News&Rumors concerning NFL championships

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 05:47 PM

5:55 PM, January 21, 2010 ι The Indianapolis Star reports, "The availability of (Colts) starting cornerback Jerraud Powers is in question after the rookie suffered a foot injury during last weekend’s divisional win over Baltimore."
, "(Powers) did not practice Wednesday and it isn’t known if he’ll be able to work out this afternoon. If Powers is out, undrafted rookie Jacob Lacey will step in."
Lacey appeared in all 16 regular-season games, starting nine.
“I always prepare like I’m going to start,’’ Lacey said. “I was told a while ago you’ve got to prepare each week like you’re going to be the man because you never know what’s going to happen.”

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 05:56 PM

Sullivan: Colts under microscope Friday, January 22,2010

FLORHAM PARK – Boomer Esiason was retelling a story on his WFAN radio show Thursday morning, one he’d heard out of Indianapolis last week. In it, Peyton Manning closed a meeting door to management, turned to face his teammates and told them the price of non-perfection. There would be only one acceptable answer to a top-level decision to prioritize injury prevention over a perfect record: a Super Bowl victory.
This is the deal the Colts made when they surrendered their shot at 16-0, when they pulled their starters in the third quarter of a Week 16 game against the Jets and absorbed their first defeat of the season, when they unwittingly created the monster they now must defeat.
Manning has made no such public confession this week, instead leading a Colts parade of bland comments made even blander in contrast to the mouthy Jets. But there is no need for Manning to say out loud what everyone knows to be true. While the underdog Jets crash the playoff party without a care in the world, the Colts need the Super Bowl to validate their decision.
Their words might not say it but their actions did: Anything but a Super Bowl title would be a failure.
"I would assume that’s how they see it," Jets center Nick Mangold said Thursday. "You figure you’ve put yourself in position to rest up and have a good run to the playoffs and you figure that run ends with the Super Bowl, so you better get there. That’s what you set yourself up for."

That the Colts laid down against the very team they have to defeat to reach the title game only makes their stated goal more dramatic. But no matter how much they might believe what they’ve told us all week — that meeting the Jets again in the playoffs was never a fear or worry because they never looked beyond their next game anyway — there is a certain poetic justice in needing to beat the Jets to be within reach of completing their mission.

"Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but our objective was to put us in position to win the first game of the playoffs," Colts coach Jim Caldwell said in a conference call with reporters, his calm and even voice unaffected by the repetitive questioning of the controversial Week 16 decision. "No, I don’t agree with it [that we have to win the Super Bowl or the season’s a failure]. I can tell you this: There’s only one happy team at the end of the year."
Manning couldn’t help but betray a little more exasperation than his coach, but it wasn’t enough to put the veteran, four-time MVP QB off message.
"It’s really old news in my opinion," Manning said. "It’s something we addressed at the time. We’ve truly moved on from it. One thing our team has done a good job of all season is putting the past behind us."
But should he head off into a future without a Super Bowl win this season, the scrutiny will remain. If it happens against the Jets, a team the Colts had the chance to kill off weeks ago, the pain of disappointment, along with that scrutiny, is only going to intensify.
Sure there are benefits to what the Colts did. They’ve already won one playoff game, so any rust from a long layoff and a two-game losing streak to end the regular season appears to have worn off. And according to Jets coach Rex Ryan, Indy’s defense is playing faster than it has all year, a testament, he believes, to fresh legs.

