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©Associated Press
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 26, 2000
INDIANAPOLIS -- If anything was wrong with Peyton Manning, it was cured Monday night, with help from some unexpected quarters.
Manning passed for a franchise-record 440 yards and threw four touchdowns as the Colts dominated the second half to beat Jacksonville 43-14.
Terrence Wilkins, playing his first game of the season, chipped in with nine catches for 148 yards and a touchdown. The defense that blew a 21-point lead at home to Oakland Sept. 10 showed up this time, sacking Mark Brunell five times, once for a safety, and picking off a pass that set up a score.
But it was Manning's show as the Colts went on a 22-0 run in the second half after leading by a touchdown at halftime.
After throwing three interceptions in his first two games, he went unscathed, starting with a 76-yard touchdown to Marvin Harrison on the Colts' third play from scrimmage. Manning also had a 27-yarder to Wilkins and a 16-yarder to Jerome Pathon as Indianapolis took a 21-14 lead.
Manning added a 4-yarder in the final quarter for the first four-touchdown game in his two-plus seasons. Edgerrin James completed the scoring with a 14-yard touchdown run.
Manning, who completed 23 of 36 passes, broke his team record of 404 yards against San Diego on Sept. 26, 1999. Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas' top total was 401 for Baltimore.
Wilkins, who missed the first two games with a concussion, almost doubled his career high of five catches as a rookie last season.
The defense, which entered with one sack, got two each from Ellis Johnson and Chad Bratzke. Bratzke sacked Brunell for a third-quarter safety, the Colts' first since 1997. Mike Peterson had an interception that set up one of the first-half touchdowns.
Brunell was 21-for-35 for 229 yards for Jacksonville with touchdowns of 9 and 26 yards to Jimmy Smith. But after getting 159 yards in the first half, Brunell had 3 in the first 25 minutes of the second while the Colts put the game away.
Fred Taylor, who played his first game of the season for Jacksonville after missing two with a knee injury, ran for 57 yards on 14 carries.
The game started with an explosion, the 76-yard pass from Manning to Harrison behind Aaron Beasley.
It settled down until midway through the second quarter, when Brunell hit Smith with the 9-yarder that was first ruled out of bounds, then overturned on replay.