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Young Colts have enough audacity to be real threat

Colts' Thomas still fuzzy about events leading to concussion

James awarded AFC offensive honor

(AP) Gotcha: Dallas cornerback Charlie Williams (left)
tackles Indianapolis wide receiver Terrence Wilkins
on Sunday.

For a group of guys who have tried to shy away from the national limelight this season, the Indianapolis Colts -- namely Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James and Marvin Harrison -- proved to one and all to be as good as advertised Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys.

With Indianapolis trailing 17-6 at halftime, the Colts' trio came alive in the third and fourth quarters as they led the charge in the Colts' 34-24 win at the RCA Dome.

It certainly didn't look good early. Deion Sanders' 76-yard punt return set up a short Emmitt Smith touchdown run and a blocked Hunter Smith punt led to a 24-yard field goal by Richie Cunningham.

But from that point on, Indianapolis played the Cowboys on pretty even terms.

"It's still early in the season, but we feel we beat a good football team today," Manning admitted afterward. "I really believe that we can take a lot of confidence from this game. We were able to come back from a substantial deficit at the half against a good team in a big-game environment. I think it certainly says a lot about our football team."

And so it does. The Colts were able to make big plays, on both sides of the football, in a game they could have just as easily have lost.

The Indianapolis quarterback certainly stepped his game up in the second half, completing 11 of 17 passes for 231 yards and one touchdown. He ended the night with some dazzling statistics: 22 of 34 passing for 312 yards and a touchdown.

"We struggled in the first half, but we really didn't play all the badly," Manning said. "[Dallas] had 17 points, but 10 of those came after Deion's [Sanders] punt return and when we had a punt blocked.

"We knew that we could move the football against Dallas. We came in at halftime and Coach Mora did a good job of settling everybody down. He told us that if the Cowboys were going to beat us, let's make them beat us and don't beat ourselves. I thought we did a good job there in the second half playing a lot smarter."

James, meanwhile, won the battle of the running backs as he outrushed Smith 113 yards (on 26 carries) to 93 yards (on 22 carries). He also caught a team-high seven passes for 92 yards.

Harrison, who saw a lot of Sanders' man-on-man pass coverage Sunday, had six receptions for 85 yards, including one for a 40-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

"I felt like we all made plays," Manning said, referring to James and Harrison. "But, obviously, it wasn't just us three. Terrence Wilkins came up big. Marcus Pollard made a huge third down catch for us. Kenny [Dilger] always plays solid.

"It was a complete team effort, coaches included. [Offensive coordinator] Tom Moore called the play-action post to Marvin. He caught [Dallas] in the perfect defense. It was a great job of Tom knowing what they were doing defensively. We got Deion and the safety on the fake, and I hit the home run to Marvin."

Mora pleased with win -- To say that Colts' Coach Jim Mora was happy with the win would be putting it mildly. Of course, his team's first half performance did provide him with a few anxious moments.

"We came out in the first half and we weren't meshing at all," Mora said. "We had a good week of practice and I thought that we were ready to play. That wasn't anything that I was worried about. We just had to settle down and play better.

"The kicking game hurt us in the first half, but we were able to get calmed down at halftime. I thought our assistant coaches did an excellent job during the half, settling everybody down. We came out in the second half and pretty much played the way that I thought we would."

A scary moment -- Indianapolis defensive end Mark Thomas provided more than a few anxious moments Sunday.

Thomas suffered a concussion with little more than two minutes remaining in the game. The situation certainly looked bad for a short time as the sixth-year NFL veteran was motionless on the RCA Dome turf for nearly 10 minutes as paramedics worked on stabilizing his neck and head.

He was taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for further observation, although Mora said that all indications were that he should be all right.

"From what I've been told, he should be fine" the Colts' coach said "There was no injury to the spinal column or anything like that. The doctors have told me that it's a concussion, but that they want to keep him in the hospital overnight for additional observation."

As medical personnel were working on Thomas, players from both teams gathered in groups in the middle of the field to pray for his recovery. One of the Dallas players who appeared the most shaken was receiver Michael Irvin, who has been sidelined for the past several weeks after suffering a spinal injury against Philadelphia.

Colts injury list -- In addition to Thomas' concussion, defensive tackle Bernard Whittington suffered a sprained ankle. The former IU player's status for Sunday's home game with Kansas City will be determined later in the week.

Aikman hurt -- Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman left the game early in the fourth quarter with a concussion after being dropped for a 10-yard loss on a blitz by Colts' cornerback Jeff Burris. He was replaced for one series in the Dallas lineup by seventh-year veteran Jason Garrett.

Davis not active -- Former IU defensive tackle Nathan Davis was not active for Dallas Sunday. He is in his third season with the Cowboys.

Indianapolis inactives -- Indianapolis had seven players on the inactive list Sunday: defensive back Paul Miranda, running back Keith Elias, running back Leeland McElroy, defensive tackle Tony McCoy, receiver E.G. Green and defensive end Chukie Nworkie.

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