But there is a downside, too. Players live to compete and management took that away.
"As a competitor you probably would want to go for the perfect season," Jets safety Jim Leonhard said. "But this is a business and there’s a lot to it. It’s all about the Super Bowl. You can’t lose sight of that. A lot of work goes in strictly for that Super Bowl. A perfect record is great and all, but if don’t get that, what did you do it for? If you can get both, obviously, that’s ideal.
"But looking at some of the injuries that came up this year, I’m surprised it’s still as big a topic as it is. You see a [Patriots receiver] Wes Welker go down, you see [Arizona receiver Anquan] Boldin go down, you can’t get those guys back. Those are huge injuries that affect the postseason. You can’t get those guys back."
Leonhard has a point, but nothing can change the fact that football is a violent game. Injuries that happen in Week 16 or 17 can just as easily occur in Week 1 or the first round of the playoffs. Trading security for inactivity has its price. The Colts robbed themselves of the chance to build a train of momentum like the one the Jets are currently on.
If success breeds success, the Jets are a very dangerous underdog, one the Colts helped create.

Busterflywheel · 01-22-10, 06:04 PM

Jets go home

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 06:05 PM

Jets’ long-snapper stands tall Friday, January 22, 2010

FLORHAM PARK — James Dearth is used to the world being upside down. That’s the view of a long snapper when he’s on the field.

But unfortunately, the longtime Jet has had to deal with looking at real life from the same vantage point this season. His father, James Sr., has been battling kidney cancer since November 2008. So it was that much more devastating when his mother, Jan, died suddenly from cardiac arrest Nov. 14, 2009.
Yet somehow, Dearth found the strength to play against Jacksonville the next day, and made every snap flawlessly. Then he flew back to his native Texas to attend her funeral.
Thus, the Jets’ improbable run to the AFC Championship Game at Indianapolis on Sunday has provided a needed diversion for Dearth.
"It keeps you in good spirits," Dearth said of the time he spends practicing and playing. "When I’m out there, I try to block everything out, in the classroom and on the field."
But the emotional pain still seeps in occasionally.
"Sometimes, it’s a little too tough," he said.
His teammates sense his pain, and marvel at his inner strength.
"James Dearth is a good man," said backup quarterback and holder Kellen Clemens. "What he had to deal with in the middle of the season is unimaginable. He’s a man of great faith, and I know he’s leaned on that and leaned on a lot of the support his teammates have given him.
"Your heart goes out for anybody, anytime that happens. But when somebody is as good of a person and as good of a friend as James Dearth is, everybody feels it."
It’s a measure of Dearth’s character that despite what he has faced this season, he received the team’s Kyle Clifton Good Guy Award, given to the player who treats the other employees in the building the best.
Not only is Dearth’s father taking medication to fight cancer, he has five cracked vertebrae and is a Type 2 diabetic. The Vietnam veteran had open-heart surgery several years ago, and his family believes his medical woes are due to exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange in Vietnam.
James Sr., called Jim by his family, "is doing OK right now," the younger Dearth said.
Of course, that’s relatively speaking, considering everything he is going through physically and mentally and no longer having the emotional support of his wife, whom he had been with for 37 years.
"He feels good sometimes, and sometimes he doesn’t," Dearth added, "especially when he gets toward the end of the medication, his throat starts hurting. His face swells up. He has a hard time eating and things like that. That’s just [the side effect] of the chemo pill that he’s taking."
Jim Dearth will have an MRI in a week or two, his son said, to see if the cancer is spreading. If it is, his son will try to get him into an experimental cancer study at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
"If it hasn’t spread, then he doesn’t qualify," Dearth said. "Because they’re saying this medication is good enough, [so] why change?"
James also has spent a lot of time dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and it paid off recently.
"They finally gave him his disability," Dearth said. "That was huge. He’s going to be able to live a little bit better."
Another challenge is trying to help lift his father’s spirits.

"You’ve got to keep living life," Dearth said. "To me, my dad’s next step is [taking life] one day at a time. ... Having a smile on your face, because every decision you make in life is going to affect the people around you. When you make the decision to just curl up in your room and be depressed, that hurts everybody else around you."
That’s something James Dearth refuses to do. He missed only two days of work after his mother died.

