INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Andrew Luck followed the perfect plan Sunday.
He threw three more touchdown passes again, avoided getting sacked again and helped Adam Vinatieri achieve another record-breaking moment by leading the Colts to their fourth straight win.
Luck and T.Y. Hilton hooked up twice for scores, Marlon Mack and Jordan Wilkins each ran for one touchdown and the Colts’ defense stymied Tennessee in a 38-10 drubbing that gave Luck a 10-0 record against the Titans.
“Andrew was just unbelievable,” coach Frank Reich said after his quarterback improved to 10-0 in the series. “I mean every throw was with pinpoint accuracy.”
His timing was spot on, too.
With some of the franchise’s greatest players in attendance, Luck went 23 of 29 for 297 yards and finished with a rating of 143.8. He tied Dan Marino for the third-longest streak of consecutive games with three or more TD passes (seven) in league history. Only Tom Brady (10) and Peyton Manning (eight) remain ahead of Luck on the list.
Hilton caught nine passes for 155 yards in front of Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison, the top two receivers in each of the Colts’ most prominent receiving categories.
And the victory, the 210th regular-season win of Vinatieri’s career, allowed the 45-year-old to break George Blanda’s record as Indy (5-5) moved squarely back into the playoff hunt.
For the Titans (5-5), it was all too familiar.
They’ve lost to Luck when he never gave them a chance, when he rallied the Colts late, when he was pulled early and even when he was hurt. This loss might have been the most frustrating yet.
After defensive coordinator Dean Pees was taken to a nearby hospital when medical workers took him out of the press box in a wheelchair during the first quarter, first-year coach Mike Vrabel took over play-calling duties and Luck skewered the league’s top-ranked defense.
Losing starting quarterback Marcus Mariota with an injured right elbow in the final minute of the first half certainly didn’t help.
Vrabel provided no postgame update on Mariota but said Pees would be kept overnight for further tests. The 69-year-old Pees retired briefly after last season, and Luck and Reich both said they hoped Pees would be all right.
Tennessee, meanwhile, has some soul-searching to do.
