在2007赛季NFL的揭幕战中，上届超级碗获得者印第安纳波利斯小马坐镇主场，凭借下半场的神勇表现，以41-10大胜新奥尔良圣徒，捍卫了卫冕冠军的荣誉。（图集 视频）

　　小马在上个赛季就已经展现了强大的进攻火力，现在，他们在防守上也变得更加出色。虽然开局进入状态有点慢，但是他们在第二节结束前终于找到了比赛节奏，打出了34-0的高潮，最终以41-10胜出。小马的此番表现也给了新英格兰爱国者、圣迭戈闪电和其他夺冠热门队伍一个信息——那就是即使失去了6名超级碗比赛中的主力球员，小马前进的步伐丝毫没有放缓。

　　在与自己家乡球队的较量中，小马四分卫佩顿·曼宁（Peyton Manning）全场完成了3次传球达阵，其中2次传给雷吉·韦恩（Reggie Wayne），1次传给马文·哈里森（Marvin Harrison）。约瑟夫·阿代（Joseph Addai）23次带球，冲球118码。同时，球队的快速防守有力地遏制了德鲁·布里斯（Drew Brees）、雷吉·布什（Reggie Bush）等人组成的圣徒队的进攻组。

　　上半场双方战成了10-10平。中场休息之后，下半场开始才8分49秒，曼宁已经带队进行了两次快速达阵进攻。在20分钟内，小马势如破竹拿下24分。在第一轮进攻中，曼宁传球42码给哈里森，接着又给阿代送出了2码的传球达阵。随后，曼宁这位超级碗MVP给韦恩送出了一记28的传球达阵。

　　比赛中的另一位关键球员是新奥尔良的角卫杰森·大卫（Jason David），他曾在上届超级碗比赛中为小马登场出战，随后以自由球员身份离队。在今天的比赛中，面对昔日队友，他两次败下阵来，先是上半场哈里森摆脱他之后接28码传球达阵，然后又两次被韦恩甩开其得分。不过大卫也完成了圣徒唯一的一次达阵，在第二节的时候迫使韦恩接传球掉球，然后拾球回攻55码，达阵得分。

　　今天曼宁花了点时间才让进攻组集中注意力，上半场他传球17次成功8次，总传球101码，其中有一次给哈里森的27码传球达阵，还有一次给近端锋达拉斯·克拉克（Dallas Clark）的39码球，这次传球使得亚当·维纳提里（Adam Vinatieri）获得了33码外点球中的的机会，正是凭借这记点球小马将比分扳成了10-10.

　　不过反观圣徒队，他们一直没有能组织起非常有效的进攻。上半场他们只推进了112码，布什和杜斯·麦克阿里斯特（Deuce McAllister）都只冲球21码，两人全场冲球都只有38码，布什12次带球，麦克阿里斯特10次带球。布里斯全场传球40次成功27次，总传球183码，有2次传球被截。

　　圣徒唯一的一次达阵是由防守组的大卫回攻获得的，而他们的进攻组唯一一次得分是奥林多·麦瑞（Olindo Mare）在第二节射中的34码点球，在这个进攻轮次中他们一共进行了9档进攻，推进了36码。从第二节中段知道第四结中段，圣徒只在小马的半场进行了一档进攻。

　　回顾全场比赛，第一节曼宁和哈里森的配合达阵，小马7-0领先。圣徒队大卫的回攻将比分扳成了7-7平，随后麦瑞的点球帮助球队将比分反超为10-7.接着曼宁和克拉克的配合使得小马获得了点球扳平比分的机会，上半场双方10-10战平。

　　下半场完全成为了小马的天下。最终在第四节，曼宁和韦恩的45码传球达阵使得小马将比分扩大为34-10，马特·吉奥达诺的83码截球回攻达阵帮助小马以41-10锁定胜局。

原文 

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) —— The Indianapolis Colts looked just as formidable on offense as they did when they won the Super Bowl last season.

And even better on defense.

Shaking off a sluggish first half, the Colts outscored New Orleans 34-0 after intermission in Thursday night's NFL opener to beat the Saints 41-10. At the same time, they served notice to New England, San Diego and other highly touted teams that losing six players who started the Super Bowl last season hasn't slowed them down a bit.

Four of them were on a defense that didn't allow a touchdown Thursday night.

"All offseason, that's what everyone talked about, that the defense has lost all these guys," said Peyton Manning, who threw for 288 yards and three touchdowns. "A lot of young guys played good tonight. It's only one game and there's a long way to go, but we played really well tonight."

Playing against his hometown team, Manning threw two TD passes to Reggie Wayne and another to Marvin Harrison. Joseph Addai ran for 118 yards on 23 carries and that super-quick defense shut down Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and the explosive New Orleans offense.