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 06:13 PM

The Star-ledger January 22, 2010, 7:07AM

All on the line: The NY Jets offensive line has molded into one of the most instinctive, cohesive units in the league

The Jets’ offensive linemen have found the words all season to explain the kind of harmony that exists among them. They have pinned nicknames on each other. They have shared steak dinners and the same post-practice snack, Smucker’s peanut butter and jelly “Uncrustables.”

But sometimes, the instinctive moments that show up on the game film best illustrate the unison of a unit that has protected a rookie quarterback, paved the way for a powerful running game and helped move the Jets within one victory of a Super Bowl berth.

One play in particular from the Jets’ wild-card victory at Cincinnati came to mind this week for left guard Alan Faneca. The call was for a combination run block between Faneca and left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson. But as the play developed, center Nick Mangold read what was happening and made an on-the-fly adjustment. He came over and exchanged with Faneca, who was then able to pick up a blitzing linebacker on the back side.

That linebacker could have stopped the Jets’ ball carrier after only 2 or 3 yards, Faneca said. Instead, the Jets picked up a first down.

“We’ve grown in the last two years, we’ve been together and been able to do things beyond the X’s and O’s,” Faneca said. “That (play) wouldn’t have happened if the three of us weren’t all on the same page and saw things and executed it.”
Something else that wouldn’t have happened? The 172.2 rushing yards per game the Jets averaged this season, making them the most dominant ground team in the NFL. That success hasn’t fallen off in the playoffs, as they ran the ball 80 times for 340 yards in their first two postseason victories.

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 06:22 PM

Jets favored over Colts? Ask Ryan

By Ron Green Jr.Charlotte Observer

Posted: Friday, Jan. 22, 2010

Rex Ryan is my new favorite coach in the NFL.
Ryan is that rare cat who actually says something when he speaks. He's as subtle as a garlic milkshake.
He's been popping off about how good his New York Jets are and how he'll be "shocked" if they don't reach the Super Bowl. That, naturally, has rubbed some people the wrong way but what's he supposed to say? They'll be lucky to win?
Tell it, Rex.
Some coaches have mastered the art of talking without saying anything. It doesn't mean they don't have anything to say, just that they choose not to say it. Remind you of anyone?
There's nothing I like to hear more than a coach talking about his team's execution or how he'll have to look at the tape before he knows for certain what happened. My ears go numb.
I liked it that Vikings coach Brad Childress wasted no time digging at all the skeptics after his team thumped Dallas out of the playoffs last weekend. Good for him for saying what he felt, even if he used sarcasm to make his point. I like him more already.
(Note to Cowboys fans: Enough with the griping about Brett Favre and the Vikings throwing a late touchdown pass last weekend. No one cares but you.)
Back to Rex Ryan. In case you've forgotten, or never knew, he was introduced as the Jets' coach on the same day Barack Obama was inaugurated.
At the risk of talking politics, it's fair to say Ryan has had a better first year.
Remember what he said at his introductory news conference?
He said, "The message to the rest of the league is, hey, the Jets are coming, and we're going to give you everything we got. And I think that's going to be more than you can handle."
People laughed. They're not laughing any more.
As for the conference championship games, let's hope they're better than most of the other playoff games have been.
NEW YORK JETS at INDIANAPOLIS: The Colts made it clear last month that only one thing matters to them - winning the Super Bowl.
Anything short of that means the season is a bust.
In a season where teams have gone up and down, the Colts might have been the steadiest of them all. They also have the single most important player in the playoffs - Peyton Manning.
Let's go back one more time to something Rex Ryan told reporters recently:
"... To me, we should be the favorites."
I like his style Ron GreenJR.

