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Leading up to last weekend's playoff game against Denver, Peyton Manning tired of being asked about his postseason failures.
Anyone up for questioning Manning now?
Manning, who threw five touchdown passes as the Colts rolled past Denver, had an equally impressive showing Sunday afternoon by passing for 304 yards with three touchdowns as Indianapolis (14-4) ended Kansas City's season at 13-4 with a 38-31 victory in an AFC divisional playoff game.
"That was an amazing performance," Kansas City defensive end Eric
Hicks said. "We just got our butts whooped. They took us behind the woodshed
and just beat us. It's embarrassing." Tickets
The Colts' offensive circus makes its way to Foxboro, to face the Patriots (15-2)
for the AFC title.
"I'm hot right now and we're hot as an offense," said Manning, who
has a near-perfect 153.9 passing rating in this postseason with 641 yards and
no interceptions.
Indianapolis, now 14-4 and an NFL-best 8-1 on the road, was all but unstoppable
when it had the ball against a Kansas City defense that has jumped off course
after the Chiefs' 9-0 start. The Colts scored on all but two possessions.
ALMOST UNSTOPPABLE
The first time Indianapolis was stopped was when it took a knee to end the first
half; the second came with eight seconds left when, instead of kicking a moderate
field goal, the Colts gave up the ball on downs at the Chiefs' 27.
The Colts were also 8 of 11 on third down, missing on one at the end of the
first half and at the end of the game.
Neither defense had much fun on the field, however. Indianapolis ran up 434
yards and the Chiefs 408.
"Our defense wasn't good enough today," said Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil,
whose team saw its 13-game home winning streak snapped. The Chiefs haven't won
a postseason game since 1993.
"They gave up 400 yards, and they're going on and we're not. We are aware
that we have some problems, but not as many problems as we had today."
The Colts, which upset the host Chiefs to advance to the AFC title game in 1996,
took it to the home team early and often. The Chiefs had their sellout crowd
-- their 101st in a row -- going ballistic on Indianapolis' first possession.
The Colts ran Edgerrin James for a gain of 1 on their first two plays of the
game. Then, Manning completed a 12-yard pass to Marvin Harrison to set the tone
for the rest of the game.
Seven plays after the Colts picked up their first third-down conversion, Manning's
perfect play-fake turned into a 29-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Stokley. The
Colts never trailed, and Manning had but only the most fleeting of bad moments.
Despite the hostile environment, Manning kept the Chiefs' defense off guard
by calling an audible on almost every play. He also rushed the Chiefs with a
no-huddle offense, and Kansas City looked helpless at times.
One of those times came in the third. Manning tried to get a penalty on the
Chiefs for having 12 men on the field on a third-and-2 from the 19. Instead,
Kansas City got off, and Manning checked off repeatedly at the line. The Chiefs
blitzed, and Manning floated a perfect touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne to make
it 31-17.
"That's why I call him P-Money," said Colts running back Edgerrin
James, whose 11-yard run gave the Colts a 14-3 lead and 1-yard run in the fourth
made it 38-24. "A lot of people make-believe study, but he's in there doing
it up. He'll probably be in the film room tonight working."
OPPORTUNITIES LOST
Kansas City had its fair share of opportunities but had trouble picking its
spot to capitalize. Down 7-0, the Chiefs drove downfield but settled for a field
goal. Late in the second, Trent Green connected on a 27-yard touchdown to tight
end Tony Gonzalez, but it was negated by a questionable offensive-pass-interference
call. Instead of going in at halftime down 21-17, the Chiefs trailed by 11 as
Morten Andersen's 31-yard field goal went wide left.
The Chiefs opened the second half in fine fashion, with Priest Holmes (176 yards)
breaking off a long run. Holmes was chased down, however, and stripped by David
Macklin 48 yards later. Eleven plays later, the Colts got a field goal and led
24-10.
"We knew it was going to be this kind of game," Colts coach Tony Dungy
said. "Obviously, Peyton is just playing phenomenal. We're excited about
going to New England, and we think it's the two best teams playing."