Colts’ Manning comfortable in stadium Archie ruled more than 3 decades ago.

JACKSON – When the National Football League came out with its 2006 schedule, two of the listed games had Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback Peyton Manning as excited as a little kid playing with his brothers at Grandma Manning’s house in the tiny Delta town of Drew.

The first was Saturday night’s preseason game with the New Orleans Saints at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium. The second was the season opener Sept. 10 against brother Eli and his New York Giants.

Judging by his performance against the Saints, Manning is primed for the brotherly showdown. But getting to play well on the same field that made his dad, Archie, famous a generation ago, may be just as sweet.

&#8220This state has been great to my family,” Peyton said after leading the Colts to a 27-14 win over the Saints before 58,228 fans. &#8220I spent a lot of time here playing pickup games with my brothers in Drew, Philadelphia and Oxford. I was excited to be here.

&#8220This stadium in Jackson holds some great history because a lot of my dad’s best games were here. So when I saw the schedule that we would be playing the Saints here, I was excited.”

Manning’s preparation and football knowledge is legendary. Rattling off his dad’s highlights at the Vet flowed just as easily.

&#8220I have a great appreciation for the history of the game and lot of my dad’s was here. Beating Tennessee 38-0 – he still brings that one up,” Manning quipped. &#8220And the LSU game in 1969, 26-23.”

For a brief instance, many of his dad’s fans were transported back in time after catching a glimpse of a blue-clad No. 18 darting through a defense. On the game’s first drive, Manning had to improvise a scramble on a third-and-nine. He weaved his way for an 11-yard gain to the Saints 22.

&#8220I’m not known as a scrambler, but it did feel good to run around like my dad did,” Peyton said.

Four plays later, Manning hit Reggie Wayne for a 4-yard TD pass to cap the opening drive.

Fans were delighted to see Manning and the rest of the Colts’ regulars play the entire first half. They built a 17-0 lead as Manning directed two more scoring drives. He finished 14 of 25 for 165 yards. His longest completion was a 44-yarder to Dallas Clark.

&#8220I wanted to play well. And with this being the third preseason game, we game-planned this game like a regular season one,” Peyton said. &#8220We scored a touchdown on our opening drive and I thought most of our possessions were positive. Other than settling for a couple of field goals, and another time when we stopped ourselves, we had good tempo.”

The Saints’ maligned secondary helped out by getting hit with three pass interference penalties in the first half.

&#8220That tells me Marvin Harrison was getting open and they were having to tackle him,” Peyton said. &#8220Reggie made some nice catches and Dallas made some, too. That helps us because we were able to stretch the field and its hard for a safety or a linebacker to cover either Dallas or Brandon (Stokley) in that type of a situation.”

Colts coach Tony Dungy was pleased with the performance, especially since it snapped a streak of eight straight losses in preseason games.

&#8220I thought I was going to get a Gatorade shower,” Dungy mused. &#8220We accomplished what we set out to do and we were sharp on offense into the second half.”