Colts vs. Giants: Score and Twitter Reaction from Monday Night Football

The Indianapolis Colts turned one-dimensional against the New York Giants Monday night, which isn't such a bad thing when Andrew Luck and a talented group of pass-catchers compose that dimension.

Luck threw 46 times for 354 yards and four touchdowns, leading Chuck Pagano's squad to a dominant 40-24 victory over the Giants.

The Giants brought relentless pressure to try to get the Colts out of their rhythm, but the third-year quarterback manipulated the pocket and delivered tremendous strikes all night. Giants defensive end Robert Ayers, via ESPN's Dan Graziano, discussed the difficulty of slowing down Luck:

Luck, who had hit 350 passing yards before the end of the third quarter, entered the NFL record books with the performance, per Colts.com's Kevin Bowen:

And as NFL.com's Chris Wesseling noted, he's on pace to set another record:

Ahmad Bradshaw and Trent Richardson combined for 83 yards and 14 carries, but a bunch of that production came when the outcome was already decided. Early on, Indianapolis was intent on moving the ball through the air.

Pro Football Focus' Mike Clay summed up coordinator Pep Hamilton's perplexing first-half offensive game plan, which featured a whopping 31 passes vs. just five runs:

Luck targeted his former Stanford teammate Coby Fleener nine times in the opening two quarters. It sort of worked, though, as one of those attempts—which came when Giants head coach Tom Coughlin couldn't challenge the previous play in time—went for 32 yards and a touchdown.

As ESPN Stats & Info noted, the score was an impressive achievement from Luck compared to his first two seasons:

The Giants, meanwhile, struggled immensely with a case of the drops—both on offense, as Eli Manning got very little help from his receivers, and on defense, as Antrel Rolle let an easy interception slip through his hands late in the half.

As a result, Indy carried a 16-3 lead into the intermission. Unsurprisingly, the crowd at MetLife wasn't particularly thrilled with the lackluster performance, per the New York Daily News' Ebenezer Samuel:

Things didn't get any better to start the second half.

The Colts drove 84 yards on their first possession, culminating with T.Y. Hilton wrestling the ball away from Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in the end zone for a 31-yard touchdown:

New York responded with a heavy dose of its rookies. Odell Beckham Jr. made a spectacular 59-yard catch-and-run, and Andre Williams followed it up with a defender-flattening 24-yard reception and one-yard touchdown plunge.

ESPN.com's Matt Williamson praised Beckham Jr., who finished with eight catches and 156 yards as one of New York's few bright spots:

But it was only downhill from there for the G-Men.

Luck immediately added two more passing scores—a 40-yarder to Reggie Wayne and a two-yarder to Dwayne Allen after Manning fumbled deep in his own territory—to make it 37-10 before the end of the third quarter.

That pretty much emptied the stadium, as ESPN.com's Mike Sando illustrated:

Larry Donnell and Corey Washington added late touchdowns for New York, but it made little difference outside of fantasy football matchups.

Things don't get any easier for the Giants, who have lost three in a row and now get ready to travel to Seattle to take on the Seahawks in Week 10. The defending champs are banged up, but it's never fun for opponents to play at CenturyLink Field.

The Colts, meanwhile, head into the bye week at 6-3 before a huge AFC matchup against the New England Patriots.

With Luck and Tom Brady each at the top of their games, that one has the makings for a scintillating shootout. But for now, the Colts have earned a little rest before getting back to work.