INDIANAPOLIS – There is no doubt the Colts can put points on the board. On Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Indianapolis defense kept the Cincinnati Bengals from scoring for their first shutout since 2008.

The Colts limited Cincinnati to 135 total yards and one third-down conversion in a 27-0 thumping that kept both teams heading on their present courses. Indianapolis (5-2) won its fifth in a row while the Bengals (3-2-1) extended their winless streak extend to three.

“They’re hard to come by, when you can have a defensive performance like that,” said Colts head coach Chuck Pagano. “We’re starting to get a glimpse of what we envisioned when we got together a couple years ago, what we wanted to build and it looks like that monster is starting to rear its head a little bit.”

Quarterback Andrew Luck completed 27 of 42 passes for 344 yards and two touchdowns, his fifth consecutive game of at least 300 yards. Wide receiver T.Y. Hilton had 107 yards on seven catches, the third time in four games he has topped 100. Running back Ahmad Bradshaw scored two touchdowns, one each rushing and receiving, to bring his team-high total to seven as the Colts racked up 506 total yards.

The Indianapolis defense has been remarkable on third down, stopping opponents on 37 of 41 in the last four games, and posted its first shutout since a 23-0 victory over Tennessee in 2008. Cincinnati hadn’t been held scoreless since a 37-0 loss to the Jets in 2009.

“We do a good job of at least getting ourselves back off the field, kind of keeping the scoring down (in the first half) but we didn’t obviously respond very good in the third quarter,” said Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. “… We were just never able to really get back and become an attacking offense at all today and defensively we basically played, I think once we lost a couple of guys, we ended up playing from our heels a little bit.”

Luck’s 32-yard touchdown completion down the left sideline to tight end Dwayne Allen pushed the Colts’ lead to 17-0 and his 10-yard toss to Bradshaw, who pinballed his way into the end zone early in the fourth, put it out of reach.

The Indianapolis defense limited the Bengals to three-and-outs on their first eight possessions. Not until Colts linebacker Erik Walden was ejected for making contact with an official after being flagged for a personal foul with 45 seconds left in the first half did Cincinnati manage a first down.

The Colts outgained the Bengals 268-27 in the half but failed to convert on six third downs and committed two turnovers.

“Obviously, turnovers kill you,” Luck said. “Very fortunate a couple of interceptions were dropped that could’ve been catastrophic. That’s a good defense that forced us into doing some stuff but we sort of broke through, got some points on the board. You feel like you don’t have to do too much when you’re playing with defense and special teams like that. They do and have done a heck of a job all year. Fun to feed off of each other in all three phases.”

Bradshaw lost a fumble at the Cincinnati 11-yard line in the first quarter, and Luck and Richardson botched an exchange for another fumble at the Bengals’ 36 in the second period. But Luck hit Hilton for a 46-yard gain down the right sideline to set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Bradshaw and Adam Vinatieri made a 23-yard field goal to provide the home team a 10-0 lead at the break. Vinatieri wrapped up the scoring with a 50-yarder with 1:55 remaining that ran his streak to 20 in a row, including all 14 tries this season.

What the Colts said:

“Everybody on defense got a game ball. That’s one where you put the stats on there and put that goose egg on there. It’s extremely, extremely difficult. I think they were averaging close to 400 yards coming in. They had given up only two sacks. They’ve got a good offense and a bunch of guys that can play over there. It’s special.” — Coach Chuck Pagano, on Indianapolis recording its first shutout in his tenure.

“I know Indy is known for their offense all the time. We have a great offense here, and I’m blessed to be at a place like this with the offense, but we definitely want everyone to know that we do have a defense and we’re going to be up for any challenge.” — Linebacker Jerrell Freeman.

What the Bengals said:

“When you don’t have one of your better players, it’s a difficult thing when you don’t score points, but you can’t use that as an excuse. We didn’t play well enough across the board.” — Coach Marvin Lewis, when asked about the impact of wide receiver A.J. Green’s absence.

“(Confidence) comes from the leaders on the team. I think everybody has to understand and it has to be important to everybody. We are definitely going to do whatever it takes to get that point across. This team is too talented and we have so much going for us, we can’t waste any opportunities.” — Quarterback Andy Dalton.

What we learned about the Colts:

1. In the third season of the switch from the traditional Tony Dungy Tampa 2 to a Ravens-style hybrid 3-4 scheme, the Colts’ defense finally is settling in under head coach Chuck Pagano and defensive coordinator Greg Manusky. Indianapolis’ past four opponents converted just four of 41 third-down attempts, including a 1-for-13 rate for the Bengals. The Colts made 15 consecutive third-down stops from the second quarter of a Week 6 contest at Houston to the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game.

2. Wide receiver T.Y. Hilton is rapidly becoming a worthy successor to Marvin Harrison as the big-play threat in the passing game. Over the past four games, Hilton has 31 receptions for 525 yards, averages of 16.9 per catch and 131.3 per game. His 46-yard dance down the right sideline in the second quarter was his seventh catch of at least 33 yards this season.

–LB Erik Walden was ejected with 45 seconds left in the first half for making contact with an official who had stepped in to separate Walden and Bengals TE Jermaine Gresham. “It wasn’t mean to be, it was just one of those deals where you’ve got a couple guys, whatever, he was really I think trying to get away from the other player and accidentally (touched the official),” coach Chuck Pagano said.

–TE Dwayne Allen’s 32-yard touchdown reception was his fourth scoring catch in five games and fifth overall. Colts tight ends have a combined nine touchdowns.

–RB Ahmad Bradshaw recorded the ninth multiple-touchdown game of his career. He leads NFL running backs with six receiving touchdowns this season.

–QB Andrew Luck’s streak of five games of at least 300 passing yards tied Peyton Manning’s club record set in 2009. With six 300-yard games this season, Luck already tied his career best, set in 2012.

–WR Reggie Wayne had four receptions for 15 yards, and he became the ninth player in NFL history to surpass 14,000 receiving yards for his career. He also extended his NFL record streak to 78 games with at least three receptions.

–OLB Bjoern Werner had a sack for his third consecutive game. It was his only tackle of the day.

–CB Vontae Davis defended against a career-high four passes Sunday. He already has tied his single-season career high of 12, set in 2010 with Miami and matched last season.

What we learned about the Bengals:

1. If the Bengals are going to regain contender status, they must have wide receiver A.J. Green healthy. Without the team’s primary deep threat, the Bengals spent the day playing against a fully compressed Colts defense, and quarterback Andy Dalton was unable to make anything happen over the top. Until a 32-yard hookup with Mohamed Sanu in the fourth quarter, the Bengals’ longest completion was 14 yards.

2. The offensive line needs to improve. Dalton was sacked just twice in the first five games, but he went down three times against the Colts, and the running game generated just 32 yards on 12 tries, a 2.7-yard average.

–LB Vincent Rey, filling in for the injured Rey Maualuga, racked up a game-high 16 tackles (seven solo).

–TE Jermaine Gresham, who entered Sunday with 14 catches in five games this season, made 10 receptions against the Colts. He finished with 48 receiving yards.

–QB Andy Dalton posted his lowest passer rating of the season, 55.4 He completed just 18 of 38 passes for 126 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. The last time he had a lower passer rating was Nov. 10, 2013, in an overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens.