Another High-Five Day for Manning

Peyton Manning showed he was ready for the playoffs Sunday.

The Indianapolis Colts now have two weeks to keep their explosive offense fine-tuned.

Manning threw for 290 yards and five touchdowns, Edgerrin James ran for 126 yards and the defense manhandled Michael Vick in a 38-7 victory over Atlanta to clinch a playoff spot.

“That was the goal coming in here, to get into the playoffs,” Manning said. “We need to keep it going the next two weeks.”

With Tennessee’s win over Buffalo on Sunday, the Colts (11-3) will have to wait another week for a chance to clinch their first division title since 1999. One more win, or a Titan loss, gives the Colts the AFC South title.

The Colts played one of their best all-around games this season and Manning turned in another most-valuable-player-like performance before leaving at the start of the fourth quarter.

He completed 25 of 30 passes, became the first Colt quarterback to throw for five touchdowns in a game twice in a season and the first NFL player to achieve that since Buffalo’s Jim Kelly in 1991. Only three other players -- Houston’s Warren Moon in 1990, Miami’s Dan Marino in 1986 and San Diego’s Dan Fouts in 1982 -- have done that since the merger in 1970.

Manning also broke the NFL record for most consecutive seasons with 25 touchdown passes (six). The record of five was set by Miami’s Dan Marino in the 1980s and was tied by Green Bay’s Brett Favre in the 1990s.

“He was very sharp all week in practice and he’s been very, very hot the last month or so,” Coach Tony Dungy said.

Atlanta (3-11) looked like a team reeling from a midweek coaching change.

In Wade Phillips’ first game as interim coach after Dan Reeves’ firing, Michael Vick was sacked four times and the Falcons’ offense did little, with Vick completing six of 19 passes for 47 yards and running for 30 yards in four carries.