Luck aces latest test in win against Broncos

(AP) — Andrew Luck aced his latest test Sunday night.
Going head-to-head against his predecessor with the Colts, the 24-year-old quarterback showed everyone he’s more than a worthy replacement for Peyton Manning. He beat Manning at his own game.
On a night that was supposed to belong exclusively to homecoming king, Luck executed a perfect 2-minute drill at the end of the first half, threw three touchdown passes, ran for his third score of the season and kept the Broncos’ defense off balance all night. The result: Indianapolis 39, Denver 33.
“I thought he played really well,” coach Chuck Pagano said of Luck. “I think he had three touchdown passes at half, if I’m not mistaken, 128-something QB rating. There were some errant things in the second half that happened that we’d love to have back. There’s always going to be some plays here and there that you’d love to have back, but I thought he played really well.”
Luck played well enough to hand the Broncos (6-1) their first loss of the season, leaving surprising Kansas City as the NFL’s last unbeaten team. And Luck played well enough to ruin what most expected to be Manning’s chance to prove the Colts (5-2) made a mistake by releasing him in March 2012 so they could rebuild with Luck at the helm.
It was not pure Luck, though he did prove he could thrive under heavy pressure with a prime-time effort.
Here are a few other things we learned Sunday night:
FAR FROM PERFECT: Denver may have come into the game with an unbeaten record and Manning seemingly steamrolling to reclaim the touchdown pass record. But Denver is far from the perfect team. The Colts, coming off a Monday night loss in which they didn’t score a touchdown at San Diego, finished with a season-high 39 points and capitalized on just about every mistake the Broncos made. They sacked Manning four times, forced a fumble that turned into a safety and a touchdown and picked him off, too. Afterward, Manning called it a game to learn from.
NEW AND IMPROVED: Colts owner Jim Irsay caught a lot of heat this week for noting that the Colts are building around a different model without Manning. He wanted a more balanced offense, a steadier defense and stronger special teams. It was a big reason the Colts held on Sunday. Indy ran 31 times for 121 yards and kept the ball for more than 31 minutes. Luck still threw for 228 yards and three TDs, and while the defense gave up yards, it limited the NFL’s highest-scoring team to a season-low point total, which forced Denver to play catch-up. Indy had better field position most of the night and it turned a fumbled punt return into a touchdown.