Colts 35, Raiders 14

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The combination of Peyton Manning and Edgerrin James was too powerful for the Oakland Raiders. <br/><br/>Manning completed 16 of 26 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns, while

Sunday, October 10th 2004, 3:47 pm

By: News On 6

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The combination of Peyton Manning and Edgerrin James was too powerful for the Oakland Raiders.

Manning completed 16 of 26 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns, while James ran for 136 yards and a score to lead the Indianapolis Colts (4-1) past the Raiders 35-14 for their fourth straight win.

Oakland (2-3) fell to its 12th consecutive road loss.

Most of Manning's damage again came in the first half.

He threw three TDs in the first two quarters, giving him eight in the first half in the Colts' two home games so far this season.

James hammered away in the second half, finishing with 32 carries and scoring the game-sealing touchdown for the third straight week. Reggie Wayne caught five passes for 69 yards and the Colts controlled the ball for more than 35 minutes.

While Indianapolis was nearly flawless, the Raiders could not avoid some of their usual pitfalls.

Oakland managed just 269 yards in offense, Kerry Collins threw three interceptions for the second straight week and penalties cost the Raiders a 56-yard TD run and led to two Indianapolis scores.

And for the second time in four weeks, Oakland's Jerry Rice failed to catch a pass. He holds the NFL record for consecutive games with a reception, 274, a streak that ended earlier this season.

With the Raiders trying to take away Indianapolis' big-play potential, James softened up the secondary and Manning was content to throw underneath. The deliberate, pounding attack took a toll.

The Colts opened the scoring with Manning's 1-yard TD pass to James Mungro.

Two series later, a huge blunder by Oakland gave Manning another chance. With the Colts facing fourth-and-1 from the Raiders 40, Oakland jumped offside. On the next play, Manning went to a wide-open Reggie Wayne for a 35-yard score and a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Oakland closed to 14-7 when Justin Fargas jumped in for a 1-yard touchdown.

But Manning countered immediately with a 4-yard TD pass to Dallas Clark, whose second catch of the season made it 21-7 at the half.

James took care of the rest with his third 100-yard game of the season. He scored on a 1-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter after Oakland was called twice for holding in the end zone. That made it 28-7.

The Raiders got within 28-14 when Collins connected on a 21-yard TD pass to Courtney Anderson midway through the fourth quarter. But that was all the Raiders could muster.

The Colts closed out the scoring on Jason David's 34-yard interception return with less than 2 minutes remaining.

Collins finished 28-of-44 for 245 yards with one touchdown and was sacked four times. Amos Zereoue rushed 10 times for 41 yards for the Raiders and caught seven passes for 53 yards, while Ronald Curry had 10 catches for 72 yards.