Manning completed 29 of 34 passes for 364 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Colts ' 31-24 victory over the Jaguars at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium .
victory
manning complete 29 34 pass 364 yard 3 touchdown colts 31-24 victory jaguars jacksonville municipal stadium
Manning completed 29 of 34 passes for 364 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Colts ' 31-24 <m> victory </m> over the Jaguars at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium .
Precision and perfection defined Colts quaterback Peyton Manning 's start against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He completed his first 17 passes .
Meanwhile , inconsistency and an inability to score at the end of the game defined Jaguars quarterback David Garrard 's Thursday night .
`` It 's a 60-minute game -- he played a really good game for 3 1/2 quarters , '' Colts defensive back Antoine Bethea said .
The Jaguars led for three quarters , but 17 unanswered points in the fourth did them in .
Manning completed 29 of 34 passes for 364 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Colts ' 31-24 <m> victory </m> over the Jaguars at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium .
Jacksonville fell to 5-10 on its way to its first losing year since Coach Jack Del Rio 's initial season ( 5-11 ) in 2003 .
The loss ended a sordid home campaign in which the Jaguars went 2-6 .
The Colts ( 11-4 ) , on an eight-game winning streak , clinched a playoff berth .
Tony Dungy became the first coach since the 1970 merger to take his team to the playoffs in 10 consecutive years .
Garrard threw for a career-high 329 yards , but late in the fourth quarter he made costly mistakes .
After scoring on four of their first five drives , including their first two , the Jaguars punted to start the fourth quarter .
On their next drive , with 4:48 remaining in the game , Garrard threw an interception to defensive back Keiwan Ratliff , who returned the pick 35 yards for a touchdown .
`` It was actually man-coverage , and he made a smart play by dropping off of Dennis [ Northcutt ] , '' Garrard said .
`` You never see that in man coverage .
They know we like the slant game on that down and distance and they watched tape . ''
The score gave Indianapolis its first lead of the game .
Garrard finished with 28 completions on 41 attempts , a touchdown and an interception .
The Jaguars had one final chance to win the game , fielding a Colts punt with 2:34 remaining .
But with 12 seconds left , Garrard dropped back to pass and found Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney on top of him , nine yards behind the line of scrimmage .
The sack ended the game .
`` I did n't even see it coming , '' Garrard said .
`` So I could n't use my legs to make a play . ''
For the second home game in a row , the Jaguars started aggressively .
They won the coin toss , and then elected to receive , just like they did against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday .
Then they scored immediately , just like they did on Sunday .
On their second drive , the Jaguars scored again , jumping to a 14-0 lead with a 2-yard touchdown run by Garrard .
Despite the Colts ' passing perfection , Indianapolis could n't score .
`` This is a funny game , '' Manning said .
`` We were completing some passes , but were down 14-0 .
So that dominated our thoughts . ''
In the second half , Manning really went to work .
He threw two touchdown passes and set up a game-tying 45-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri .
And any time the Colts needed something to happen , they went to their passing game .
Running plays were unreliable .
The Jaguars could stop those .
The Colts gained just 32 yards rushing .
But the passes baffled the Jaguars ' defense , sailing at the most important times to exactly where they needed to be .
`` Peyton Manning is a good quarterback , '' Jaguars safety Reggie Nelson said .
`` He has always been good .
That 's what he does . ''