INDIANAPOLIS — The brawl began Sunday on the first offensive play for the Baltimore Ravens.

Receiver Steve Smith caught a pass from quarterback Joe Flacco and was drilled on a hit by Indianapolis Colts cornerback Greg Toler. The ball squirted out of Smith’s hands to Colts nose tackle Montori Hughes.

The Colts turned that turnover into a scoring drive on a 38-yard field by Adam Vinatieri and they went on to a bruising 20-13 victory over the Ravens at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“We knew it was going to be a donnybrook, a backyard brawl, whatever you want to call it,” Colts coach Chuck Pagano said.

“It was going to be a 60-minute brawl,” said Colts defensive end Cory Redding, who had one of four sacks on Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco. “It’s all heart and it’s all guts. That’s what it took to win this game.”

Indianapolis quarterback Andrew Luck, who entered the game as the NFL’s leading touchdown passer, threw his 14th touchdown pass of the season and also scored on a 13-yard run.

But on this day, when the Colts (3-2) won their third consecutive game to tie Houston for first place in the AFC South, the NFL’s most productive offensive squad leaned on the defense. The Colts held the Ravens to only a fourth quarter touchdown by running back Justin Forsett. They sacked Flacco four times, intercepted him once and caused two fumbles.

“I mean, we didn’t do a good job of blocking,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “We didn’t do a good job of getting the ball out.”

Baltimore (3-2), which had a three-game winning streak halted, was kept out of the end zone until Forsett scored on an 11-yard run with 8:56 left in the game.

“They were phenomenal,” Pagano said of his defensive players. “Keep fighting, keep plugging. Those guys do a tremendous job.”

“This was an amazing defensive performance and offensive performance and special teams,” said Colts linebacker Bjoern Werner, who had two sacks of Flacco.

What the Colts said:

“It’s huge to survive our mistakes (four turnovers) in a sense. It’s the epitome of a team football game, of a defense lifting us up in a sense.” — quarterback Andrew Luck

“We enjoyed this win 15 minutes ago. Now we’re thinking about the Texans.” — DE Cory Redding, on the Colts’ upcoming game Thursday at AFC South rival Houston

What the Ravens said:

“Just a tough, hard-fought football game, tough environment. Good team, good opponent on the road, all of those things. Really what the NFL is all about.” — coach John Harbaugh

“You’ve got to credit those guys (Colts defensive players) for having the confidence to come after it. … They did come after us a bit and you want to be able to take advantage of that.” — quarterback Joe Flacco

What we learned about the Colts:

1. After consecutive big offensive showings in wins against Jacksonville and Tennessee, all the talk was about Colts quarterback Andrew Luck and the passing game. The Indianapolis defense rose in a big way Sunday, led by two sacks by linebacker Bjoern Werner, a fumble recovery by defensive lineman Montori Hughes and five tackles by LB Jerrell Freeman. The Colts shut down the Ravens on 10-of-11 third down plays and 2-of-3 fourth down plays.

2. The Colts can score quickly, but they can also a slow-cooking type of an offense. The Colts burned up nearly 10 minutes of the second quarter with a 20-play drive that covered 70 yards. By the time they were done, following a 34-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri, the Ravens had just 35 seconds left in the first half to work with. The 20 plays marked the Colts’ longest possession since 2000, when they had a 22-play drive against the New England Patriots.

–K Adam Vinatieri pushed his consecutive field goal streak to 16, dating back to December 2013, with field goals of 38 and 34 yards. He is 10-for-10 this year. He has converted 162 straight PATs.

–WR Reggie Wayne won the battle of 35-year-olds with Ravens WR Steve Smith, catching seven passes for 77 yards. With that performance, he moved past Cris Carter and into ninth place on the NFL’s all-time list for receiving yards with 13,950. Next up is No. 8 James Lofton, just 54 yards away.

–C Jonotthan Harrison, an undrafted rookie from Florida, made his first career start. The third offensive play called for a run up the middle by RB Ahmad Bradshaw. Harrison cleared out his man and Bradshaw ran by Harrison untouched for a 20-yard gain. “There is a certain amount of pressure, but I just have to look at it as another day of work, go out there and compete,” Harrison said. “I’ve been preparing for a situation like this so it was just time to go.”

What we learned about the Ravens:

1. Baltimore must find a way to protect quarterback Joe Flacco. Beyond the four sacks the offensive line gave up, Flacco was pressured even more times by the Colts defensive linemen and a number of blitzing packages. “You have to get the ball out and you have to make them pay for that with plays and we were just unable to do that,” Harbaugh said.

2. The Ravens defense continues to be strong. It held the Colts out of the end zone until the third quarter. Even then, the Colts first touchdown was set up by an interception at the Baltimore 32-yard line. The Ravens intercepted Colts quarterback Andrew Luck twice, sack him once and stopped the Colts on their only fourth-down attempt.

–WR Steve Smith continued to shine. A week after catching two touchdown passes against the Carolina Panthers, Smith caught five passes for 34 yards, including a long pass play of 17 yards. After last week’s game in which he caught seven passes for 139 yards against his former team, Smith caught the close attention of Colts defenders. Through five games, the 35-year-old has caught 30 passes for 463 yards.

–ILB C.J. Mosley led the Ravens with eight tackles and six assisted tackles, and also had an interception of an Andrew Luck pass to stop a Colts drive in the third quarter. Mosley, a rookie from Alabama, leads the Ravens in tackles with 47. The interception was his first in the pros.

–RB Justin Forsett was the Ravens’ leading rusher and pass receiver. He caught seven passes for 55 yards and also rushed six times for 42 yards, scoring the team’s only touchdown on an 11-yard run.