"As the feeding frenzy mounted between the white lines Sunday night at Lucas Oil Stadium, a group of hungry mouths formed along the Indianapolis Colts' sideline.

It was the second half of the lopsided win over the New York Giants -- the Colts led 24-0 at the half -- and a lot of defensive linemen wanted to eat.

"That's when you get hungry as a defensive lineman," tackle Daniel Muir said, his eyes wide and his grin wider. "We're on the sideline fighting for reps at that time. We get up two or three touchdowns, we're ready to go."

Robert Mathis isn't as chatty as Muir. Asked about the mind-set of a defensive lineman when a quarterback finds himself hopelessly behind and forced to rely almost solely on his passing game, Mathis smiled.

"It's time to eat," he said.

Sunday evening, Eli Manning was the buffet table.

Dwight Freeney had two sacks and two forced fumbles, one of which tackle Fili Moala rolled into the end zone with for a touchdown. Mathis had two sacks, three pressures and one forced fumble.

The Colts' bookend Pro Bowl pass-rushers dominated Giants offensive tackles David Diehl and Kareem McKenzie with their blink-of-an-eye bursts off the line and variety of moves.

On a couple of occasions, a "snap-to-hit" segment by NBC timed Freeney and Mathis in the 2.3- to 2.6-second range. Mathis indicated after the game the Colts consider 3.6 "pretty good."

In short, Manning, like so many quarterbacks before him, had little time to deliver passes.

Freeney's first sack was a speed rush around the outside of Diehl. On his second, he bull-rushed the 6-5, 319-pound Diehl into Manning. Mathis' first was a result of sheer speed, his second an artistic duck-under move that left McKenzie helpless.

Peyton Manning was positioned safely on the Colts' sideline while Freeney, Mathis and the rest were roughing up his younger brother.

"The other night was an ideal place for Dwight and Robert to work their magic," Peyton said.

It was one of those perfect-storm occasions for the Colts. First, the offense generates a sizable lead. Next, the defense turns up the pressure."