Best: Big brother Peyton is head of Manning household

INDIANAPOLIS

Oh, brother.

At least Giants fans don't have to endure another Manning Bowl until 2014, by which time perhaps the Colts quarterback will be showing signs of age at 38.

Until further notice, though, Peyton Manning will retain the family bragging rights over his little brother Eli after taking his lunch money, kicking his dog, stealing his girlfriend, reading his diary and giving him a noogie last night.

Eli said "it was hard. They outplayed us and they outperformed us."

The good news for Eli was that the nationally televised egg the Giants laid was certainly not primarily his fault; he even began the second half with a 54-yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham.

But in a way, that was bad news for the Giants, because their problems were rosterwide. Conversely, the Colts' victory was far from a Peyton-only effort. They took advantage of the Giants' determination to control Manning's passing by running the ball far more often than usual.

Moral of the story, as often is the case in the NFL (see Jets, New York): Drawing grand conclusions after Week 1 almost always is a mistake.

Thus the Colts are not nearly as bad as they looked in losing to the Texans, and the Giants' opening victory over the Panthers and quarterback Matt Moore seems less meaningful now.

By the halfway point last night, the Colts already had the 24 points they needed to score to ensure Colts fans free coffee or soda at local Denny's for the 24 hours after the game.

The statistical differences after two quarters were so absurd as to be comical. The Colts led in first downs 18-5, and in total yards 278-69. Peyton's passer rating was 135.0; Eli's was 6.2.

The weird thing: The consensus entering the game was that unlike in the first meeting between the brothers in 2006, in which Eli played well in a 26-21 loss, this time the brothers were far closer to equals, each having won a Super Bowl since then.

But this looked like Peyton's Colts against one of Eli's Ole Miss teams. Or Peyton at the University of Tennessee against Eli at Isidore Newman High School in New Orleans.

The Giants showed some life early in the second half, taking the opening drive for the scoring pass from Eli to Manningham to get the Giants within 24-7.

But soon enough, Dwight Freeney was sacking Eli, who fumbled. Fili Moala picked it up for the Colts' fourth touchdown.

End of Giants comeback.

Watching all this from a suite at Lucas Oil Stadium were Archie and Olivia Manning, the quarterbacks' parents, who entered vowing to try to have more fun with it than they did in '06. (As did Eli himself.)

The lopsided first half surely made that a tad difficult. "We're glad it's over," Olivia said as she walked off the field.

Eli and Peyton exchanged a quick, on-field handshake after the game. Eli said the two spoke for a longer amount of time later on when the cameras were gone.

The buildup for this meeting was not quite what it was the last time, partly because that game was the season opener, and partly because it was a first. But the brothers took advantage of the rare meeting to speak in person.

Peyton came over to the 32-yard line on the Giants' side of the field after warm-ups at about 6:45 p.m. and shook Eli's hand, then gave him a brief hug. They spoke for just over eight minutes while photographers and video cameramen captured the summit, then they hugged again before Peyton ambled away to continue his workday.

Eli should have tripped him when he had the chance.