Manning directs four TD drives to give Colts 28-10 third-quarter lead over Arizona

Manning carves up Arizona for 28-10 Colts lead

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Peyton Manning carved up the Arizona defense for four touchdown passes, three in the second quarter, and the Indianapolis Colts held a 28-10 lead over the Cardinals after three quarters on Sunday night.

The Colts’ quarterback had four TD passes in a game for the 18th time in his career, moving ahead of Johnny Unitas into third on the NFL career list, behind Dan Marino (21) and Brett Favre (20).

Manning threw 20 yards to Reggie Wayne for the first score, 10 yards to Dallas Clark for the second and a pretty 53-yarder to Pierre Garcon for the third touchdown as Indianapolis took a 21-3 halftime lead.

Arizona took the second half kickoff and went 73 yards in eight plays, with Kurt Warner throwing 10 yards to Anquan Boldin for the touchdown to cut it to 21-10 with 10:50 to play in the third.

But a 72-yard pass play from Manning to rookie Donald Brown set up a 3-yard TD pass to Joseph Addai to boost the lead to 28-10 with 2:26 left in the quarter.

Through three quarters Manning was 20 of 30 for 331 yards with one interception. Warner was 25 of 39 for 279 yards with one touchdown and an interception through three.

The Colts went 95 yards in 11 plays for their first touchdown after Arizona’s Tim Hightower fumbled at the Indianapolis 5-yard line.

Wayne reached out with one hand to make the catch at the pylon, then tumbled out of bounds, for the game’s first touchdown with 9:04 left in the half.

After Arizona’s offense was stuffed, the Colts went 57 yards in six plays, Manning throwing over the middle to Clark to make it 14-3 with 5:49 to play in the half.

Manning completed 11 of 14 for 166 yards on the three second-quarter touchdown drives.

The Cardinals had two long scoring drives end in turnovers. Colts safety Antoine Bethea ended one drive with a fumble recovery at the 5-yard line and the other with an interception in the end zone.

Late in the first half, Arizona moved to the Indianapolis 1, where under pressure Warner threw toward Larry Fitzgerald. Tim Jennings deflected the ball into the air, and Bethea intercepted.

The Cardinals had dominated field position to take an early 3-0 lead on Neil Rackers’ 38-yard field goal with 2:46 left in the first quarter.

Manning and Warner were meeting for only the second time. The first was in 2001, when Warner was en route to the Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams.

The Colts showed no ill effects from a short week of practice after a Monday night victory in Miami.