NFL Game Summary - Jacksonville at Indianapolis
Indianapolis, IN (SportsNetwork.com) - Trent Richardson and T.Y. Hilton scored touchdowns 2:23 apart in the third quarter to help the Indianapolis Colts pull away for a 23-3 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
Andrew Luck fumbled twice on his team's first three possessions and the Colts (7-4) were tied with the Jaguars (1-10) until Adam Vinatieri kicked his second of three field goals at the end of the first half.
Richardson's 1-yard touchdown run and Hilton's electric 73-yard catch pushed the lead to 20-3.
Luck finished 21-of-32 for 253 yards and Hilton had four catches for 122 yards on the day his daughter was born.
The AFC South-leading Colts bounced back from a 22-point loss to New England last week, during which leading rusher Ahmad Bradshaw suffered a season-ending broken leg. Dan Herron led them with 65 yards rushing on 12 carries.
Blake Bortles completed 15-of-27 passes for 146 yards with an interception for the Jaguars, who have lost four in a row since beating Cleveland on Oct. 19. They were coming off a bye after losing to Dallas in London the week before.
Bortles said it was frustrating only getting three points off Luck's early turnovers.
"It was hard. The defense played really well," he said. "They stood up when we put them in some bad situations and they got us some turnovers, so that was good. I thought they did a really good job and obviously we weren't able to capitalize on it."
The Colts held a 6-3 lead after a sloppy first half and extended it to 13-3 on their first series of the second half on Richardson's 1-yard touchdown.
Hilton then beat Dwayne Gratz down the right sideline for his 73-yard score and cradled the ball in the end zone -- a nod to the new dad's daughter, who was born in the morning.
Josh Cribbs' touchdown on an 82-yard punt return was called back because of a penalty on Josh Gordy, but the Colts got a 32-yard field goal from Vinatieri to push their lead to 23-3.
Luck fumbled twice on the Colts' first three possessions and the teams combined for four turnovers in the first quarter -- and a fifth early in the second.
"It was hard to get stuff going," said Luck. "That's a good defense, a good front four. We had our share of self-inflicted penalties and didn't do a good job taking care of the football, but a lot of those are because of what they did. A lot of credit goes to what they did on defense in stifling us early."
Defensive end Chris Clemons sacked him to cause the first fumble, but Vontae Davis intercepted Bortles two plays later, leading to Vinatieri's 46-yarder.
Chris Smith's sack caused the second fumble, giving the Jaguars the ball at the Indianapolis 12, but they settled for Josh Scobee's 28-yard field goal to tie the score with 4:17 left in the first quarter.
The fourth turnover was Denard Robinson's fumble, which was forced by Colts defensive tackle Arthur Jones. Indianapolis gave the ball right back after a replay review found Herron wasn't down before he fumbled inside the 10-yard line.
Vinatieri kicked a 20-yard field goal before halftime.