Colts cruise over Jags with a little Luck
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Watch out, Houston. The Colts have Luck on their side.
Rookie quarterback Andrew Luck scored two touchdowns in the second quarter to lead the Indianapolis Colts to a 27-10 victory over the hapless Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday, in front of 63,272 at EverBank Field.
The Colts (6-3) won their fourth game in a row and are two games in the loss column to the first-place Houston Texans in the AFC South -- one year after they went 2-14, which enabled them to draft Luck with the first overall pick.
Unlike the previous three victories in the Colts' current streak, this one was all but over by halftime as they grabbed a 17-3 lead. Indianapolis won three games by a combined margin of 13 points since its last loss and the rout of the Jaguars (1-8) avenged a 22-17 loss in Week 3 at home.
The victory also broke a three-game winning streak the Jaguars had over the Colts.
"It's nice to get one like that," Luck said. "Reggie (Wayne) was kidding me when he said all the wins don't have to be this stressful."
Luck completed 18-of-26 passes for 227 yards. Wayne, who has tormented the Jaguars secondary over the balance of his career, caught 11 passes for 96 yards.
The Colts defense forced three turnovers and got four sacks.
"It was one of our better efforts," said Bruce Arians, who is serving as the Colts' coach while Chuck Pagano continues his recovery from leukemia. "Now we can take a little time to get healthy."
The Colts have 10 days off before playing at New England. The final month of the season will include two divisional showdowns against the Texans.
"This is the biggest game to date, by far," Luck said. "It's nice to be 6-3 but it's just one step in the journey. We know it only gets harder from here. We'll have to put in twice as much effort and twice as much work."
Jaguars quarterback Blaine Gabbert went 18-of-31 for 209 yards before leaving the game when he re-injured his left shoulder. Backup Chad Henne led the Jags to their only touchdown when he threw a 5-yard TD pass to Cecil Shorts, with 9:16 left in the game.
Before Gabbert left, he threw an interception to third-team cornerback Darius Butler, who returned it for another touchdown. Butler jumped a route and cruised into the end zone.
"We're so close but so far at the same time," Gabbert said. "We get drives going and we have to make a play and we haven't done that."
Added Jags coach Mike Mularkey: "We're trying to overcome ourselves. We have to overcome ourselves. When we do that, we'll start winning games."
The Colts took their commanding halftime lead thanks to Luck's fourth and fifth rushing touchdowns of the season, from 5 yards out early in the second quarter and from the 1 on the Colts' next possession.
Luck leads the Colts in rushing touchdowns.
Adam Vinatieri opened the scoring with a 31-yard field goal in the first period. He later added another three-pointer in the fourth quarter.
The Jaguars moved the ball well in spurts in the first half, as Gabbert had success hitting tight end Marcedes Lewis. But the team's first possession in Colts' territory ended with a rare miss by kicker Josh Scobee, whose streak of 20 consecutive field goals was broken when he pushed a 44-yard attempt to the right in the first quarter.
Scobee had made 14 in a row this season, adding to his last six made attempts in 2011, and had a streak of eight field goals in a row against the Colts.
He atoned for the miss with a 40-yard field goal with 17 seconds left in the half, ending a furious drive downfield that began when Dawan Landry intercepted Luck at the Jags' 10.
The Jaguars lost one of their best early chances on the first play after Scobee's miss. Aaron Ross intercepted a deep pass by Luck intended for T.Y. Hilton but the play was nullified when Jags defensive end Andre Branch was flagged for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Luck as he released the ball.
The Jaguars seemed to lose their composure in the second half as Branch was flagged for another personal foul and Landry was nailed for hitting Luck late on a slide.
Wide receiver Justin Blackmon nullified a long pass from Henne to Shorts inside the Colts 5 when he hit cornerback Marshay Green from behind on an illegal blindside block.
Mularkey also was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct in the first quarter.
"That's not going to be who we are," Mularkey said. "There's no way we're going to be that way. We will not be that type of team. We will be a disciplined team, we'll be a smart team and we will be a physical team. But we will not be that team that's going to have personal fouls. It will stop."
NOTES: Jaguars veteran cornerback Rashean Mathis (groin) was listed as questionable but was among the pregame scratches. He missed his third game in a row. Already ruled out because of injury were running back Maurice Jones-Drew (foot), fullback Greg Jones (hip) and safety Dwight Lowery (ankle). The other inactives for the Jaguars were receiver Anthony Armstrong, defensive tackle Jeris Pendleton and offensive lineman Steve Vallos. The Colts' inactives were linebacker Robert Mathis (back), cornerbacks Vontae Davis (knee) and Jerraud Powers (toe), center Samson Satele (back), offensive tackle Winston Justice (knee), tight end Coby Fleener (shoulder) and defensive end Clifton Geathers. ... The Colts ended the only winning streak Gabbert has had against an NFL team. He entered the game with a 3-0 record against Indianapolis, with only one interception. ... The Jaguars have lost five Thursday night games in a row. Their only Thursday win came the first time they played on that day, against Pittsburgh in 1999. ... After three consecutive losses to the Jags, the Colts' victory Thursday gave them a 16-8 record in the series. The Colts are 8-4 in Jacksonville.
