Daniel Man of Moment for Colts

There’s still some spring in Eugene Daniel’s legs.

The 35-year-old Indianapolis cornerback had two interceptions Sunday, returning one 35 yards for a touchdown as the Colts ended a four-game losing streak with a 34-29 victory over the New York Jets.

Daniel also prevented a possible winning Jet touchdown when he knocked the ball away from Keyshawn Johnson at the 10-yard line in the closing seconds.

“It’s a great feeling to make a touchdown,” Daniel said. “They made a couple of plays on me, but we played hard on defense. The Jets have a good team. They have been scoring on everybody. They just haven’t been winning the games.”

Until Sunday, neither had the Colts, who won their first four games this season, but lost five of the next six.

“We watched film this week and saw what we were doing right in the first four games,” Daniel said. “We went out today and tried to repeat those things.”

At the end, the Colts finally found a way to win because the Jets, as usual, found a way to lose.

The Colts forced five turnovers, four on interceptions of Frank Reich. Richard Dent also sacked Reich for a safety.

“I told the team this reminds me of the real Colts,” Coach Lindy Infante said. “We battled to the end, scratched around and found a way to win. We made some bonehead plays that we have to eliminate, but this team needed this win very badly.”

The Jets (1-10), who rank last in the AFC in takeaway-giveaway ratio, recovered three fumbles by the Colts (6-5) and led, 29-26, early in the fourth quarter after a 32-yard pass to Jeff Graham, his career-best third touchdown reception of the game.

But after an Indianapolis punt and a personal foul on New York, the Jets started the next series from their own six. On third down, Dent caught Reich in the end zone, his 131st career sack, and the safety pulled the Colts to 29-28.

Aided by two pass interference penalties on New York, the Colts then moved to the Jet 19, where Cary Blanchard’s third field goal, a 37-yarder, put them ahead with 8:10 left in the game. Blanchard kicked his fourth field goal with 1:24 to go.

The Jets, out of timeouts, reached the Indianapolis 45 before Daniel knocked down one pass at the 10. A final desperation pass to Johnson was batted down in the end zone as the game ended.

“It should have been a touchdown,” Johnson said. “But when you have a lot of people all over your back, it’s hard to make the catch. It was really close. I had the ball, and the defenders just grabbed it out of my hands. I didn’t have the opportunity to tuck it in.”

Ray Buchanan was one of the Colt defenders on the last play.

“He had possession,” Buchanan said of Johnson. “He had it for a second, but I was able to stick my hand up there too and knock it away.”