Punchless St. Louis Rams Pummeled by Indianapolis Colts

You could see this one coming.

The winless St. Louis Rams were no match for an unbeaten Indianapolis team that moved the ball seemingly at will.

Peyton Manning fell short of a record sixth straight 300-yard passing game, but still threw for three scores as the Colts blew out the Rams 42-6 at the Edward Jones Dome.

"Against a team that's led by Peyton Manning, the one thing you know you have to do is score points," said Rams right end Randy McMichael. "They're going to score their points, and you've got to score, too. We didn't do that."

The Colts scored a pair of touchdowns on their first two possessions to take a 14-3 lead and never looked back. The Colts' 15th consecutive regular-season victory was also the 17th straight loss for the Rams.

"We got our butts kicked, and it's as simple as that," said St. Louis quarterback Marc Bulger, who struggled going 14-of-26 for 140 yards and a pair of interceptions. His one big pass came on a flea flicker, when he completed a 50-yard pass to Donnie Avery to set up a 30-yard Josh Brown field goal on the Rams' first possession.

The Colts cut through the Rams defense like hot butter to open the game.

While the Rams did a good job early on Colts tailback Joseph Addai, Manning and Reggie Wayne were unstoppable.

Four of Manning's five completions on the initial drive went to Wayne, who scored on a 6-yard slant just over six minutes into the game. Wayne finished with a game-high seven receptions for 83 yards.

Manning spent the day finding holes that just weren't there, but threaded the needle nearly every time past good Rams coverage. Manning was 23-for-34 for 235 yards.

The Colts took almost no time to respond to the Brown field goal, needing just three plays to score on 27-yard pass from Manning to tight end Dallas Clark. Donald Brown had a 45-yard run on the preceding play.

Once Manning softened up the Rams secondary, the Colts had better luck with the rush attack. Brown finished with 58 yards on just two carries while Addai had 64 on 20 attempts and a touchdown. Second-year back Chad Simpson added a 35-yard touchdown score in the fourth on his only carry.

Addai's touchdown came late in the second quarter when he ran into the end zone untouched from six yards out. The touchdown to give the Colts a 21-3 halftime lead came following a series of underneath passes to receiver Austin Collie and Clark.

Manning had more passing yards (168) at halftime than the Rams had total yards (126). Steven Jackson had just 33 yards on 10 carries at the break, but offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur got the ball in Jackson's hands more often in the second half, and Jackson ran hard. He racked up 101 yards on 13 carries in the second half to finish with 134 yards.

Jackson, who entered the game ranked fourth in the NFL in rushing yards, was held out of the end zone for the seventh straight game this season. He is the only back in the top 10 yet to score.

Although guard Richie Incognito said over the summer that the Rams go as Jackson goes, the Rams running back did not want to address his end zone troubles.

"Let's talk about no wins first," Jackson said. "No touchdowns is something you guys (the media) keep up with. I keep up with wins and losses and we're 0-7 right now. I'm not focused on any of my personal figures right now. There are 53 men on this team."

While the outcome was never in doubt, the Rams were able to hang around in the second half. That is until Jacob Lacey stepped in front of a Bulger pass and returned it 35 yards for a score to put the Colts up 28-6 with a minute remaining in the third.

"Lacey's interception and score was big," said Colts coach Jim Caldwell. "I never think you're out of the woods in the business until we're inside of one minute. Our guys did create a little cushion for us and turn the game around."

Next up for Indianapolis is a home game against San Francisco. The Rams head to Detroit to take on a Lions team that went 0-16 last year—a fate St. Louis hopes to avoid this year.

"We've got to learn how to win football games," Jackson said. "We don't know how to win right now. We're competing, but until we get a win, we're nowhere close to winning right now."

The article can also be found at The Alton Telegraph .