October 7, 2003

COLTS OVERCOME BUCCANEERS IN MONDAY NIGHT THRILLER

The Indianapolis Colts, down 35-14 with four minutes remaining, staged a furious comeback to defeat the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38-35 in overtime in Colts head coach TONY DUNGY’s return to his former home.  Dungy coached the Bucs from 1996-01 and is the winningest coach in franchise history with a record of 54-42.

Indianapolis QB PEYTON MANNING helped bring his team back from their large deficit, completing 34 of 47 passes for 386 yards and two touchdowns.  Both touchdowns went to WR MARVIN HARRISON, who finished with 11 receptions for 176 yards.  RB RICKY WILLIAMS carried 13 times for 56 yards and two scores.

Tampa Bay looked well on its way to victory, taking leads of 21-0, 28-7 and 35-14.  QB BRAD JOHNSON completed 26 of 39 passes for 318 yards and three touchdowns in the losing effort.  Two of Johnson’s touchdown passes were caught by WR KEENAN MC CARDELL, who had four receptions for 106 yards and also returned a fumble recovery 57 yards for a score.

The Colts, who became the first team in NFL history to win after trailing by 21 or more points with less than four minutes to play in regulation, host the Carolina Panthers in Week 6.  The Buccaneers travel to Washington for a matchup with the Redskins.