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 06:31 PM

Super Bowl deserves Manning vs. Brees or Favre

January 22 Houston Chronicle columnist John McClain

I've got to be honest with you. I want Indianapolis to win the AFC Championship Game and New Orleans to win the NFC Championship Game.
Nothing against the Jets or Vikings, but I just think Peyton Manning competing for his second Super Bowl ring against his hometown team, the one his father represented with such talent and dignity, would make the most compelling story line at Super Bowl XLIV.
I also think if the Vikings upset the Saints, having Manning and Brett Favre — two of the greatest quarterbacks in history — going for their second rings would be almost as compelling.
As an NFL fan — shoot, as a sports fan — who wouldn't like to see Manning and Favre duke it out. I can't think of many Super Bowls I've watched or covered that had better quarterbacks than those two.
Before we discuss the Saints and Vikings, let me say this: What Jets coach Rex Ryan and rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez have accomplished is incredible. Imagine the New York hype if the Jets go on the road and defeat Carson Palmer, Philip Rivers and Peyton Manning.
Sanchez would be the first rookie to start a Super Bowl.
Be patient, Rex

Ryan and the Jets could have several more chances. That's why I want Manning and the Colts vs. the Saints or Vikings.
Minnesota has the best all-round team. The Vikings have a pass rush, a run defense and a running game that New Orleans can't match.
But the Saints are playing in the Superdome, and they're one victory from their first Super Bowl. They're carrying a city on their shoulder pads, a city that's been on its knees, according to Archie Manning, Peyton's father and the greatest player in team history until Drew Brees came along.
There's something special about these Saints. They're rather saintly, actually. Or perhaps it's just voodoo. There are a lot of priestesses casting spells for Who Dat Nation.
I covered the Saints' 45-14 victory over Arizona. I sat next to Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News. The Superdome was so loud we couldn't hear each other when we screamed. My ears still hurt. I'm going to follow the Vikings' lead and wear earplugs for the first time at a game.
Favre and Brees should put on a fantastic show. Even though Reggie Bush has scored a touchdown in each of his three playoff games, he and Pierre Thomas and Mike Bell pale compared to Adrian Peterson.
We all know Peterson could be the difference in this game. Even though Favre stole the show this season, Peterson ran for 1,383 yards and scored 18 touchdowns.
He joined Earl Campbell and Barry Sanders as the only backs in history to rush for at least 1,300 yards and 10 touchdowns in each of their first three seasons.
Strategy works well

Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams had a superb game plan for Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner.
Williams called for blitzes 45 percent of the time. He had players through the A and B gaps to keep Warner from stepping up into the pocket. And they doubled Larry Fitzgerald 90 percent of the time with a safety over the top.
Now what in the world will Williams do to contain Peterson's running and Favre throwing to a talented group of receivers? The Vikings are the first team in history to have six players with at least 40 catches. The best has been Sidney Rice, who had three touchdown receptions in the 34-3 victory over the Cowboys.
The Saints led the NFL in scoring, and the Vikings finished second. Minnesota's balance and experience — not to mention its talent with a league-high nine players in the Pro Bowl — give the Vikings a legitimate chance to win.
This is the first time since 2000 that the two top-seeded teams in the NFC have made it this far. I'll be at the Superdome, and I have to admit that in all my years of covering the NFL for the Chronicle, I've never been more excited about a playoff game that didn't involve the Oilers.

BigdaddyQH · 01-22-10, 06:33 PM

What about the health of Harvin? Any news on that?

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 06:38 PM

Not winning everyone over

Several close calls and two late losses have led some to doubt the Colts despite 15 wins and a peerless QB

By JOHN MCCLAIN Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

January 22 Houston Chronicle

As dominant as they have been since Peyton Manning became their starting quarterback, the Indianapolis Colts have never been 15-2. There’s no telling what their record might be if the starters had not been pulled in the 15th game against the New York Jets and the last regular-season game at Buffalo — 29-15 and 30-7 defeats.
Based on their record and the circumstances surrounding their losses, the Colts should be recognized as one of the greatest teams in history, a team destined to win its second Super Bowl in four years.
But if you have been reading, watching and listening to the so-called NFL experts the past two weeks, you would know that many picked them to lose at home to Baltimore in the divisional round, and some are predicting a home loss to the Jets in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game.
It’s hard to imagine a Manning-led 15-2 team not getting the respect it deserves, but that seems to be the case with the Colts.
“I think it’s because they didn’t just kill a lot of teams this season,” Texans offensive tackle
Eric Winston said. “They’ve had to come back a lot.
“They’ve had some blowouts, but they’ve had some games where they had to scratch and claw to find a way to win, and they’ve gotten good at it.”
The Colts won 14 regular-season games for the second time in five years, and they won at least 12 games for a record seventh consecutive season.
But rather than dominate teams as they did regularly in previous years, they pulled out seven victories in the fourth quarter.
The Colts won games by two, four, four, three, one, two and four points. One of the close calls was against the Texans (20-17). Indianapolis won the other meeting 35-27.
“I think the way they won makes them a better team, a tougher team at this time of year, and they’re going to be hard for the Jets to beat,” Texans Pro Bowl middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans said. “In my mind, they’re the team to beat.
“Playing in close games — closer than usual — means they had to find a way to make big plays at key times. Their confidence improved week to week. When they faced those type of situations, they knew they could come out on top because they’d done it so much over the season.”

One-dimensional offense

Everything about the Colts starts and ends with Manning. Because the running game averaged only 80.9 yards per game, he was under more pressure than usual to produce through the air.
Playing without receiver Marvin Harrison for the first time and playing with rookie Austin Collie and the unheralded Pierre Garçon, Manning threw 33 touchdown passes and 16 interceptions, his highest total since he had 19 in 2007.

Easy choice as NFL’s best

Working with inexperienced receivers and a line that had problems keeping pass rushers away from him at times might have had something to do with the interceptions.
But Manning was a runaway winner of the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award.
“He’s the best quarterback in football, and they’re going to be a hard team for the Jets to beat because they know how to play in those critical situations that come up in every game,” Winston said. “They’ve gotten good at winning those close games while they used to be so dominant.
“And their defense is harder to game-plan for because they do so many different things now.”
Opponents keep talking about coordinator Larry Coyer’s defense even though it survived a lot of injuries.
“I think the defense is a lot different,” Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney said. “We’re more of an attacking style of defense. We attack pretty much every time we play no matter what it is — run or pass.”
The defense seems a lot like the team this season — not respected enough for a team that’s accomplished so much.
“It depends on who’s rating you,” middle linebacker Gary Brackett said. “Obviously, because of our offense, a lot of our defensive players are under the radar. Across the board, our guys have been competitive, and we’ve been getting the job done.”
And two more victories will give them a second Super Bowl victory in four years.
“I think everybody realizes the opportunity and what’s at stake,” Manning said. “They’ve (teammates) shown to be pretty calm, cool and collected in some high-pressure situations thus far.”

INDY KEEPS MOTORING ALONG

In 2003, the Colts began a stretch of winning at least 12 games in seven consecutive seasons:

2003
12-4
Lost AFC Championship Game 24-14 at New England.
2004
12-4
Lost in divisional round 20-3 at New England.
2005
14-2
Lost in divisional round 21-18  to Pittsburgh.
2006
12-4
Won Super Bowl by beating Chicago 29-17.
2007
13-3
Lost in divisional round 28-24 to San Diego.
2008
12-4
Lost wild-card game 23-17  at San Diego.
2009
14-2?

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 06:56 PM

Jets players feed off Rex Ryan's boisterous style

January 22 Indianapolis Star:By Phillip B. Wilson

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Buddy Ryan, the retired architect of Chicago's famed "46" defense in 1985, gets a vicarious NFL kick out of his twin sons, Rex and Rob.

