Colts Shake Up Offense and Green Bay, 37-10

Indianapolis Coach Rod Dowhower was considered an offensive genius in his days as an assistant coach.

Dowhower didn’t tarnish his reputation Sunday when he inserted Wayne Capers in the starting lineup and the free agent scored three touchdowns to lead the Colts to a 37-10 victory over the Green Bay Packers.

“Capers gave us an extra dimension,” Dowhower said. “I’ll say he had an excellent day. Given the opportunity, Capers made the most of it.”

Capers, who joined the Colts a week into the season, scored on a 20-yard reverse, a 39-yard pass from Mike Pagel and a 33-yard pass from Matt Kofler.

The Colts, trying to improve a weak passing offense, started Capers in place of Robbie Martin and Matt Bouza in place of Ray Butler at the wide receiver spots. The move paid off on their first possession of the game, when Capers scored on a reverse run from 20 yards out three plays after the first of Eugene Daniel’s three interceptions.

Capers made five catches for 104 yards.

“It just a matter of learning the plays,” said Capers, who was cut by Pittsburgh at the end of training camp. “The offense is quite different here than in Pittsburgh.

“I’ve always been able to catch the ball, but learning an offense in a month is a challenge.”

The Colt defense allowed the Packers, who were averaging 141 yards a game on the ground, only 74 yards rushing.

Daniel also broke up five Green Bay passes, including one at the Indianapolis two-yard line, and recovered a fumble that ended a Packer threat with under seven minutes left.

Two of Daniel’s interceptions set up first-half touchdowns by the Colts, who built a 20-10 lead by intermission and put the game out of reach on their first possession of the third quarter.

Runs by George Wonsley and Randy McMillan took Indianapolis to the Green Bay 39. On the next play, McMillan took the ball from Pagel, faked a run and pitched back to Pagel who fired the touchdown pass to Capers.