There always seem to be a point during which an older, more experienced mentor passes the torch over to his younger protege’.

In the case of Peyton and Eli Manning, that point in time hasn’t arrived yet.

Peyton and his Colts schooled the Giants in just about every way imaginable, coasting to a 38-14 victory on Sunday night in Indianapolis.

The brothers’ statistics at halftime (with the Colts leading 24-0) told the whole story:

Peyton Manning:  13-18 for 154 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT

Eli Manning:  3-8 for 17 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT

But of course, you might have anticipated that discrepancy in the numbers through the air.  The Giants are more rugged, and usually sport a more balanced attack that is powered by their running game.  And figuring that, we’d all be shocked to see that the Colts outrushed the Giants 124-58 in the first 30 minutes of game time.

The home team opened the game with a 12-play, 85 yard scoring drive that lasted for 6:44.  It ended with Doanld Brown getting into the end zone after a 7-yard run.  While Nerw York failed to get anything going, Indianapolis sustained their momentum by putting 17 points on the board in the second quarter – highlighted by a 50-yard TD pass to Dallas Clark and a 3-yard TD pass to Austin Collie with 0:09 left before intermission.

It's been a long, winding road since Eli hoisted this trophy in early 2008.

Not much else happened the rest of the way.  Early in the third quarter, the Giants avoided posting a goose egg on the scoreboard when Eli connected with Mario Manningham for a 54-yard touchdown.  The Colts added a couple of cosmetic scores – one of which was generated by a defensive hit on Eli Manning that forced a fumble which was recovered in the end zone.

Manning fumbled three times in the contest tonight.  New York’s protection is not doing the job for him.  They had no consistent answer for Indianapolis defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis – not that many other teams do.  And the younger Manning has always seemingly been fumble prone.  That’s not a good combination, and it doomed the Giants as the game progressed.  Eli has to do a better job of feeling the pressure.  He has endured quite a bit of punishment early in his career because of his inability to do so. 

Unfortunately, he couldn’t get any pointers from his older brother on that.  Peyton, as usual, was protected in stellar fashion, enabling him to get off to a great start which he maintained throughout the game.

Putting the Manning match-up aside – did we really expect the Colts to start the season 0-2?  They must have been itching to get back on the gridiron after their loss to the suddenly hot Texans in the opening week.

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