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INDIANAPOLIS (Nov. 15, 1998) — Rookie Peyton Manning threw a 14-yard touchdown to tight end Marcus Pollard with 24 seconds left as the Indianapolis Colts handed the New York Jets their first divisional loss 24-23. RB Marshall Faulk helped the Colts convert a key fourth-down play in the fourth quarter With the Colts trailing by six points, Manning engineered a 15-play, 80-yard drive in only 2:40. His biggest test came at his own 38 on fourth-and-15, when he found running back Marshall Faulk for 18 yards. Managing the clock like a veteran, Manning hit Marvin Harrison for a first down at the Jet 14 with 52 seconds left. After an incompletion to tight end Ken Dilger, Pollard caught the ball in the middle of the field at the 3 and stretched over the goal line. "Peyton made a great throw and I was thankful to get into the end zone to win it, it was a team effort," Pollard said. "We deserved to get beat today, they played a lot better than we did," Jets coach Bill Parcells said. "We couldn't tackle and we couldn't catch the ball … this is the most disappointed I've been since I have been here." Since dropping their opener at San Francisco, the Jets only losses have come against Baltimore, St, Louis and the Colts, who are a combined 8-21. This loss ended a four-game winning streak. Manning, the first pick in the NFL draft, completed 26 of 44 passes for 276 yards with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions as Indianapolis (2-8) won its first AFC East game after six division losses. The game ball from the spirited victory will go to former running back Craig Heyward, who underwent 13 hours of surgery Thursday to have a benign tumor removed from the base of his skull. "I will be taking it to him at the hospital today and will be presenting it to him," Colts coach Jim Mora said. "I just can't say enough about this win," said Mora. The offense and defense did what they had to do to pull it out in the second half." Vinny Testaverde hit on 12 of 28 passes for 249 yards with a touchdown and an interception for New York (6-4), which dropped out of first place and fell to 4-1 in the East. Testaverde led the Jets to a 23-10 halftime advantage but had a miserable second half, completing only 4 of 14 passes for 63 yards to fall to 6-1 as a starter. New York's Curtis Martin ran for 134 yards on 28 carries after going for a combined 96 yards in his last two contests. The Jets took a 23-10 lead just prior to the break on a memorable play. Trailing 16-10 with one second left in the first half, Mora sent out Mike Vanderjagt to attempt an NFL-record 64-yard field goal. Instead, Aaron Glenn, a cornerback who doubles as a kick returner, caught the ill-fated attempt and returned it 104 yards for a touchdown to set an NFL record. The return was three yards longer than Al Nelson's score for the Philadelphia Eagles against the Dallas Cowboys on September 26th, 1971 after a missed field goal. "It doesn't matter if I broke an NFL record," Glenn said. "I'm stunned." The Colts posted the only score of the third quarter as a sluggish Jets offense was limited to 59 total yards. Indianapolis forced New York to punt from deep in its own zone and took over at the Jet 49. On the fourth play from scrimmage, Manning went up top for a 38-yard TD to Harrison, who led the team with 9 catches and 128 yards. Manning tied a rookie record in the first half by throwing a touchdown pass for the seventh straight game. Three others have accomplished the feat, most recently Dan Marino in 1983. His 380 pass attempts and 2,289 yards this season are team rookie records. "He seems a lot more relaxed, confident, poised and calm, especially in critical situations," More assessed. "He has the mental and emotional makeup that serves him well in tough situations." For the second straight week, Testaverde's first pass from scrimmage was picked off. The errant toss went directly into the chest of cornerback Jason Belser, who returned it 19 yards before a possible touchdown-saving tackle by tight end Kyle Brady. Belser's first pickoff of the year set up a 31-yard field goal by Vanderjagt to open the scoring. John Hall countered with the first of his 3 field goals, a 37-yarder. Hall also connected from 40 and 25 yards. Hall's third kick came after seldom-used tight end Fred Baxter got wide open in the end zone but was on the end line when he caught Testaverde's soft toss. The Colts took a 10-3 lead on a four-yard TD toss to Torrance Small with 3:25 left in the first quarter. Faulk had 4 carries for 25 yards on the drive. As he has done all season, Faulk carried the load for the Colts today. He ran for 69 yards on 20 carries and had 8 catches for 70 yards. With 760 yards on the ground and 609 through the air, Faulk is trying to join Roger Craig as the only players in NFL history to go over the 1,00-yard mark in receiving and rushing in one season. The Jets tied the game at 10-10 on Testaverde's 63-yard touchdown pass to Wayne Chrebet on a second-and-29 in the opening minute of the second quarter. It was the longest catch of Chrebet's career. Chrebet made 4 catches for 112 yards and Keyshawn Johnson had 5 for 107.
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