Colts dominate Giants as Andrew Luck throws 4 TD passes

It was a play that would have qualified as being "above the X's and O's," the place where the Giants said they wanted to be against the Colts on Monday night.

Andrew Luck was under pressure and threw a pass into the end zone that Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie intercepted.

A break. A game-changer. A shift in momentum early in the third quarter of a game that still was within reach for the Giants.

But before Rodgers-Cromartie could come down with the ball, Colts receiver T.Y. Hilton yanked it away. Hilton's 31-yard touchdown reception gave Indianapolis a 20-point lead and was the first of three touchdowns in a span of 7:21 that led to a 40-24 blowout win over the Giants.

"I had it," Rodgers-Cromartie said. "I know I had it. I can't believe I didn't come down with it . . . Ten out of 10 times, I'm supposed to have that."

"That's the play that I'm supposed to make. Just how the night went. We didn't make plays."

For most of the game, the Giants couldn't do what needed to be done offensively, either. They trailed 16-3 at halftime, but even that mild margin seemed insurmountable with the way they were playing.

"If we could have somehow managed some points in the first half, it might have negated a little bit of the third quarter," Tom Coughlin said. "Three points in the first half is not going to give you much of an opportunity to beat the No. 1 offense in the National Football League."

Nor will it help the Giants climb the standings in the NFC East. At 3-5, they are three games behind the first-place Eagles with a daunting stretch of games at Seattle and then home against the 49ers and Cowboys looming. The loss puts them on track to potentially have a second straight season that is meaningless before Thanksgiving.

The Giants didn't muster much of a challenge for the Colts (6-3), and that was never as evident as on their first touchdown.

Colts tight end Coby Fleener caught a 21-yard pass with linebacker Jacquian Williams on his back, and the ball appeared to pop out as the two hit the turf. While Coughlin struggled to reach for his challenge flag and the defense was in disarray, wanting the call to be overturned, the Colts hustled up to the line of scrimmage and ran a play before Coughlin could yank the red flag from his sock (he keeps it there to avoid impulsive challenges). Fleener was left uncovered for a 32-yard TD catch.

"Just a lot of chaos going on," Williams said. "It's always tough to have the offense get something for free. We don't want them to ever get anything for free."

Coughlin warned the Giants all week that the Colts like to hurry up after big plays. He also said he thought the first Fleener reception in the sequence was a catch -- NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino wrote on Twitter that it was -- but was trying to challenge it just to slow down the Colts. "I would have done anything to slow them down right there,'' Coughlin said, "and obviously it didn't work."

"I was trying to do anything I could to slow the thing down, to stop what took place. We gave them the one . . . We were prepared to not allow them to not use that tactic but it didn't work."

The Giants tacked on two late touchdowns and Eli Manning passed for a season-high 359 yards. But the new, more aggressive tactic that included more downfield attempts was not clicking and the running game again was a non-factor.

Michael Cox had two carries and wound up leading the Giants in rushing with 27 yards. Starter Andre Williams, who scored on a 1-yard touchdown run, managed only 1.8 yards per carry on 12 attempts. Manning had the longest run of the game for the Giants at 18 yards.

"We just don't perform well on game days," he said, scratching his head over the disconnect between crisp practices and flailing contests.

This was one of those days.

"It only can get better," Rodgers-Cromartie said. "It can't get worse than that."

Notes & quotes: Cornerback Prince Amukamara left the game in the first half with a torn right biceps that will require surgery and almost certainly will end his season. The injury occurred when he tackled running back Trent Richardson and came up with the muscle in his arm balled up. "It seems like we've lost a player or two in each of the last few games," Coughlin said . . . The Giants also might be without rookie guard Weston Richburg, who was carted off with a right ankle injury in the fourth quarter. Coughlin did not have an immediate update on his status.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.