Two images linger from the brother vs. brother, history-making NFL opener between the Indianapolis Colts and the New York Giants:
* Colts quarterback Peyton Manning consoling younger brother Eli with pat after pat on the back at game's end.
"I told him I loved him and I was proud of the way he competed," Peyton said. "I enjoyed watching him play in person. He was every bit as good as he looks on TV."
* The Colts' defense impersonating crash-test dummies.
"It was horrible," cornerback Nick Harper said.
We can talk all day about the Manning brothers' performances in the Colts' 26-21 win over the Giants on Sunday night at Giants Stadium. We can talk about Peyton's game management and terrific throws on the run. We can talk about Eli's poise under pressure and the quick release that kept him far away from Colts' pass rushers Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis. We can talk about whether a questionable offensive interference call robbed the younger Manning of game-winning heroics.
We can even talk about the brothers' father, Archie Manning, looking more exhausted than if he'd run the New York Marathon.
But the pertinent conversation for the Colts heading into Week 2 will be the sorry state of its defense.
True, it's only one game.
But it was a brutal and troubling one.
The Colts' run defense, one of its question marks last year, looked as if it regressed in the offseason.
Tiki Barber rushed for 110 yards at a clip of 6.1 yards per carry. His backup, Brandon Jacobs, added 54 yards at 6.8 yards per carry. I'm fairly sure coach Tom Coughlin could have averaged five yards a carry if he had suited up.
To say the Giants' running backs were slippery would be to falsely imply that the Colts got their hands on them.
"When you don't stop the run, that leads to teams being able to do whatever they want to do," Colts linebacker Cato June said. "We couldn't stop the run and it was tough. Until you stop the run, they're going to run and pass and make big plays.
"Any football game, you have to start by stopping the run, and we didn't do that today."
The game did turn on three plays while the Colts were on defense, but only one of those could be attributed solely to the Colts' efforts.
Play No.1 was a fumbled handoff from Eli Manning to Barber at the end of the third quarter. Robert Mathis recovered the football and Peyton Manning then directed a 51-yard scoring drive to give the Colts temporary breathing room and a 23-14 lead.
Eli, irritated, immediately led the Giants on an 11-play, 78-yard scoring drive to make it 23-21. Barber reeled off a 22-yard run and an 11-yard pass reception for first downs in the drive.
"Defensively, we just weren't sharp," Colts coach Tony Dungy said. "We didn't tackle as well as we need to, and we didn't play as well as we're going to need to in order to carry on this year."
Play No. 2 came when, gearing up for a potential game-winning drive, Giants receiver Tim Carter was called for offensive pass interference against Harper, negating a first down reception near midfield.
"It was a good call; he nudged me in the back," Harper said. "I got a nudge on the touchdown (by Plaxico Burress), but they didn't call that, so I guess they felt like they had to give us one back, and it came at the right time. As a defensive player, you don't get those calls. It's very rare. I'm surprised they made the call."
Peyton Manning called the interference penalty one of the pivotal plays of the game. Giants fans disagreed with loud and unkind words for the officials.
"Without that push-off, the game's going down to the true wire," Peyton said.
Play No. 3 was a well-played, well-read interception by Harper on the play immediately after the pass interference.
"(Eli) was looking at Bob (Sanders) the whole time, I broke inside, he overthrew it and I made the play on the ball," Harper said.
The mistake was one of the few Eli Manning made as he proved nearly the equal of hisbrother.
Both brothers directed their offenses with precision. The Giants punted only once and the Colts twice. Eli completed 20 of 34 passes for 247 yards, touchdown passes to Burress and Jeremy Shockey and one interception. Peyton completed 25 of 41 for 276 yards, atouchdown to Dallas Clark and one interception. He also set up kicker Adam Vinatieri for four field goals in his Colts debut.
Eli had the higher quarterback rating, 88.7 to 78.9.
Peyton came away with the win.
"Somebody was going to have to win this game," Peyton said. "The main thing is, the Colts beat the Giants."
The Colts beat the Giants, plain and simple. But beyond the hype of the Manningbrothers, and beneath the surface satisfaction of being 1-0, the Colts left New Jersey with more questions than when they arrived.
This column is the commentary of the writer and doesn't necessarily reflect the views of The News-Sentinel. E-mail Reggie Hayes at rhayes@news-sentinel.com.
