EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — After beating little brother Eli, all Peyton Manning felt was relief and pride.

Relief that the much-hyped battle of the brothers was over, and pride in the way they handled it. No gloating, no giddy postgame interviews, no big scene as the two met when it was over.

"I told him I loved him," Peyton said after the Indianapolis Colts outlasted Eli and the New York Giants 26-21 last night.

"I enjoyed watching him play in person," the elder Manning added. "He's every bit as good as he looked on TV. He's going to be a great player in this league for a long time. I'm proud to be related to the guy. I'm proud to be his brother."

As for the game itself, the "Manning Bowl" actually lived up to the hype. The brothers played well and so did their teams, though the Giants made far too many mistakes to win the first NFL game to feature two brothers starting at quarterback.

Peyton finished 25 of 41 for 276 yards, a touchdown and an interception. The two-time MVP also led the Colts to scores on five of their first seven possessions.

Eli was 20 of 34 for 247 yards and touchdowns passes to Plaxico Burress and Jeremy Shockey. He also had two costly second-half mistakes — a fumble and an interception, both of which came with New York down two points. Both led to Indianapolis scores.

After it was over, the siblings came to midfield, surrounded by photographers, big brother patting little brother on the back of his head.

"It kind of hit me in the pre-pregame when I was out there talking to someone and I see this guy walk by and it was my brother," Peyton said. "I found myself watching him during warmups. I was peeking at him during the national anthem. It was kind of neat to be on the same field as him, knowing that's my little brother out there."

Peyton threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Dallas Clark and Dominic Rhodes scored on a 1-yard run for the Colts' touchdowns.

Adam Vinatieri, the hero of two Super Bowl wins by the New England Patriots, kicked four field goals in his first game for the defending AFC South champions, including a 32-yarder with 1:12 to play to push the lead to five points.

Trailing 23-21, Eli Manning tried to drive the Giants for a late go-ahead score. A play after a questionable offensive pass interference call against Tim Carter denied New York a first down at its own 37, Manning was intercepted by Nick Harper and Peyton moved the Colts 19 yards for an insurance field goal.

"It was very difficult for me to think that play was a foul," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said, adding that his team also hurt itself with way too many mistakes.

While Eli had a big fumble and interception, he wasn't the only one to make errors.

Giants defenders dropped two potential first-half interceptions that could have stopped scoring drives. Jay Feely missed a 40-yard field goal and the Giants had a plethora of penalties that slowed or ended drives, including an illegal snap by center Shaun O'Hara with 17 seconds to play that forced officials to take 10 seconds off the clock.

That allowed Eli Manning to throw one more pass — and it fell incomplete.

The Giants, who also got a 110-yard rushing effort from Tiki Barber, had closed to within 23-21 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Brandon Jacobs with 8:01 to play.