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Indianapolis 28, Cincinnati 21

INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Peyton Manning passed for two touchdowns and ran for a score Sunday as the Indianapolis Colts built a 21-point lead and held on for a 28-21 victory over the winless Cincinnati Bengals.

Manning raced up the middle for an 11-yard touchdown in the first quarter and connected with tight end Marcus Pollard and Marvin Harrison on scoring plays of three yards each in the second quarter to stake the Colts (3-1) to a 21-0 lead.

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Harrison finished with nine catches for 145 yards, giving him 32 receptions for 433 yards this season.

"He (Harrison) just makes big plays, week in and week out," Colts Coach Tony Dungy said. "He can get open. It looks effortless, but it's not. People are going to load up and try to stop Edgerrin (James) and then they have to cover him (Harrison) one on one and that's hard to do."

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Manning was 21 of 34 for 224 yards with an interception and James was held to 60 yards on 22 carries.

In an attempt to shake up an offense which scored a mere 23 points in four games, Bengals Coach Dick LeBeau went back to Jon Kitna as his starting quarterback after using rookie Akili Smith last week. Kitna completed 31 of 43 passes for 244 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted three times, including twice by cornerback Walt Harris.

"We're always trying to get turnovers," Harris said. "That's a key to a great defense, and it always helps out the offense and stops the momentum of the other team."

Corey Dillon rushed for a season-high 164 yards and two touchdowns, including a 67-yard score. But the Belgals fell to 0-5 for the second time in three years.

"We went out there and the offensive line got some push," said Dillon, who had 23 carries. "(Fullback) Lorenzo Neal in particular, and the rest of guys were blocking their tails off. We fought for four quarters."

"I told our guys, 'we're not happy with this.' We're not happy with starting to look like we should look," LeBeau said. "We won't be happy until we get to where we should be, and that is winning games. The final statement is we had the ball deep in their territory with a chance to win. We just let them get too far ahead."

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After scoring runs of two and 67 yards by Dillon pulled the Bengals within 21-14, Manning connected with Harrison on a 69-yard bomb to set up a three-yard scoring run by James six seconds into the fourth quarter.

However, the Bengals pulled within a touchdown again when Kitna connected with Peter Warrick on a 30-yard scoring play with 53 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Bengals rookie Marquand Manuel then recovered the ensuing on-side kick by Neil Rackers at the Cincinnati 43. Kitna hit Dillon and Ron Dugans with passes of 10 and 12 yards and spiked the ball to stop the clock with 31 seconds left.

However, with a second and 10 at the Indianapolis 35, Kitna fired a ball over the middle that went off the hands of Chad Johnson and Idrees Bashir picked it off for the Colts and returned the interception four yards to the 18 to ice the win.

"The guy didn't get a clean catch on it, it came my way and I stuck my hand out there," Bashir said.

"We've got to learn how to play when we're ahead," Dungy said. "We didn't do a good job of that today but I think we will and we'll learn from this. It was a good effort. Cincinnati, you have to give them a lot of credit. Being 0-4 and fighting that way, being two touchdowns back. I think that shows a lot about the National Football League."

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The Bengals totaled 410 yards, but committed four turnovers. The Colts had 311 total yards with one turnover.

Manning scored on an 11-yard run with 4:25 left in the first quarter to cap a nine-play, 68-yard drive. He hit Harrison three times for 45 yards to highlight the drive.

On Indianapolis' second scoring drive, Manning connected with Harrison on a 16-yard pass to the Cincinnati 18. After two runs by James for 15 yards, Manning hit Pollard, who got behindlinebacker Adrian Ross for a three-yard touchdown 1:18 into the second quarter.

A muffed punt by Warrick recovered by Clifton Crosby at the Cincinnati four set up Indianapolis' third touchdown. Three plays later, Manning hit Harrison with a three-yard touchdown, opening a 21-0 lead with 8:02 left in the half.

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