2002

Bills 7
Indianapolis 19

Attendance:  41,406

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Peyton Manning can see the Indianapolis Colts' offense improving.

The Colts' starters scored their first touchdown of the preseason Saturday night, then settled for four Mike Vanderjagt field goals as they beat the Buffalo Bills 19-7 and gave new coach Tony Dungy his first home victory.

"It's still not quite us, because we didn't run the ball much,'' Manning said. "Buffalo was playing a lot of coverage and we're throwing and moving the ball, and at the same time you get down inside the 10 and you're like, `OK, this play didn't work, this play didn't work ...' What do you do?''

It was another question for an offense that has struggled throughout the preseason even as it finished with one major accomplishment Saturday -- scoring for the first time in three games.

Indianapolis' only touchdown drive Saturday night went 14 yards and came 3:07 into the game, but it was the Colts' first in six quarters.

The rest of the game left plenty to be desired.

About the only element of one of the NFL's highest-scoring offenses that appeared in sync was the Manning-to-Marvin Harrison connection. Manning completed 12 of 23 passes for 104 yards, while Harrison caught eight passes for 74 yards.

Otherwise, it was a struggle.

"On offense, we still hurt ourselves a little bit with penalties,'' Dungy said. "We're still a little off throwing the ball.''

There were other problems, too.

The Colts rushed for only 22 times for 50 yards -- 31 coming on Hunter Smith's fake punt -- as Edgerrin James sat out for the third straight week. They finished with 217 yards in total offense, and the starters' longest scoring drive, 42 yards, resulted in a 28-yard field goal.

The Colts also lost wide receiver Qadry Ismail with an elbow injury in the first quarter and backup quarterback Brock Huard in the third quarter with a thumb injury on his left hand, his throwing hand. Dungy said Ismail's X-ray was negative but he had no prognosis on Huard's injury.

Even the touchdown drive was not impressive.

Troy Walters he opening kickoff 81 yards to the Buffalo 14. Five plays and three Bills penalties later, Kevin McDougal plunged in from 1 yard out.

If it seemed a subpar night for the Colts, it was even worse for the Bills.

The improvement on defense was offset by a series of mistakes.

There was the breakdown on the opening kickoff, three turnovers and the constant penalties. Buffalo committed 11 in the first half, one more than its total from the first two games combined, and finished with 16 penalties for 97 yards.

"Before the ball game, officials talked to both teams. They were going to be extremely close tonight,'' coach Gregg Williams said. "We have to adjust. We have to do better.''

Williams also had hoped to see a more productive offense. Instead, it appeared to take a step back against the revamped Colts defense.

The Bills produced 228 total yards, including a minus-7 yards rushing in the first quarter, managed only 12 first downs and its only score came after Walters bobbled a punt and Chris Watson recovered at the Indianapolis 10.

Three plays later, Drew Bledsoe threw a 3-yard TD pass to second-round draft pick Josh Reed. That made it 10-7 with 5:04 left in the first quarter. Reed caught six passes for 58 yards, while Eric Moulds caught five passes for 64 yards.

The Bills also allowed three sacks.

"The upside is it's all fixable,'' Bledsoe said after completing 10 of 20 for 109 yards with one TD and one interception. "The corrections are simple, straightforward corrections. It won't take much time, but we have to get the stuff right.''

After the early scoring flurry, things bogged down.

Vanderjagt hit a 36-yard field goal and a 28-yarder to make it 13-7 at halftime. He added a 52-yarder to make it 16-7 early in the third quarter and a 21-yarder seven seconds into the fourth quarter to seal the game.

But the Colts left knowing the offense still needed some work.

"We still feel like we're not shooting on all cylinders,'' Manning said. "Hopefully, starting next week, if Edgerrin's going to come back and he can stay healthy all season, we feel like all those weapons are going to be there.''

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