INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Colts wide receiver T.Y. Hilton likely never will forget Nov. 23, 2014.

Early Sunday morning, Hilton’s wife gave birth to the couple’s third child — a daughter — and in the afternoon, he caught a 73-yard, third-quarter touchdown pass from Andrew Luck that broke open a close game in the Colts’ 23-3 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in Lucas Oil Stadium.

Hilton finished the game with four catches for a team-leading 122 yards.

“His day started really early … I got a call at 5:30,” Colts coach Chuck Pagano said. “He told me that he was on his way to the hospital and that his wife had gone into labor. Everybody is good and everybody is healthy.

“Then to come out and play the way he played was a heck of a day. He was pretty emotional afterwards. It is God’s greatest gift. He now has two little boys and a girl, and when I asked him if he was done, he said yes. His celebration in the end zone after the TD was pretty cool. We didn’t get a flag for it, but had we, it’s pretty special.”

While the first half left lots to be desired, Indianapolis used a dominating third quarter to defeat the Jaguars.

Trent Richardson’s 1-yard touchdown run with 8:31 remaining in the third quarter, and Luck’s touchdown pass to Hilton at the 6:08 mark extended a 6-3 halftime lead to 20-3 against the offensively challenged Jaguars (1-10), who lost their fourth in a row.

Indianapolis (7-4) began another third-quarter drive that culminated with Adam Vinatieri’s 32-yard field goal on the fourth quarter’s first play for a 23-3 advantage.

Luck finished 21 of 32 for 253 yards and the third-quarter TD to Hilton.

“When I was out there, I wanted it to be special,” Hilton said. “I was going to play every play for her — just give it my all. When I get back to the hospital I will take her the football.”

With the victory, the Colts have won 11 consecutive AFC South games and continue to lead second-place Houston in the division.

While Indianapolis’ offense needed two quarters to find any kind of rhythm, the Colts’ defense limited Jacksonville to 92 yards of total offense through three quarters and 194 for the game.

What the Colts said:

“It was hard to get stuff going because that is a good defense, and that is a good front four. We had our share of some self-inflicted penalties and didn’t do a good job of taking care of the football, but a lot of those turnovers are because of what they did.” — Quarterback Andrew Luck, on the Colts three turnovers

What the Jaguars said;

“It’s hard not to get into the end zone when we had that chance down there near the goal line in the fourth quarter. It is kind of technical, situational football. The screen pass there had a chance to go, but it was a block or two away.” – Quarterback Blake Bortles.

What we learned about the Colts:

1. With the addition of Josh Cribbs to the roster as a kick returner, Indianapolis appears to have bolstered that facet of its game. He returned two kickoffs for 64 yards and five punts for 48 yards. He had another 60-plus-yards punt return for what would have been a touchdown called back because of a penalty.

2. The Colts continue to battle consistency issues in their offense, especially when an opponent’s front four — Jacksonville has a good one — applies pressure to Luck, who was sacked five times in the first half and lost two fumbles. If the Colts hope to make a deep run in the AFC playoffs, they must find ways to score more than six points in a half against a team that has lost 10 of 11 games.

–P Pat McAfee created excellent field position for Indianapolis by averaging 48.7 yards, including two of his three punts that rolled dead inside the 20-yard line.

–K Adam Vinatieri extended his consecutive string of made field goals to 25 on Sunday, making all three that he attempted.

–RB David Herron led the team in rushing with 12 carries for 65 yards.

–RB Ahmad Bradshaw missed Sunday’s game with an ankle injury.

What we learned about the Jaguars:

1.Jacksonville is a single-dimension team right now, featuring a solid defense that is well stocked with pass rushers, but the offense has scored more than 17 points only three times in 11 games, including only three on Sunday against Indianapolis, which allowed 42 points in its most recent game.

2. It hard to know what to make of former Michigan QB Denard Robinson, who caught four passes for 47 times and rushed an additional 14 times but for only 25 yards? Robinson has skill, but with Blake Bortles struggling at the QB position, the Jags need some big plays from Robinson.

–P Pat Anger may have prevented additional Indianapolis scoring with his punts. He averaged 49.4 yards on his seven punts, including three that rolled to a stop inside the Colts’ 20.

–OLB Tevin Smith had a monster game with 12 tackles, including two for losses, and a pair of first-half fumble recoveries.

–MLB J.T. Thomas III also had a strong game for Jacksonville with 10 tackles and a pass broken up.