ATLANTA — Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts are still trying to recapture their Super Bowl-winning groove.
But they sure looked a whole lot more like themselves Thursday night.
All it took was a trip to Atlanta.
Manning threw three touchdown passes, Anthony Gonzalez had 105 yards receiving and the defending champions, after getting stunned with 10 quick points by the Falcons, rebounded for a 31-13 victory.
“They jumped out early,” Manning said. “We finally got on track, got the lead and put them away.”
Indianapolis (9-2) had struggled the past three weeks, losing twice and pulling out a lackluster home win over Kansas City. The Colts’ malaise carried over to the first quarter at the Georgia Dome, with the Falcons striking on Morten Andersen’s 34-yard field goal and Joey Harrington’s 48-yard touchdown pass to Roddy White.
But any thoughts the Falcons (3-8) had of pulling off a huge upset were quickly wiped out by Manning. He threw all three of his TD passes in the second quarter, going 23 yards to Reggie Wayne, 8 yards to Dallas Clark and 5 yards to Ben Utecht.
