Mark Sanchez
Indianapolis Colts v. New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV
Monday, January 25th, 2010 | Indianapolis Colts, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, NFL, Sports | No Comments
The Indianapolis Colts will play the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl XLIV in Miami on Sunday, February 7th. It will be a showdown between arguably the best Quarterback of All-Time – 4-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning – and Drew Brees the leader of the NFL’s top offense during the 2009-2010 NFL season. With both defenses being good and underrated, it shapes up to be one of the most exciting Super Bowls in recent years.
The Colts dismantled the New York Jets 30-17 in the AFC Championship Game yesterday in Indianapolis. Although the Jets jumped out to a 17-6 2nd quarter lead behind the arm of Mark Sanchez, you just knew that the Colts would come back to win after Manning hit Austin Collie for a touchdown pass with less than 2 minutes to go before the 1st half ended. The 2nd half wasn’t even close as the Colts strolled to an easy victory.
The Saints outlasted the Minnesota Vikings 31-28 in Overtime in the NFC Championship Game yesterday in New Orleans. As much as you’d like to say that the Saints “earned” the victory, you can’t help but wonder how the game would have turned out IF the Vikings didn’t commit 5 turnovers and IF any of the 3 questionable on field calls that were reviewed in the overtime period went against the Saints instead of for the Saints. My guess is that we’d be seeing Brett Favre battling Manning for the Super Bowl title in 2 weeks.
We’ll have more on each Conference Championship Games in the coming days. There were so much to digest and analyze there and we don’t want to burn out too soon with overblown Super Bowl coverage…
Jets, Colts to Battle in AFC Championship Game on Sunday
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010 | Indianapolis Colts, New York Jets, NFL, Sports | No Comments
The New York Jets will battle the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game at 3PM EST on Sunday, January 24th.
The Jets have pulled off 2 road upset wins in Cincinnati and San Diego to make it to the AFC Championship Game. Can they make it 3 in a row? The Jets will use a heavy dose of Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene in order to eat some clock and keep the ball out of the hands of the Colts’ MVP Quarterback Peyton Manning. If the Jets can establish a good rushing attack and then open up a safe passing attack for rookie Quarterback Mark Sanchez on friendly 1st and 2nd downs, they could keep it close. And then anything is possible.
For the Colts, playing on their home turf with Manning leading a potent aerial attack, they have to like their odds of advancing to the Super Bowl. The Jets will try to blitz the hell out of Manning to disrupt the Colts passing game, but it will be a tough road to hoe. Reggie Wayne is a legitimate NFL superstar wide receiver and young wide-outs Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon have also emerged as reliable threats. When you throw in all-Pro tight end Dallas Clark, it makes it almost impossible to defend the Colts on every play. Jets All-Pro cornerback will try to contain Wayne on a consistent basis, so it will be up to the rest of the Jets secondary to limit big plays elsewhere. It should be a fun chess match to watch.
My mind tells me that Peyton Manning and the tough Colts defense will propel the Colts into Super Bowl XVIV. But my heart would love to see the young, up-and-coming Jets make New York proud with a surprise berth in the Championship Game.
Could New York Jets Host AFC Championship Game?
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 | New York Jets, NFL, San Diego Chargers, Sports | No Comments
Call me crazy, but it looks like the New York Jets – the AFC’s 5th seed – could end up hosting the AFC Championship at the Meadowlands in New Jersey next Sunday if a few things bounce their way. First, it would take the Baltimore Ravens – the AFC’s 6th seed – defeating the Colts in Indianapolis on Saturday night. Then it would take the Jets defeating the Chargers in San Diego on Sunday. Both outcomes would be upsets, but crazier things have happened.
The Jets are flying high with 2 straight wins to end the NFL season to make the playoffs. The Jets made a statement against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 17 – shutting out the Bengals 37-0 at home – it was their 1st home shut out since the 2003 NFL season. The Jets defense swarmed all over the Bengals right from the start – QB Carson Palmer completed just 1 pass for 0 yards in the 1st half, as the Bengals possessed the ball for just a little bit over 5 minutes in the 1st half (the Jets held the ball for over 24 minutes amassing an insurmountable 27-0 lead. The Bengals managed just a net of 72 yards offense the entire game!
With the win in Week 17, the Jets set up a rematch with the Bengals in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. But this time the game would be in Cincinnati and the Bengals were confident that they would rally to take down the Jets. It looked good from the start as the Bengals moved the ball on offense and eventually scored on a touchdown pass from Carson Palmer to Laveranues Coles to give the Bengals an early 7-0 lead. The Jets then rattled off 21 straight points on rushing touchdowns from Shonn Greene and Thomas Jones and a passing touchdown from Mark Sanchez. The Jets took control of the game with a 21-7 lead heading into the 4th quarter and the rest was history.
Jets’ 1st year head coach Rex Ryan is confident of their chances: “This wasn’t our goal to make the playoffs. Our goals are much higher. We were 4-6 and we had a mission with the team. It went from impossible to improbable, back to impossible and then to inevitable.” The Jets will use their top rated defense (they led the NFL in total defense, passing defense and points allowed) to try to slow down Phillip Rivers’ high-octane Chargers offense this Sunday. Can’t wait for the 4 great games this weekend.
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