PEYTON MANNING PASSES COLTS TO VICTORY OVER EAGLES

The Indianapolis Colts’ offense was in high gear on Thursday night as Peyton Manning threw two TD passes in three series of action, leaving backup Curtis Painter with a 14-0 lead over the Philadelphia Eagles before exiting the game.  The Colts went on to win 23-15 in NFL preseason action at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

NFL bettors who took the +4 price with Indy as a home dog easily cashed their tickets, while the 38 combined points went OVER the posted total of 36’.  Indy is now 1-1 straight up and against the spread, going OVER in 1 game and UNDER in the other.  Philadelphia dropped to 0-2 SU and ATS and has gone OVER the total in both games.
 
Manning had been happy with the offense’s opening game performance, and was in much better spirits after this game:

"I think everybody wanted to be in there. The entire offense felt hungry after last week. Sure, there were some mistakes we can learn from, but there were some good things we can learn from."

"I don't think anybody offensively was really happy with what happened last week. It started with me and the entire offensive starting unit. Overall I thought everybody came back and did a better job tonight."

Colts head coach Jim Caldwell was also happy with the performance:

"They [the starters] had a couple of real good solid drives in there, performing pretty well. We were pleased with what we saw."

Eagles’ coach Andy Reid, meanwhile, wasn’t the least bit enthused with what he saw from his team:

"All in all, that was an embarrassing performance and way too many penalties, not enough intensity all the way around, starting with me. It was a poor performance."

The Eagles were missing a number of starters and aside from a nice touchdown pass from Donovan McNabb early in the game looked nothing like a team expected to contend for a Superbowl berth.

Philadelphia will host the Jacksonville Jaguars next Thursday night looking for their first win of the NFL preseason.  The Colts will continue their NFL exhibition slate as they travel to Detroit for a game against the Lions a week from Saturday.  The Eagles will start the regular season with a road game against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, September 13th while the Colts will host the Jacksonville Jaguars.