James Has Big Game for Colts in Debut

The opponent wasn’t UCLA, but Edgerrin James still had a field day. The only place he couldn’t run was into the stands.

With his mother and a couple dozen other friends and relatives from Immokalee, Fla., watching, the Indianapolis rookie rushed 26 times for 112 yards and a touchdown Sunday, then made sure the ball was safely tucked away as a souvenir of the Colts’ 31-14 victory over the Buffalo Bills.

“I wanted to run up there and give it to her,” he said, “but they wouldn’t let me.”

Instead, he made sure the ball was wrapped in a towel and placed in a team locker for safekeeping.

“There really weren’t too many surprises. I just went out and played football,” he said of his NFL debut. “The thing I liked most was I knew what I was doing. I wasn’t confused at any time.”

James, who ran wild in Miami’s victory over UCLA last season, was picked fourth in this year’s NFL draft, ahead of Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams.

“You’re just trying to look for a seam, to hit it big,” he said. “They pursue pretty hard. That’s when you have to slow it down and get a feel for things.”

James also also caught four passes for 14 yards.

Peyton Manning, coming off a record-setting rookie season, passed for 284 yards and two touchdowns to Marvin Harrison, and Tony Blevins iced the season-opening victory when he intercepted a pass by Doug Flutie and returned it 74 yards for a touchdown with 3:20 to play.

Flutie, named the Bills’ starter earlier in the week, passed for 300 yards and a third-quarter touchdown to Andre Reed but was sacked a career-high five times.

“I’m exhausted. We had to throw the ball too much,” said Flutie, who was 22 for 42. “You can’t make a living in this league throwing the ball on every down. We moved the ball well at times, but penalties and a couple of sacks get you out of distance and then you have to start heaving the ball. It’s not good football.”

Harrison, who missed the final four games with a shoulder injury last year, had 121 yards in receptions, and E.G. Green, who had only 177 yards in 11 games as a rookie, totaled 124. It was only the third time in Colt history that two players had at least 100 yards receiving and one had 100-plus yards rushing.

“Last year, I was kind of like Edgerrin, feeling my way,” said Manning, who was 21 for 33, with no sacks. “Certainly it’s a better feeling as a quarterback when you have that confidence. The protection was solid. . . . When you have protection and have time to see downfield you can get the ball downfield.”

Long passes to Green set up both of the Colts touchdowns in the first half.

The first covered 50 yards before he was stopped at the one by Thomas Smith. After two carries for no gain, James ran in for his first career touchdown. He ran to the sideline cradling the ball and pointing to his mother.

“He’s a good football player and he’s going to get yards if we give him the ball enough,” Colt Coach Jim Mora said. “It’s hard to run on Buffalo. I knew there would be some tough downs. But he’s also the kind of player, if we can be in the game, he’s going to make plays for us.”

James had 12 carries for 88 yards in the second half.

Buffalo lost running back Thurman Thomas because of a rib injury on the first play of the game.