JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Peyton Manning's fourth touchdown pass of the game put Indianapolis ahead for good Thursday and the Colts remained unbeaten by fighting off Jacksonville 35-31.
Jacob Lacey clinched the victory by intercepting a pass from David Garrard on the Indianapolis 10-yard line with 52 seconds to play.
The lead changed hands nine times, the last coming when Manning hit Reggie Wayne with a 65-yard pass with 5:23 to play. Manning completed his first 13 throws and wound up hitting on 23-of-30 for 308 yards.
He found Dallas Clark with scoring throws of 6 yards in the second period and 27 in the third, and threw a 23-yard TD pass to Austin Collie with 35 seconds left in the first half.
Chad Simpson added a 93-yard kickoff return for the Colts that gave them a 14-10 lead midway through the second.
Garrard threw for three touchdowns and 223 yards.
Indianapolis, which had already clinched home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs, improved to 14-0. The Colts have the New York Jets and Buffalo standing in the way of a perfect regular season.
New Orleans is also unbeaten with, games remaining against Dallas, Tampa Bay and Carolina.
Jacksonville fell to 7-7 and likely needs to win its remaining two games against New England and Cleveland to have a chance at a wild-card spot. The Jaguars slipped behind Denver (8-5), Baltimore (7-7), Miami (7-7) and the New York Jets (7-7) in the battle for the two AFC wild-card berths.
