Jets continue run while Colts silently celebrate

SAN DIEGO — The biggest winner in New York’s 17-14 upset of San Diego wasn’t Rex Ryan or Mark Sanchez or the New York Jets’ lock-down defense. It was the Colts, and I’ll tell you why: Because they won’t face the Chargers.

Let’s face it, San Diego was Indy’s worst nightmare. The Chargers not only beat them four of the past five times they met; they dismissed them from the playoffs the past two seasons. It didn’t matter where the games were played — San Diego, Indianapolis, it made no difference. The Chargers would not lose.

Only they’re gone, and they’re gone for good.

Now it’s the Jets in the AFC Championship Game, and while they’re on a tear — winning seven of their last eight — they have to be the opponent of choice for Indianapolis. Sure, the Colts lost to them last month, but they also sat down their starters in the second half and, essentially, let the Jets into the playoffs.

Well, now they can kick them out.

“I hope we’re their worst nightmare,” said Jets safety Kerry Rhodes. “We’re a team that is hungry right now. We believe in ourselves, and we’re playing great on both sides of the ball. We’re playing the way we’re supposed to play.

“The offense is not turning the ball over, we’re running the ball, Mark [Sanchez] is making timely passes and we’re playing great defense. And that’s what we’re all about.”

Don’t remind the Chargers. They were on an 11-game run before the Jets wore them down with equal parts defense, Shonn Greene and critical, game-changing plays. Yet they were supposed to be Indianapolis’ opponent next weekend because this was the best Chargers’ team … well, since that 14-2 club that was the AFC’s best in 2006.

But that club bowed out after one playoff game, too, wilting much as this year’s Bolts did — by committing the wrong mistakes at exactly the right time for their opponents.

But that’s what happens when people play the Jets. They wear you down. Then they wear you out. Only good luck against Indianapolis. The Colts aren’t just the best team in football; they lost their only two games this season because they chose to sit down Peyton Manning, and it started with the second half of that 29-15 setback to the Jets.

The Colts were ahead, 15-10, when Manning was lifted in the third quarter. They were outscored 19-0 from then on, incurring the wrath of their fans and the media for passing up a chance to go 16-0 so they could rest Manning & Co. for the playoffs.

Well, now they can prove they knew what they were doing, and they can do it against the club they could have — nope, would have — beaten if coach Jim Caldwell had not called a retreat.

“We expect to win,” said coach Rex Ryan, “and they know we’re a good team and all that kind of stuff. Do we know they’re a great team? Yeah, of course. There’s no question. I don’t know if Santa Claus is going to be that good to me again. But I will say I would like to see Peyton Manning not play this week.”

Sorry, Rex, not going to happen. Nevertheless, the Colts should beware: These Jets are beginning to play like the club that their coach said they could be — namely, one that can go the distance. They snuffed out Cincinnati a week ago, then hammered San Diego, and both victories were accomplished the same way — by running the ball, asking a rookie quarterback not to do too much and relying on the league’s top-rated defense.

If that formula sounds familiar, it should. It was the same blueprint that took Baltimore to the AFC Championship Game last season. The Ravens had a rookie quarterback in Joe Flacco. They could run the ball. And they relied on a top-shelf defense coached by none other than Rex Ryan.

Then the magic disappeared, and they lost to Pittsburgh.

“I feel as good [now as I did then],” Ryan said. “We had a lot of confidence going into that game last year but we got outplayed by the Steelers. We know Indy is an unbelievable football team, and we’ll see. We’re going to play our best, and they’re going to play their best.”

But that’s the problem. When Indianapolis played its best this season nobody beat them, and that includes the Jets. They didn’t beat Peyton Manning; they beat Curtis Painter, and, yes, there’s a difference the size of the state of Indiana.

The Jets can tell themselves they were in the game even when Manning played, down by only five when he exited, but they must know what you and I do — that they’re the opponent the Colts preferred, basically because they’re not the Chargers.

Yeah, well, welcome to the Jets’ world. According to linebacker Bart Scott, even the Chargers didn’t take them seriously on Sunday, knocking them in pregame warmups as wannabes who don’t belong in the playoffs and as pretenders who were about to be exposed. Look who’s talking now.

“We were agitated,” said Scott, “because a lot of guys on the San Diego sidelines said we didn’t deserve to be there, and that gave us extra motivation — the fact that we believed they didn’t respect us as a football team. Sometimes you can look at records and pre-judge opponents, but you have to take every opponent seriously in the playoffs because you never know what can happen.”

The Chargers should know that drill by now. They lost to the Jets in the 2004 playoffs, and they caved to New England in the 2006 postseason. Both times they were home, and both times they were left trying to explain what they considered the inexplicable. “I hope this validates our place in the playoffs,” said Scott, “and will stop you guys from saying we backed in. We didn’t back in. We earned where we are.”

I’ll second that. They could’ve lost that game in Indianapolis, but they didn’t. They could’ve blown the season finale to Cincinnati, but didn’t. They could’ve lost in Cincinnati a week ago, but they didn’t. Now this.

It does all sound familiar, and, yep, it reminds me of what happened to Baltimore last year. But eventually teams that try to play around rookie quarterbacks lose, and they lose when they play opponents who are better.

Indianapolis is not only better than the Jets; it is better than every team in the NFL. It proved it all season, and it should prove it next weekend.

“It’s a matchup that probably nobody wanted, but too bad,” Ryan said. “Here we come.”

Correction, Rex: It’s a matchup somebody wanted, and that somebody is Indianapolis.

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Submited at Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 2:02 pm on Sports by Gillan
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