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INDIANAPOLIS COLTS TROUNCE BUFFALO BILLS 30 - 14

By David Staba

ORCHARD PARK -- Even the normally verbose Ruben Brown had trouble finding the right words after the Indianapolis Colts trounced the Buffalo Bills 30-14 Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

"They know everything they need to know when they go out there and play the game," Buffalo's left guard and the offensive line's de facto elder statesman. "It's unfortunate that sometimes they're in situations ... it's really tough .... I don't know what to say."

Brown was answering a question about the hapless performance of Marques Sullivan and Jon Carman, each a first-year player forced into the lineup by injuries to left tackle John Fina and right tackle Jonas Jennings.

But he could have been talking about the whole team.

Offensive disarray accounted for Buffalo's most glaring inadequacies Sunday. They were far from the only ones, though.

Rob Johnson, a week removed from his enormously gutty performance in the Bills' last-second loss in San Diego, spent much of the day picking himself off the turf and the rest hesitating, misfiring on the throws he did get off and watching some of the more accurate passes bounce off his receivers' hands. He was also sacked six times, with two resulting in fumbles that led to 10 points in the first half.

The Colts, the National Football League's most generous defense through their first six games, compounded Buffalo's woes by playing a deep zone to take away the deep ball and getting to Johnson without excessive use of the blitz.

"They got after us early, pressure-wise, and we kept the backs in after that," said Johnson, who finished 17-of-33 passing for 177 yards and 27-yard touchdown to Jay Riemersma with 3:39 remaining. "We really didn't get in a rhythm at all. In the second half, we started just to run, run and try to get it on third down. They had our number all day."

It helped that Indianapolis fooled Buffalo's painfully green line with virtually everything it tried.

"They stunt and twist around and they gave our young tackles fits," said Bills coach Gregg Williams, whose team fell to 1-6 in his first season. "Even when we doubled and chipped, they were able to win back inside on a couple things. Our young guys did not play as well today as they have been playing."

Until Johnson's touchdown pass (just his second in his last seven home game, dating back to last season), Buffalo's only points came on Nate Clements' 66-yard punt return with 11:39 left in the second quarter.

Buffalo managed only 128 total yards through the game's first 50 minutes, with 61 coming on Travis Henry's 13 carries.

While the Bills defense played Indy relatively tough, at least compared to the 42-26 trouncing it absorbed on Sept. 23, the Colts made more than enough big plays.

On the first play of the second quarter, Peyton Manning launched a perfect pass between Bills linebacker Jay Foreman and free safety Travares Tillman (filling in after Keion Carpenter suffered a cracked rib) to tight end Marcus Pollard for 15 yards and the game's first score.

Manning, the quintessential pocket quarterback, kept the scoring drive alive when his rare scramble netted 8 yards on a third-and-7. Johnson's first fumble, forced by Chad Bratzke and recovered by Josh Williams, left Manning with only 44 yards to navigate for the opening points.

After Clements' score, Manning outdid himself by lumbering 33 yards on a naked bootleg for a 14-7 lead. Bills linebcker DaShon Polk allowed himself to get caught inside on the play, leaving the left side of the field bereft of Buffalo defenders.

"We were in a blitz that plays that play," Williams said. "The kid just played poorly. The guy who has (the quarterback) didn't play it very well. He got beat."

It wasn't that the Colts executed the play perfectly. They didn't expect it any more than the Bills.

"Quarterback bootlegs are the best when no one but the quarterback knows about them," Manning said. "It was a run play all the way and at the last minute, I saw their safety cheating to the right and I went with it."

Along with Polk's blunder, the Colts' effectiveness running the ball made Manning's trickery possible. With running back Edgerrin James sidelined with a knee sprain, Colts rookie Dominic Rhodes became the fifth rusher in seven games to pile up 100 yards. The undrafted free agent had to work for them, needing 34 carries to reach the century mark. A significant chunk of Rhodes' yardage came after would-be tacklers bounced off of him.

"Some of the missed tackles had great contact, so that had nothing to do with intensity," Williams said. "The intensity was there. But (it was) not wrapping up. I can't tell you how many behind-the-line tackles we had with the defense penetrating and doing gap-control exactly where you're at, and put them in negative play-calling situations. And they were able to come out of it, because we didn't tackle very well. And that's frustrating."

Frustrating was the perfect word for the Bills on this day. They mounted their most consistent pass rush of the season, coming up with four sacks. But twice, Manning was able to convert on the ensuing third-and-long.

Manning said the cushion provided by Indy's defense helped the offense stay under control.

"When the defene is holding someone almost scoreless, their role enters into your mind a little bit more,' he said. "On third-and-longs, you don't have the pressure on you to force a bad pass ... You are certainly just as aggressive and you go for touchdowns, but whenthe defense is playing well, you can focus on protecting the ball, making big plays, and getting the win."

Rhodes' 1-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter boosted the Colts' lead to 24-7. Mike Vanderjagt's second and third field goals of the game, sandwiched around Johnson's touchdown pass, closed out the scoring.

With the Bills' next four opponents carrying record of .500 or better, things don't figure to get much easier any time soon. The return of Fina, Jennings and right guard Jerry Ostroski, who has been out since August with a broken leg, would certainly help. But the status of the three linemen remains uncertain for next Sunday's game in Foxboro, Mass., against the New England Patriots.

"Hopefully, they can play this week," Johnson said. "If not, we've got to go with the guys we've got and get better and try to fix it during the week."


David Staba is the sports editor of the Niagara Falls Reporter and the editor of the BuffaloPOST. He welcomes email at editor@buffalopost.com.