Indianapolis scored 24 straight points in the second half and opened up defence of their Super Bowl title with a 41-10 win over New Orleans in the opening game of the NFL season.
Quarterback Peyton Manning shrugged off a lacklustre first half on Thursday and carved up the Saints' defence following the intermission, leading four straight scoring drives as Indianapolis (1-0) improved to 8-1 in its last nine season openers.
The Super Bowl MVP, Manning completed 18-of-30 for 288 yards and three touchdown passes. Reggie Wayne caught two TD passes and finished with seven receptions for 115 yards. Marvin Harrison added 83 yards and one TD on four catches.
Second-year running back Joseph Addai bounced back from a crunching hit on the very first play from scrimmage to rush for 118 yards and a touchdown. He also had three receptions for 25 yards.
Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who led the league with 4,418 passing yards in 2006, was bottled up by the Colts defense. He finished just 28-of-41 for 192 yards and two interceptions - the second one getting returned 82 yards by Matt Giordano in the final minute.
Saints second-year back Reggie Bush was limited to 45 total yards.
Neither high-powered offence distinguished itself in the opening 30 minutes, leading to a 10-10 halftime tie.
But, after the Saints (0-1) went three-and-out on their first possession of the second half, the Colts took command.
Manning drove his team 71 yards in eight plays, highlighted by a 42-yard pass to Marvin Harrison to the two-yard line.
Addai burst in from there to give the Colts the lead for good, 17-10, with 9:45 to play in third quarter.
Indy's defence then forced another three-and-out and Manning needed just four plays to cover 69 yards, capped by a 29-yard scoring strike to Wayne to extend the margin to 24-10 with 6:11 left in the quarter.
After opening the first half eight-of-17 for 106 yards, Manning was five-of-six for 102 yards on the first two drives of the second half.
