Colts Win Wild Game, 45-31

Peyton Manning and Brett Favre threw nine touchdown passes between them and weren’t even the stars of the game.

That role went to Jason David, a rookie defensive back who stole the ball from one of Favre’s receivers to clinch a 45-31 win for Manning and the Indianapolis Colts over Favre and the Green Bay Packers at Indianapolis.

The superstar quarterbacks certainly did their jobs.

Manning threw for 393 yards and five first-half touchdowns. Favre threw for 358 yards and four touchdowns, and the Packers rallied from an 18-point halftime deficit to come within a touchdown.

But the play of the game was made by David and Nick Harper. David, burned all game by Favre, stripped Javon Walker after he caught Favre’s pass just across midfield, and Harper returned it to the Green Bay 36.

That set up Edgerrin James’ one-yard touchdown run with 1 minute 49 seconds left.

“You like to see that from a young kid,” Colt Coach Tony Dungy said. “He had had a tough day. He got beaten on one coverage and kind of made a mistake on coverage on another assignment. But the thing you like about Jason is that he hangs in there and plays with a lot of enthusiasm.”

The game started with five touchdown passes in the first 11 minutes, three by Manning and two by Favre, a pace that would have resulted in 175 points if they had kept going.

Indianapolis threw 22 passes and did not have a running play in the first quarter as Manning and Favre aired it out. Both quarterbacks enjoyed watching the other work, to a point.

“Because they were scoring too, we were right back on the field. That kind of kept us in our rhythm,” Manning said. “If they had run off a 20-play drive, they might have really taken us out of our rhythm, but it was like ‘Score, get back on the field and score again.’ ”

Said Favre: “From their standpoint, I’m sure they thought they could score every time and so did we.”

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New York Giants 27, Cleveland 10 -- Kurt Warner set up a touchdown run by Tiki Barber with a long pass, and the veteran quarterback capped another drive at East Rutherford, N.J., with his second career regular-season touchdown run.

Michael Strahan had two sacks and two fumble recoveries, and the defense made life miserable for Cleveland quarterback Jeff Garcia to help New York win its second in a row under Tom Coughlin and hand Cleveland its second consecutive loss.

Garcia connected with Quincy Morgan on a three-yard touchdown pass, and Phil Dawson kicked a 49-yard field goal for the Browns, who got all of their points after falling behind 17-0.