Quick Hits:
-The key to the Colts-Jets title game turned out to be Indy's offensive line getting to grips with the Jets pass-rush. Colts fans must have been worried after Peyton Manning was sacked twice on his first four dropbacks, but those turned out to be the only two times the Jets got to him. After that, a combination of good protection and long drives with completion after completion entirely took the sting out of the Jets pass rush.
It'll be very interesting to see what Saints defensive coordinator Greg Williams does to attempt to dial up pressure on Manning in the Big One.
-You know one of the things that makes Manning so special as a quarterback: he loves to go back to the receiver with the hot hand. Example: With just over two minutes left in the second quarter against New York, on 2nd and 10, deep in Colts territory, he threw an 18 yard strike to rookie receiver Austin Collie.
Next play, after the two minute warning, he tossed a beautiful pass down the seam just beyond the grasp of a Jets defender and into Collie's hands. 46 yard pick up, 1st down at the Jets 16.
On the next play, Collie runs the exact same route in the middle of the field, and Manning finds him in between the linebacker and the safety for a touchdown. 3 passes, 80 yards and a touchdown, all in under a minute and all to one receiver.
When Manning gets in that kind of zone, you sometimes feel that it's only him and the receiver out there on the field and no matter what the defense does, they can't stop him. Scary stuff. Scary good, of course.
Because the Jets did everything they could to take away Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark, Collie and Pierre Garcon were the two receivers Manning was locked into on Sunday, and they had almost 300 yards between them.
-Credit to the Jets offense and Mark Sanchez in particular, they really did everything they could to put New York in a winning position. First off, there was Sanchez's 80 yard touchdown pass to Braylon Edwards early in the second quarter (by the way, probably one of best executed offensive plays I've seen all season...both the route and the throw were absolutely perfect), then we saw a good bit of trickery by Brad Smith for a big completion that led to another TD in the first half.
The Jets did stall offensively in the second half, but there were hampered by the injury to Shonn Greene, and let's be honest, this team wasn't built to hang 30 points on the board, especially against a team as good as the Colts.
All in all, Mark Sanchez's postseason has to be one of the best ever by a rookie QB, and look for the Jets to be a power in the AFC next season.
-Rant of the week goes to Rex Ryan. Ryan went all 'Lou Pinella' on the officials after he thought (rightly) that they missed a late hit on 'the Sanchezise'. First, there was a headset and hat toss, and then he launched into a tirade that you didn't a lipreader to decipher. Top marks.
-The Saints march on in the Superdome, but Monday morning, after the euphoria of victory has worn off, they'll know that they were lucky to get through. Here are two stats that will tell you why.
a) 65 yards of offense on six possessions in the entire second half (only 4 more yards than Courtney Roby's kickoff return at the start of it). Now that's worrying Saints fans, I don't care what you tell me. The offense looked disjointed, and Drew Brees was fidgety and inaccurate after the interval.
b) 3 of 12. That's how they did on third down conversions against the Vikings (a lot of those were 3rd and short too). They were unable to sustain drives by continually coming up short on the most important down. It prevented the offense from getting into a rhythm.
Why did they win then, you might ask yourself? Simple answer, Minnesota turnovers: 5 (You seen many games where one team turned the ball over five times go to overtime recently??), great defense that led to those turnovers, and a mistake-free overtime possession that led to the winning field goal.
-The Vikings couldn't hold onto the ball. Yes, the Saints do a great job of trying to punch the ball out every time they tackle, but still. 6 fumbles. In an NFC title game. That's just bad.
-Say what you will about Brett Favre, but you can't deny that he is one of the ultimate competitors in the NFL. Favre took hit after hit on Sunday (15 by Fox's last count). He grimaced in pain after a couple of them, and had to be supported off the field after another. But he stayed in there till the very end, and almost led his team to an improbable win.
There has to be some competitive fire burning in that man to trade in a quiet luxurious retirement for the beating he took out on the Superdome astroturf at forty years old. You almost found yourself wishing -despite yourself- that he would get that final shot at the Superbowl he so desperately craved.
-Matchup within the matchup of the week: Jabari Greer on Sidney Rice. Greer turned Rice, who had exploded against the Cowboys last week, into a non-factor: 4 catches for 43 yards (though he did get one touchdown). In fact on both of his interceptions, Favre was trying to force the ball to Rice when he was tightly covered.
Now Greer and the rest of the Saints secondary have to turn around and do the same thing to all four of the Colts receiving threats in two weeks' time.
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