That means the elder Ryan has been paying attention lately to the Jets, who with Rex as their first-year coach have reached the AFC Championship Game on Sunday in Indianapolis."He's having fun," Buddy said of Rex in a phone interview from his Kentucky ranch. "I watched his team play and, I'll tell ya, his team is the only one that's having fun."
The Jets are a loud extension of their coach. Linebacker Bart Scott considers trash talk an art. And Rex Ryan is most definitely Buddy's son.
While Rex hasn't hit anybody on a sideline like Buddy did when he punched Houston Oilers offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride in the jaw in 1994, the Jets coach combines a tough-minded intensity and old-school football with a breath-of- fresh-air personality full of entertaining observations in a league known for boring coachspeak.
Some would suggest Rex goes overboard and sticks his foot in his mouth. But just like his brother Rob, Cleveland's defensive coordinator, it's about being consistent and never shy about expressing what needs to be said or done.
Rex pronounced the Jets dead to the playoffs after a 10-7 home loss to Atlanta, then learned the next morning on the way to work his 7-7 team actually had a pulse.
"I was getting ripped coming in and I heard it on the radio," Rex said. "I was like, 'Man, is that right?' "
It was. Then the Jets started winning. And Rex, who got this job after building his reputation as a mastermind defensive coordinator with Baltimore from 1999-2008, did what he has always done with defenses: He started scheming.
His playoff itinerary didn't just include a Super Bowl XLIV win, it mapped out a parade route.
Think the Colts, known for playing it as close to the vest as anyone, would look that far ahead, let alone talk about it? Or how about Rex's bravado when he said the Jets should be considered Super Bowl favorites. That was before their divisional-round upset of second-seeded San Diego.
He had to know this next test could be on the road against the AFC's No. 1 seed, a team led by a four-time MVP quarterback that won S.B. XLIand is primed to return to Miami.
But Jets players eat up whatever Ryan is serving.
"He's fun," said Jets defensive end Marques Douglous , one of three former Ravens who followed Ryan to New Jersey.
"At the same time, he's humble. A lot of guys would say he's arrogant. A lot of guys might say maybe he's backing this team into a corner, but Rex is a humble guy. From Wednesday meetings throughout the week, he challenges us to get better.

"Rex knows the Colts well, too. He thought his 2006 Ravens defense was one of the all-time greats.
"Yet we got beat by the Colts and Peyton Manning," he said of the 15-6 divisional loss at home. "He knows how much respect I have for him and all that. But, oh, it was frustrating. I still have a tough time getting over it."Back for another challenge, Rex promises the Jets will be the loosest team left in the playoffs.
"We're going to be ourselves," he said. "So are the Colts. Jim Caldwell is an outstanding coach. I have a ton of respect for him. It's just we do things differently.
"If he would be out, more open or something like that, that might be a distraction to his team. If we had to close ranks and all that kind of stuff, we'd probably be distracted that way. It's not who we are."
Rex said Monday that he would be "shocked" if the Jets lost. Asked Thursday if the Jets had a puncher's chance as one-touchdown underdogs, he responded, "Yeah, we get a puncher's chance like (former heavyweight champion) George Foreman would have a puncher's chance. We don't punch just like anybody. We punch like George Foreman."
Buddy Ryan knows what Rex is doing: pumping confidence into his players while deflecting attention and pressure from them. That's how the Ryans roll.
"He does a great job of that," Buddy said.
Did he teach him that?
"No," Buddy said, amused. "His mother did probably."

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 07:04 PM

Revis gives Jets singular talent in their corner

January 22 The Boston Globe

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis can’t remember exactly how all of this “Revis Island’’ talk started.

The most he recalls is that he dropped the line in the midst of an interview earlier this season, and people ran with the catchy phrase, which he used to describe the one-on-one battle he picks with receivers on a weekly basis.
What was a lighthearted comment has become a brand for Revis, backed up by his ability to shut down some of the NFL’s leading receivers as part of a defensive unit that ranked as the best overall this season.

“A lot of cornerbacks, we’re out there on an island,’’ he said. “You’re out there by yourself in man coverage. It’s like I always say, it’s two against one. It’s like a pickup game. It’s you vs. the quarterback and the receiver.’’

