If you turn on Sportscenter or NFL Live or any other sports talk show right now, you probably hear about how the Jets are going to beat the Colts this weekend. They are going to be more physical, play with more heart, and their tenacious defense will end up rattling Peyton Manning. Pro Bowl cornerback Darelle Revis will shut down Reggie Wayne, and Manning will end up watching the Super Bowl from his sofa. It is amazing that a team that no one knew if they would even make the playoffs or not a year ago, is now the "favorite" to win the game against the team that was unbeatable all season. But, when teams are hot, people usually like to jump on the bandwagon. This is especially true when the team happens to be from New York.
I am not sure who is going to win the game between the Jets and the Colts. I look at the Jets and they look a lot like the team the Colts beat last week, the Baltimore Ravens. They both have great running games, play tough physical defense, and have young quarterbacks who do just enough to ensure that their team wins. Against the Ravens, it was the Colts defense that dominated the game, holding the Ravens to just three points. And while the Colts offense did not play as well as they typically do, they scored 20 points and the Colts won the game easily.
Jets supporters will argue that all you have to do is look at the regular season matchup to know what is going to happen in this game. The Jets came into LucasOil Stadium and beat a previously undefeated Colts team 29-15. This was a "win or go home" game for the Jets, just as the playoffs are. If the Jets would have lost that game, they would have been eliminated from playoff contention. So when their backs were against the wall, the Jets came into Indianapolis and took it to the Colts. Jets fans will tell you the exact same thing will happen this weekend. I am not arguing that fact. As I said before, I have no idea who will win this game. However, if the Jets do win, Rex Ryan's team owes a big "thank you" to the Colts coaching staff and Colts management.
Let us go back to Week 16. I am sitting in LucasOil Stadium with my sister, excited to see the undefeated Colts and Peyton Manning (who may go down as the best quarterback ever) play the Jets. On their second drive, the Colts looked like the Colts. Peyton marched his team right down the field--8 plays, 54 yards, 4:20 time of possession, and a Colts touchdown. Joseph Addai scored the touchdown, and he looked very strong in those first two drives--6 rushes for 40 yards and a touchdown. Then, after that touchdown, Joseph Addai disappeared for the rest of the game.
Colts fans were not worried however because they still had their not so secret weapon--Peyton Manning. The Colts next drive they went 10 plays, 86 yards and got a field goal out of that. Two drives later, Peyton marched the Colts down the field one more time--9 plays 81 yards and the Colts last touchdown of the game. At this point they were ahead 15-10 halfway through the third quarter. Then Colts management decided the game was over. Peyton Manning's day was done, as was each of the starter's. Welcome Curtis Painter, rookie quarterback out of Purdue.
Painter's first drive went 3 plays and 8 yards and resulted in a punt. And that was Painter's BEST drive of the game. On the first play of the next drive, Painter fumbles the football and it is returned for a Jets touchdown. Jets now lead 18-15. When Manning still did not return on the next drive, everybody in the arena knew the game was over. Jets win, Jets win and their playoff hopes are still alive as a result. The Jets went out the next week and completely destroyed the Bengals 37-0. The Bengals, who had already clinched their playoff spot, looked as disinterested in the Week 17 game as any team could get. So after the Colts and Bengals gift-wrapped a playoff spot for the Jets, the Jets entered the playoffs and Rex Ryan declared that his team should be Super Bowl favorites. People laughed until this team went out and beat up the Bengals (again). I wonder if the Bengals are sitting at home today thinking that they might have wanted to actually try to beat the Jets in the last game of the regular season. At the time they did not think the game was important, let the Jets into the playoffs, and the Jets made them pay for that mistake.
This weekend the Jets have a chance to "thank" the Colts for their playoff spot, just as they "thanked" the Bengals in the Wild Card round. And if the Jets do indeed beat the Colts, the Colts have no one to blame but themselves. When Manning and the starters were in the Week 16 game, the Colts were in control. The offense was doing what it wanted to do, and the defense was holding the Jets in check. Had Jim Caldwell, the Colts coach, kept his starters in the game, one could make the argument that the Colts win the game and the Jets are currently watching the playoffs from home. Would it not be ironic if, by pulling the starters to make sure they are healthy and rested for a Super Bowl run, the Colts end up costing themselves a Super Bowl berth by letting a team that would not have made the playoffs in AND giving them confidence? Jim Caldwell better hope his team goes out and beats the Jets this weekend or all people in Colts country will talk about is how the Colts beat themselves and cost them a chance at the Super Bowl.