The game was tied 10-10 after a sloppy first half.

But Manning led two quick TD drives in the first 8:49 of the second half as the Colts put up 24 points in 20 minutes after intermission. On the first drive, Manning hit Harrison for 42 yards to set up a 2-yard TD run by Addai. Then the Super Bowl MVP came right back to throw a 28-yard TD pass to Wayne.

"NFL games are 60 minutes long. We were a little out of synch in the first half," coach Tony Dungy said. "They played us defensively a little different than we thought. We knew we had to run the ball a little more."

Another major player —— for both sides —— was New Orleans cornerback Jason David, who started for the Colts in their Super Bowl win over Chicago, then left as a free agent. He was victimized by Harrison on a 27-yard TD pass in the first half and again by Wayne on both his scores, the second a 45-yarder in the fourth quarter.

But David also produced the Saints' only TD, stripping Wayne after a second-quarter completion, picking up the ball and returning it 55 yards for the score.

"We don't do that," Manning said when asked if he deliberately went at David. "We had the right calls at the right time. With Marvin and Reggie, you're always going to throw it to those guys. If you have a good day, they say you're picking on one guy. We really don't do that."

David said he had to get used to a new scheme in New Orleans but didn't have any excuses.

"Anytime you come back and play a team you used to play for, you want to play your best game," he said. "I didn't play my best game tonight. All the plays you saw tonight …… that's on me. There's nobody else to blame but me."

Wayne finished with seven catches for 115 yards.

"The joke in the locker room is that I scored on both sides of the ball," Wayne said of his run-ins with his former teammate. "I gave him a free touchdown, so I guess that was the appreciation we gave him."

The game finally put the focus back on football after an offseason dominated by player discipline problems and long suspensions, most notably involving Michael Vick and Adam "Pacman" Jones. Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was at the game, said beforehand, "I think we're ready now to get the focus back on football."

It took a little while before Manning got the Colts' offense focused.

Manning was just 8-of-17 for 101 yards in the first half, 66 of those yards on two completions: the 27-yard TD to Harrison, plus 39 on a throw to tight end Dallas Clark that set up Adam Vinatieri's 33-yard field goal that tied the game at 10.

But the Saints, who reached the NFC title game last season before losing to Chicago, never could get their potent offense going.

"I thought at halftime, being on the road and with all that went on we were in good shape," New Orleans coach Sean Payton said. "But we had some miscues. Our inability to convert third downs and keep the ball hurt us."

They had just 112 total yards in the first half, and Bush and Deuce McAllister each had just 21 yards rushing before intermission against a made-over Indianapolis defense. That unit included undrafted rookie Ed Johnson at defensive tackle in place of Anthony McFarland, out for the season with a knee injury.

Both finished with just 38 yards, Bush on 12 carries and McAllister on 10. Brees was 27-of-40 for 183 yards and two interceptions.

"It just felt like we never got in synch," Brees said. "We felt we hadn't accomplished much in the first half so we were chomping at the bit to get out there and sustain some drives. Everything happens for a reason. Maybe we needed to get our butts kicked tonight to get a little fire going."

The only score by the New Orleans offense was a 34-yard field goal by Olindo Mare in the second quarter after a nine-play, 36-yard drive. From the middle of that quarter until the middle of the fourth, the Saints ran just one play in Indianapolis territory and that was for a 2-yard loss.

Indy linebacker Freddy Keiaho, replacing departed free agent Cato June, was outstanding.

In the second quarter, he drove through a blocker, carrying him into Bush and dropping the runner for a 5-yard loss. In the third quarter, he picked off a pass that led to a 33-yard field goal by Vinatieri that made it 27-10 in the first minute of the final quarter.

The Colts took a 7-0 lead on the Manning-to-Harrison TD in the first quarter. David's play tied the game, and Mare's field goal put the Saints up 10-7. That lasted until the late drive keyed by the Manning-Clark hookup.

Then the Colts took over completely in the second half.

The Manning-Wayne 45-yarder made it 34-10 five minutes into the fourth quarter and Matt Giordano's 83-yard interception return closed the scoring.

^Notes: Harrison's 83 yards gave him 13,780 for his career, moving him past Henry Ellard for fifth place in NFL career yardage. …… Manning is 8-2 in season openers in his career and the Colts are an NFL-best 15-2 in September under Dungy, the best early record in the NFL since 2002. …… The Saints scored as few as 10 points only once last season, in a 16-10 loss in Washington on Dec. 17. …… McAllister had 38 or fewer yards only twice last season despite alternating at running back with Bush. …… Manning has a career-best 164 passes without an interception going back to last season.