the second quarter, the Cardinals drove down to the Indianapolis 1 yard line but failed to convert.

The Cardinals took the ball on the opening drive of the third quarter 73 yards and Warner hit Anquan Boldin from 10 yards out to cut the Colts lead to 11. Indianapolis quickly responded on a 3 yard pass to Joseph Addai that was set up by Manning's 72 yard pass to rookie Donald Brown.

Colt's head coach Jim Caldwell was impressed with Manning's performance and the Colt's 3-0 record, but realizes that they might not be able to rely on the arm of Manning every game this season.

“The thing is that we constantly have to make certain that we don’t take it for granted,” Caldwell said. “He’s had some just unbelievable games. … I think he amazes us every time he does it, but he does it so often if you don’t watch yourself you can think that it’s commonplace, but it certainly is not.”

Arizona drops to 1-2 on the season and both losses have come at home. The Cardinal fans filled the stadium with boos throughout night and are expecting more from their team that went to the Super Bowl just a year ago. The Cardinal have their bye week next week and will host Houston in week 5. The Colts will host Seattle next week.

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