Kerry Collins was perfect Sunday afternoon, at least as far as quarterback ratings go. In leading the Giants to a 44-27 victory over the Colts, Collins earned a topped-out rating of 158.3. He completed 23 of 26 passes for 366 yards and a regular-season career-high four touchdowns.

"He saw the field really well," backup quarterback Jason Garrett said. "At first glance from the sidelines, he was going to the right place all day long. And he throws the ball so well. He is so accurate. He can make every throw so easily."

Collins' mastery was evident in three different plays Sunday:

• His 82-yard flea-flicker touchdown pass to Amani Toomer covered 53 yards in the air. "That's about all this arm can muster," said Collins, who took the toss from running back Tiki Barber on the first play of the second half and practically laid it in Toomer's hands on the run. Toomer cruised into the end zone.

• His third-quarter 18-yard touchdown pass to Charles Stackhouse came on a daring third-and-one call and Collins lofted a beautiful touch pass over Stackhouse's shoulder that allowed the rookie fullback to coast down the left sideline into the end zone.

• His third-and-eight completion to Toomer later in the third quarter was drilled so quickly and so hard that it appeared to come sidearm, and it set up Barber's 5-yard touchdown run on the next play.

"The pass he threw to Stackhouse was ridiculous," Toomer said. "Those are the kinds of things most quarterbacks can't do, flat out they just can't do it. That's why I'm always saying he's the best quarterback I've played with."

Collins is 3-0 in domes this season, winning in St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Indianapolis. But no game was better than this one, even if Collins remained unaffected.

"I feel good and I'm glad it worked out the way it did, but I feel the same way coming out every week," he said "Guys were wide open. In the NFL, if guys are wide open, you throw it to them and they're going to catch it."

Especially when you put it right in their hands, as Collins did Sunday. "The key is our guys up front. They did an outstanding job," said Collins, who wasn't sacked for the second straight game. "That's a very good [Colts] team up front and we kept them off balance."
Dec. 23,02