Ty Law Was A Thorn In Manning's Side

After his senior season at Tennessee, Manning lost the Heisman Trophy to Charles Woodson. Sunday night, he lost a game in large part because of the contributions of Woodson's predecessor in Ann Arbor, Ty Law.

Law had a pair of interceptions to spark the New England Patriots' 29-6 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, and nearly had two more. Law, in fact, caught as many Manning passes as the Colts wide receiver he defended, Marvin Harrison.

"I definitely wanted to make a statement tonight," said Law. "I knew I was going to be on Marvin Harrison and I knew they were going to throw it to him.

"I tried to take advantage of Peyton. He's a little immature right now, but it's going to be different next time around."

Both of Law's thefts were pivotal.

Law snared Manning's underthrown lob intended for tight end Marcus Pollard and weaved 59 yards down the left sideline for a first-quarter touchdown to put the Patriots up 10-0. It was a particularly fortuitous advantage, considering New England's offense had managed just seven total yards and only one first down -- that on a penalty -- to that point.

Early in the second quarter, with the Colts deep in Patriot territory, Law did not bite on Manning's pump fake and dropped into the end zone, where he was the recipient of an overthrown toss intended for Harrison. The Patriots then put together their first meaningful drive of the game, going 74 yards before settling for a 23-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri and a 13-0 lead.

"When the defense turns the ball over like that, you have a huge advantage," said Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe. "That's just automatic points when they do that for us."

The Patriots built their defensive game plan around confusing Manning. Though they sacked the rookie just twice, they kept pressure on him throughout the game and mixed their coverages well.

"The guys up front, like Willie McGinest and Chris Slade, they made it happen," said Law. "They had him throwing off his back foot all night long."

Late in the half, Law grabbed another Manning throw at the New England 40 and appeared to have an unobstructed route to the end zone. But a false start against Colts left tackle Tarik Glenn killed the play. Law had another near-miss in the fourth quarter.

It was the third consecutive game an opposing defensive back had two interceptions against the Colts, following Minnesota's Robert Griffith in the 1997 finale and Miami's Terrell Buckley in the opener last week.

"He finally got some balls thrown his way, and that's why they usually don't throw at him," Bledsoe said about Law. "He's an excellent player."

Though the Patriots bounced back nicely from a sloppy performance in last week's 27-21 loss at Denver, they were not universally pleased.

"We won the game by a lot of points," said Bledsoe, "but there were still a lot of things out there we need to address."

Chief among them was the run defense, which surrendered 127 yards to Marshall Faulk.

"The first game, we made a lot of mistakes," said McGinest, who sacked Manning on his first drop-back, forcing a fumble that led to a 19-yard field goal by Vinatieri for the game's first score. "This game still wasn't perfect, but we were determined to come out with a lot more aggressiveness and cut down on the mistakes."