By Steve Herman
Associated Press
Sunday, September 12, 1999; 4:30 p.m. EDT

INDIANAPOLIS – Edgerrin James didn't want to give up the football.

The rookie running back, the fourth player picked in this year's draft, rushed for 112 yards and a touchdown Sunday, then made sure the game ball was safely tucked away as a souvenir of the Indianapolis Colts' 31-14 victory over the Buffalo Bills.

James, a controversial pick ahead of Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams, also caught four passes for 14 yards in his NFL debut.

Peyton Manning passed for 284 yards and two touchdowns to Marvin Harrison, and Tony Blevins iced the season-opening victory when he intercepted a pass by Doug Flutie and returned it 74 yards for a touchdown with 3:20 to go.

Flutie, named the Bills' starter earlier in the week, passed for 300 yards and a third-quarter TD to Andre Reed but was sacked a career-high five times.

Harrison, who missed the final four games with a shoulder injury last year, finished with 121 yards in receptions, and E.G. Green, who had only 177 yards in 11 games as a rookie, totaled 124. It was only the third time in Colts history that two players had at least 100 yards receiving and one had 100-plus yards rushing.

Long passes to Green set up both of the Colts touchdowns in the first half.

The first covered 50 yards before he was stopped at the 1 by Thomas Smith. After two carries for no gain, James ran in for his first career touchdown. He ran to the sideline cradling the ball in his arms and made sure it was wrapped in a towel and placed in a team locker for safekeeping.

Buffalo, which got a 36-yard field goal by Steve Christie early in the second quarter, threatened again midway through the period before Jeff Burris intercepted a pass at the Indianapolis 7 and returned it 28 yards to start the second Colts scoring drive.

James ran 11 yards, Manning completed passes of 19 and 27 yards to Green, and three plays later Manning passed 5 yards to Harrison for a touchdown and a 14-3 Indianapolis lead. It was Manning's 14th straight game with at least one TD pass, the second-longest streak in franchise history behind Johnny Unitas' NFL-record 47 in a row.

Late in the second quarter, Flutie passed 24 and 12 yards to Eric Moulds and 21 yards to rookie Peerless Price, Manning's former teammate at Tennessee, as Buffalo reached the Indianapolis 11. That set up Christie's second field goal, from 29 yards with 18 seconds to go, that cut the Colts lead to 14-6 at halftime.

James, held to 24 yards rushing in the first half, broke loose in the third quarter with consecutive runs of 40 and 16 yards. Indianapolis moved to the Buffalo 24 before Manning's second touchdown pass to Harrison.

The 6-yard TD pass to Reed pulled Buffalo with 21-14 before a 35-yard field goal by the Colts' Mike Vanderjagt and the long interception return by Blevins. The final Buffalo drive ended on downs at the Indianapolis 20 when Flutie was sacked by Bertrand Berry with 1:51 to go, and the Colts ran out the clock.