Colts Scrape Past Bills

Rian Lindell hooked the potential game winning field vs. the Colts on Sunday

As the Indianapolis Colts look forward to meetings with Philadelphia (5-4) and other prominent teams in the coming weeks, it seems as if they've overlooked what was a meaningless opponent, and what was believed to be an easy win for them: the Buffalo Bills.
w
The Bills ran all over the Colts, even without star running back Willis McGahee. Anthony "A-Train" Thomas ran 28 times for 109 yards, with a long of 19 yards. As a team, the Bills threw the ball 14 times, 9 of them complete. Indianapolis was the polar opposite, throwing for 279 yards (All by Peyton Manning, of course) and then running the ball 27 times (Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai combined) for 150 yards. However, Manning threw 39 times, as opposed to Losman's 14 times.

The story of the game was special teams, and Indianapolis making key mistakes. Joseph Addai fumbled, and Terrence McGee ran the ball back 68 yards for a key touchdown, the only one Buffalo would score all day. Reggie Wayne scored on a 1-yard TD pass from Manning on a fade route, and Addai scored on a short run near the goal line. In addition to Addai's fumble, and McGee's subsequent 68-yard return, Ben Utecht also fumbled the ball, and was recovered by Nate Clements. McGee's well-doing was almost erased with his fumble, but Buffalo players fell on the ball immediately. JP Losman also fumbled, and that was recovered by Buffalo offensive lineman (By commitee, at that).

In the 4th quarter, with the game winding down and just over six and a half minutes left on the clock, Rian Lindell came out on to the field to attempt a field goal. The kicked looked good, and at the last second it hooked just to the right, and the field goal attempt, and the 3 points what would have put Buffalo ahead by two, were for not. Manning and the Colts' offense went down the field, taking time off the clock, and eventually ended the game on a kneel down just after an Addai run for a first down.

Angelo Crowell finished with 12 tackles and 1 assisted tackle, leading the Bills'. The Colts' leader was Antoine Bethea, a 6th-round pick Defensive Back, who finished with 8 and 1 assist. Dwight Freeney also got his first full sack of the season, getting to JP Losman midway through the 3rd quarter.