NEW ORLEANS (Ticker) -- Peyton Manning put on a historic performance in his father's old playground.
Manning became the first quarterback in 12 seasons to throw six touchdown passes in a game as the Indianapolis Colts rolled to a 55-21 rout of the New Orleans Saints.
Manning's night had to take on added significance with his father Archie watching from a luxury suite. Archie Manning played 11 years with the Saints and is the franchise's all-time leader in passing yards (21,734), touchdown passes (115), completions (1,849) and attempts (3,335).
Working against an injury-depleted defense, Manning passed for all of his touchdowns in the first three quarters, when the Colts built an insurmountable 48-13 lead.
"Any time you throw (six touchdown passes), sure, that's fun," Manning said. "I thought it was just good execution. It's kind of a boring answer but we were executing well. It was just one of those nights when we had good protection, guys were getting open. You don't take it for granted, but you don't expect it every time. I have a lot of respect for the Saints (but) it was just our night."
Manning became the first player since Washington's Mark Rypien in 1991 to throw for six TDs in a game. He also broke Gary Cuozzo and Gary Hogeboom's franchise record for touchdown passes.
With the game completely out of hand, Manning did not get an opportunity to match the NFL record for TD passes in a game, set by five others. Joe Kapp was the last to throw for seven touchdowns, accomplishing the feat in 1969 with Minnesota.
Manning finished 20-of-25 for 314 yards without an interception. His previous high for touchdown passes in a game was four, set on three other occasions.
Marvin Harrison was on the receiving end of three of Manning's TDs. He finished with six catches for 158 yards.
Ricky Williams, Dominick Rhodes and rookie Dallas Clark also had touchdown receptions for the Colts, who improved to 4-0 for the first time since 1996.
It also was a big night for the Colts' defense, which forced four turnovers. Defensive end Dwight Freeney returned a fumble 19 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter for a 55-13 bulge.
Without five starters on defense since opening the season, the Saints (1-3) surrendered their most points ever at the Superdome. The previous mark of futility came in a 47-27 loss to Kansas City in 1985.
During the game, the Saints also lost two more starters on defense to injuries in free safety Tebucky Jones and tackle Kenny Smith.
"They were a little bit banged up on defense," Colts coach Tony Dungy said. "We knew we wanted to come out aggressively on offense. I thought our guys executed the plan really well."
After the game, the Saints held a team meeting.
"It was a bad game all the way around," Saints coach Jim Haslett said. "We didn't do a good job on defense covering anyone and we turned the ball over too much on offense."
Manning moved his team up and down the field the entire night as the Colts produced three touchdowns and a field goal in six first-half possessions.
"Once we got momentum, it was like a shark in the water, and we kept going," Dungy said. "We didn't feel like we were going to score 55 coming in."
On third play of the game from scrimmage, Manning was set up by his defense when weak side linebacker Jim Nelson intercepted Aaron Brooks and returned the ball 10 yards to the Saints 23.
Three plays later, Manning got strong safety Jay Bellamy to bite on a pump-fake and found Williams down the left sideline for a 17-yard touchdown.
Williams was part of a trio that included James Mungro and Rhodes that replaced Edgerrin James, who missed the game with a back injury.
After the Saints went three-and-out, Manning directed an eight-play, 61-yard drive. That drive ended with Manning finding Harrison, who tipped the ball to himself in the end zone, for a 14-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0 with 6:34 left in the opening quarter.
In the first quarter, Manning completed 8-of-9 passes for 103 yards.
Manning continued to find his mark early in the second quarter when he connected with Harrison on a 79-yard touchdown pass. Harrison caught the pass on a crossing route at his own 40 and raced untouched to the end zone.
John Carney kicked a 38-yard field goal with 6:04 left in the half to get the Saints on the board before Mike Vanderjagt answered on the Colts' next possession with a 41-yard field goal.
On the Saints' final possession of the half, Deuce McAllister scored on a one-yard run, cutting the Colts' lead to 24-10.
McAllister was one of the few bright spots as he carried 17 times for 101 yards. Brooks went 16-of-28 for 166 yards, was intercepted twice and lost a pair of fumbles.
Brooks said it was the toughest loss of his career.
"By far, by far," he said. "And hopefully it won't happen again. Unfortunately it happened here, a place where it's happened so often. It hurts as a player, a captain, a leader of this team. I mean it hurts. I'm willing to accept the blame along with everybody else. I hope everybody else is in here accepting the blame on what happened today."
Any hopes the Saints had a comeback were dashed in the second half, when the Colts scored on their first four possessions.
Vanderjagt kicked a 42-yard field goal 5:33 into the third quarter and on the Saints' initial possession, Brooks was sacked by linebacker Marcus Washington, who jarred the ball loose and recovered the fumble at the New Orleans 12.
Two plays later, Manning found Williams with a 12-yard TD pass, extending the lead to 34-10 with 1:38 left in the third quarter.
After Carney kicked a 43-yard field goal, Manning found Harrison down the middle for a 32-yard touchdown pass.
On the Saints' next possession, Nelson intercepted Brooks again deep inside New Orleans territory, setting up Manning's 11-yard TD pass to Clark with four seconds left in the third quarter.
Just 41 seconds into the fourth quarter, Freeney returned a fumble by Brooks 19 yards for a touchdown.
The Saints' final score came with under 10 minutes left when Todd Bouman found former Colt Jerome Pathon with an 11-yard TD pass.
