(FoxNews) The Indianapolis Colts broke through and pulled off a 50-point rout, pulling off a 54-24 rout of the Buffalo Bills in a matchup of teams in the AFC East.
Josh Rosen (6-foot-4) went 18-of-34 for 262 yards and three scores, and Nyheim Hines ran for 120 yards and two TDs. He has seven TD passes this season.
The Colts entered as a 6.5-point underdog, and all but blew the game open with an 18-point third quarter.
The Bills (2-4) were without starting cornerback Tre’Davious White, leading rusher LeSean McCoy and starting safety Micah Hyde. They play their next two games at home, and Buffalo has lost four straight.
Indianapolis (3-3) has won three of four to get back into a three-way tie for first place in the AFC South, with the Titans on bye. The Colts were playing their fourth road game in five weeks.
Josh Allen completed 23 of 36 passes for 231 yards and two TDs. He also ran for a score and set a team rookie record with 60 rushing yards.
Indianapolis was without starting quarterback Andrew Luck for the first time this season. He has been bothered by an abdominal injury sustained in the opening victory over the Titans.
Colts coach Frank Reich did not rule Luck out of practicing later this week. But he would not make the request to be activated from the IR-designated-to-return list just yet.
EJ Manuel became the first Bills quarterback to throw three touchdown passes in a game since 2013 when he connected with Kelvin Benjamin in the second quarter for the first score of the day.
Benjamin missed the past three games with a sore left knee, but he seemed like his old self with eight catches for 120 yards and two TDs.
Nathan Peterman replaced Manuel at halftime. Peterman was 11 of 16 for 108 yards. He hit Zay Jones for a touchdown with 37 seconds left in the third quarter, and then directed the Bills on a 10-play, 67-yard drive that he capped with a touchdown pass to Kaelin Clay early in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 30-24.
The Bills got the ball back with 9:51 left in the game, but Robert Turbin blocked a Bills punt, and Indianapolis linebacker Darius Leonard recovered.
That proved to be a key play in the game’s outcome.
On fourth-and-inches at the Buffalo 18, Allen was sacked by Le’Raven Clark, and the Colts ran out the clock.
Buffalo’s second touchdown came after Allen fumbled on the first play of the second quarter, and Darius Leonard recovered at the Buffalo 44. Hines scored two plays later on a 9-yard run.
Indianapolis answered on its next drive, using a 10-play, 64-yard march capped by Hines’ leaping, over-the-shoulder TD catch with 9:28 left in the half.
Titans 50, Colts 48
Tennessee (4-2) had to start at its own 22, the Titans’ third drive of the first half in their one-touchdown lead on Indianapolis (1-5). Andrew Luck came out firing and threw over the middle and into tight coverage to Robert Turbin, who went in untouched for a touchdown. It was the first time this season Luck was sacked three times.
The Colts lost an early challenge because officials ruled a Colts player had run before delivering the hit to disrupt Luck’s throwing motion. Luck, however, stuck to his completion in completing a 24-yard pass to Eric Ebron with 1:32 left in the half.
The Colts’ best chance of the half ended with a fumble on the game’s final play. Luck got hit while throwing deep for T.Y. Hilton. Luck only escaped getting sacked when he ran for the ball before trying to avoid safety T.J. Green.
The Colts trailed 14-0 after the opening quarter. They came back to tie the game with 14 second-quarter points, but Green kept Indianapolis from scoring again in the half when he stepped in front of a Luck pass and went 44 yards for a touchdown.
Luck was 14 of 26 for 221 yards and a score in the first half. Hilton had five catches for 70 yards in the half, including two fourth-down conversions.