Colts Moving on Up Instead of Out Now

No wonder Jeff Herrod likes playing against Cleveland . . . er, Baltimore.

The Indianapolis linebacker has two touchdowns in his nine-year career, and both have come against the same team--the Browns in 1993 and the relocated Ravens in the Colts’ 26-21 victory Sunday night.

It was the first game between the two NFL Baltimore teams--past and present--and the first matching Raven Coach Ted Marchibroda against Lindy Infante, his former offensive coordinator with the Colts.

“Baltimore is the Cleveland Browns,” said Herrod, whose 68-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter accounted for the winning points.

“The rivalry will come not among the players but the fans,” he said of Baltimore and Indianapolis, whose fans have feuded since the Colts moved here in 1984.

“It is something we did not listen to during the week. It was just another game,” Herrod said. “We can’t go back in history. We’re not responsible for the fact the Colts are in Indianapolis.”

There are no Colt players left from the team’s Baltimore era, but it was the same old Cleveland Browns, Infante said.

“That was the team we were playing. And that’s a good team. They’ll win some games. We’re tickled to death to get the victory.”

Indianapolis (5-1), taking a one-game lead over Buffalo and Miami in the AFC East, had to hold off the Ravens (2-4), who got three touchdown passes by Vinny Testaverde, two to Derrick Alexander and one to Calvin Williams.

The three-yard touchdown catch by Williams brought Baltimore within 26-21 with four minutes to go, and the Ravens got the ball back twice more after Indianapolis punts. The final play, a pass to Jermaine Lewis, ended near midfield with a tackle.

“The last two series of downs, we were playing the clock as best we could,” Infante said. “We figured if we didn’t turn the ball over, they would get the ball with about 25 seconds to go and no timeouts. We decided we weren’t going to get cute.”

The only lead for Baltimore was at 14-13 on Alexander’s second touchdown catch midway through the third quarter.

But Jim Harbaugh, who earned a big first down on a late hit out of bounds by Craig Powell, took the Colts 67 yards in 13 plays, and Marshall Faulk scored from the one to put Indianapolis ahead for good.

On the next series, Testaverde hit Michael Jackson for 15 yards to the Indianapolis 43. But he was pressured by Tony Bennett on the next play and Herrod picked off the pass and ran it back for the longest interception return by a linebacker in Colt history.