NFL AMERICAN FOOTBALL-COLTS CLOBBER EAGLES TO STAY IN PLAYOFF HUNT .
INDIANAPOLIS 1996-12-06
The injury-plagued Indianapolis Colts lost another quarterback on Thursday but last year 's AFC finalists rallied together to shoot down the Philadelphia Eagles 37-10 in a showdown of playoff contenders .
Marshall Faulk rushed for 101 yards and two touchdowns and Jason Belser returned an interception 44 yards for a score as the Colts improved to 8-6 , the same mark as the Eagles , who lost for the fourth time in five games .
Paul Justin , starting for the sidelined Jim Harbaugh , was 14-of-23 for 144 yards and a touchdown for the the Colts , who played their last home game of the season .
Indianapolis closes with games at Kansas City and Cincinnati .
The Eagles were held without a touchdown until the final five seconds .
Philadelphia , which fell from an NFC East tie with the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins , go on the road against the New York Jets and then entertain Arizona .
The loss by Philadelphia allowed the idle Green Bay Packers ( 10-3 ) to clinch the first NFC playoff berth .
The Colts won despite the absence of injured starting defensive tackle Tony Siragusa , cornerback Ray Buchanan and linebacker Quentin Coryatt .
Faulk carried 16 times , including a 13-yard TD run in the first quarter and a seven-yard score early in the final period .
Justin made his second straight start for Harbaugh , who has a knee injury .
Justin suffered a sprained right shoulder in the third quarter and did not return .
Third-stringer Kerwin Bell , a 1988 draft choice of the Miami Dolphins , made his NFL debut and was 5-of-5 for 75 yards , including a 20-yard scoring strike to Marvin Harrison in the third period .
A 39-yard interference penalty against Philadelphia 's Troy Vincent set up Faulk 's first score around left end that capped an 80-yard march 5:17 into the game and the rout was on .
Eagles quarterback Ty Detmer was 17-of-34 for 182 yards before he was benched .
Ricky Watters , who leads the NFC in rushing , left the game after getting kneed to the helmet after gaining 33 yards on seven carries .