Falcons top Colts in American Bowl

TOKYO – Matt Schaub threw two touchdown passes in the first half Saturday, leading the Atlanta Falcons past the Indianapolis Colts 27-21 in the American Bowl, the NFL’s preseason opener.

The game featured two of the league’s marquee quarterbacks in Peyton Manning and Michael Vick and was played before a Tokyo Dome crowd of 45,203.

“It was a very exciting atmosphere,” Manning said. “The crowd was enthusiastic and the players were ready to play. We would have liked to have gotten the victory, but we’ll learn from it and come out again next week.”

Schaub, who completed 11 of 13 passes for 115 yards, gave the Falcons a 20-14 lead with 10 seconds remaining in the half. He tossed a 3-yard pass to Fred McCrary, who bobbled the ball on the 1 and then rolled into the end zone before being touched.

“It was a pretty good play by Fred,” said Schaub, who was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. “The ball bounced off his head but he came up with it and was able to roll into the end zone.”

Jason Wright increased the Falcons’ lead to 27-14 when he ran in from the 1-yard line with just more than 6 minutes remaining.