Colts' offense carves up the Seahawks' defense in 34-17 win

INDIANAPOLIS — The Seahawks tried pressure, letting outside linebacker Aaron Curry loose to chase Peyton Manning.

Seattle tried patience, too, dropping seven men into coverage.

And when that didn't work, the Seahawks turned to passion. Midway through the second quarter, defensive coordinator Gus Bradley gathered the entire defense around him on the sideline and let loose a little fire and brimstone.

It all had about the same impact on quarterback Manning and the Colts, which is to say it was pretty much ineffectual.

"We tried everything," coach Jim Mora said. "It was a difficult day for us defensively."

And that was probably the most concerning thing about Sunday's 34-17 loss at Indianapolis.

Seattle's offense struggled, scoring only a field goal until a pair of late touchdowns that did little except ease the embarrassment of the final score. That was to be expected, though.

Seneca Wallace didn't complete a pass longer than 22 yards, but he's the backup quarterback; starter Matt Hasselbeck is expected back soon. Left tackle Brandon Frye had a tough day against Colts' pass rushers, which might also be expected considering he was signed one week before the season started.

On defense, middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu returned from a hamstring injury, but linebacker Leroy Hill is still out with a groin injury, and cornerback Josh Wilson missed his second game because of an ankle injury. Still, that doesn't completely explain why Indianapolis scored touchdowns on four of its first five possessions. Seattle trailed by 25 points when it got the ball for the first time in the second half.

Manning finished with 353 yards passing, the first player to pass for 300 yards against Seattle this season. Five different Indianapolis receivers had 50 or more yards receiving.

"We tried to take away the big play because they thrive off of that," Seahawks cornerback Ken Lucas said. "We wanted to make them, if they were going to go down and score, they had to go the length of the field."

Well, Seattle accomplished that.

The Colts had only one play gain more than 30 yards in the game, and their four touchdown drives all spanned 78 yards or more.

Indianapolis drove 80 yards in 10 plays on its first possession to score a touchdown. Manning was 4-of-4 passing on that drive. In the second quarter, the Colts drove 90 yards in nine plays. Manning was 5-of-5 passing on that drive, and that's when Bradley summoned his defense on the sideline.

He shouted, gestured and did everything he could to inspire his unit to play like it did on the Colts' second possession, when it forced a three-and-out.

"He was speaking passionately and yet positively," Mora said of Bradley.

And when he was done, safety Deon Grant spoke to his teammates.

"Gus is doing a good job as far as play-calling," Grant said after the game, summarizing his message. "And we're out there messing up on the things that we've done practiced the whole week, looking so unprofessional right now."

The next time Seattle's defense took the field it allowed a 78-yard drive that took all of 1:19, epitomizing just how easy it was for the Colts to move the ball. Manning threw on every play, completing passes to five different receivers on a drive in which he completed 7 of 9 attempts and overcame 15 yards' worth of penalties.

"He just played his kind of ball," Grant said. "Like, 'Y'all make the mistake, I'm going to make sure to point them out to you.'

"And he did that."

Manning's performance was like a highlighter on the defense's deficiencies. A lime-green highlighter.

"It's a very talented offense," defensive end Patrick Kerney said. "They make your small mistakes look like big ones."

On Sunday with the roof open at Lucas Oil Stadium, those mistakes were glaring.

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com