INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts didn’t need a lot of motivation for playing the New York Giants on Monday night.

Not after the Colts’ sloppy performance a week earlier in a road loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

So Indianapolis’ 40-24 domination over the Giants got coach Chuck Pagano’s team back to where it wanted to be — getting a win to improve its record to 6-3 and regaining a two-game lead over the Houston Texans in race for the AFC South title.

“Good win. It’s always tough to win on the road, it’s tough to win, period. But a lot of good play in all three phases,” Pagano said.

“Didn’t finish the way we wanted to finish but, again, we’ll take the win. We’re never going to apologize for a victory. Offensively, it was hard early. That’s a damn good team and they’re well coached and they’ve got some guys on defense that are extremely difficult to block. But we found a way to put some points on the board and it’s good to get the win.”

Now the Colts have some time to rest and recoup some energy as they head into a bye week. Indianapolis will be off this week before returning to Lucas Oil Stadium in two weeks to face the New England Patriots in a nationally-televised matchup of two old AFC rivals.

“We’ve got a bye coming up so we have a chance to get rested, get healthy, and get some guys back. We have an opportunity to take a look at ourselves from a self-scout standpoint but, more importantly, to get away for a little bit and regroup,” Pagano said.

“We feel good about 6-3, two and a half games up (on Houston), I think, in the division. Like I told the guys, we don’t need any help from anybody, we control our own destiny. If we just stick to the process, keep grinding, keep preparing, then good things should happen.”

Pagano stressed how good it is going into a bye week with a big win under their belts.

“A lot better than the alternative. It’s awesome. Again, to get number six, that was our goal; get that bad taste out of our mouth coming off the last game and the way we lost that game. To, again, be 6-3 and go into the bye on a positive note, get some confidence back, all that stuff,” he said.

“We have a long way to go, obviously, and a lot of work to do but I think, if I can remember right, we have a pretty good club coming to town in a couple weeks. ‘Sunday Night Football’ I believe. I think we have three home games in a row. We’ll take them one at a time and we’ll prepare accordingly but it feels great.”

Quarterback Andrew Luck admitted after the New York game that veteran wide receiver Reggie Wayne spoke to the team about the importance of getting a win before the bye week.

“Reggie spoke to it before the game (Sunday) night. He’s only had one or two in his career, but losses before a bye week stink,” Luck said. “Not that we needed any more motivation to come out and play, but it’s good to get a win on this bye week and we’ll go back and see what we did right, see what we did wrong and move on from there.”

REPORT CARD VS. GIANTS:

PASSING OFFENSE: A – QB Andrew Luck completed 25 of 46 passes for 354 yards and four touchdowns against New York. He did not have an interception while completing passes to nine different receivers, led by three with four receptions each — TE Coby Fleener, WR Reggie Wayne and TE Dwayne Allen. All three caught touchdown passes, along with WR T.Y. Hilton, who did a fantastic job of wrestling the ball away from a Giants cornerback for the score. Luck was only sacked once but was hit several times.

RUSHING OFFENSE: B-Plus – With the success that the Colts were having through the air, the running game wasn’t utilized much until late in the game when Indianapolis was trying to run out the clock and the game. RB Ahmad Bradshaw ended up with 50 yards in seven carries while RB Trent Richardson had 33 yards in seven rushing attempts. Indianapolis averaged 4.1 yards per carry.

PASS DEFENSE: B-Plus – Giants QB Eli Manning completed 27 of 52 passes for 359 yards and two touchdowns. But most of those yards came in the second half once the game was pretty much decided. Rookie WR Odell Beckham had eight receptions for 156 yards. Manning was sacked three times and coughed up the football after being hit on one sack.

RUSH DEFENSE: A – New York was limited to 89 rushing yards in 20 carries against the Colts. The Indianapolis run defense proved to be stout for most of the game. The Giants averaged 4.4 yards per rushing attempt but were never able to completely get its run game untracked.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A – Pretty much a perfect evening for the Indianapolis special teams units. PK Adam Vinatieri made four field goals from 48, 31, 48 and 43 yards. He has not missed a field-goal attempt so far this season. P/KO specialist Pat McAfee averaged 37.2 yards on six punts with three being pinned inside the Giants’ 20-yard line. New York averaged just over five yards on kickoff returns. PR/KR Griff Whalen averaged nine yards on five punt returns.

COACHING: A – After a tough loss against the Steelers the week before, Chuck Pagano’s coaching staff did a good job of putting the Pittsburgh game in the rear view mirror as quickly as possible. Facing a depleted defensive secondary, offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton went to the pass often to take advantage of several mismatches. And defensive coordinator Greg Manusky keeps finding ways to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Manusky also did a nice job of retooling a bit after the Steelers loss.