Most of the time, Revis has won that matchup, but he will be challenged again Sunday by Colts receiver Reggie Wayne in the AFC Championship game. Wayne led the Colts this season in receiving yards (1,264) and was tied with tight end Dallas Clark for touchdowns (10).

Against the Jets in Week 16, those numbers dropped as Wayne managed three catches for 33 yards in a 29-15 loss. Wayne and other key Colts did not play the entire game, but Revis considers his performance disappointing.

“I just feel I didn’t accomplish what I wanted to do, and I was also mad because I wanted them to stay in the game,’’ Revis said.

“For you to beat the best, you have to play against them. You’ve got to prove yourself against those guys.’’

With a playoff berth secure at the time, Colts coach Jim Caldwell pulled many of his starters, including quarterback Peyton Manning, with 5:36 left in the third quarter and a 5-point lead. The move led to a comeback victory for the Jets and a rebirth in their playoff hunt, which led to a wild-card spot.

This weekend, the Jets are looking forward to seeing how they stack up against the Colts’ starters for an entire game. For Revis, who had an interception in each of the Jets’ two playoff wins, it is another chance to display the skills that earned him his second Pro Bowl selection in just three seasons.

Revis is a critical part of a defense that ranked first in points allowed (14.8 per game), pass defense, and total defense. He hauled in six interceptions (one returned for a touchdown) and led the NFL with 34 passes defended. He added 59 tackles, according to the Jets’ breakdown.

But even that résumé wasn’t enough for him to be named the Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year, as Green Bay cornerback Charles Woodson won the award. Although Revis didn’t receive such national accolades, he was awarded the Curtis Martin Team MVP by his teammates.

Jets coach Rex Ryan said he has had great cornerbacks, such as Samari Rolle and Chris McAlister, but never one this good.

“With Revis, you’re able to take out their best receiver, and then roll your coverage to a lesser receiver,’’ Ryan said. “So you’re almost daring your opponent to go ahead and throw it to your best receiver. That’s where you want the ball to go most of the time. You want to target him. We want that matchup. We want you to throw it over there because we think we have just as good a chance of catching it as you do.’’

Plenty of receivers have been silenced by Revis. Houston’s Andre Johnson was held to four catches for 35 yards in the season opener. He went on to average 6.5 catches for 102 yards against the rest of his opponents.

Patriots receiver Randy Moss was held to four catches for 24 yards in the first meeting with the Jets and five catches for 34 yards and a touchdown in the second. Moss averaged 5 catches for 86 yards against the rest of his opponents.

No one had more than five catches or 49 yards receiving against Revis. So it’s no wonder that references to receivers getting lost on “Revis Island’’ became popular.

“All this ‘Revis Island’ stuff is fun,’’ said Revis. “You enjoy it, but the bigger goal is just being consistent and playing and going out there and trying to cover these guys the best way I can.’’

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 07:16 PM

Rex Ryan's pizza stain leads New York Jets' superstitions

January 22 New York Daily News

Mark Sanchez's beard has attracted all the attention thus far, but Rex Ryan's stain may be just as important to the Jet's postseason run.
When the Jets started their current four-game winning streak back on Dec. 27, coaches and several players developed several routines and habits - some of them lacking in hygiene - that have not changed since.
Ryan apparently may be the most superstitious of all, as he pointed to a round stain on his blue New York Titans hooded jacket during a press conference this week when asked about his superstitions. Defensive coordinator and longtime friend Mike Pettine said he thinks it's "pizza grease" that has been there for a long time and that Ryan has left it there with a purpose.
"He refuses to have it washed out until we get beat," Pettine said. "As a lot of coaches are (superstitious). It's funny, you would be shocked at how reasonably intelligent men can get superstitious about things like underwear and routine and what they eat and the route that they drive to work and all that stuff. It's a crazy business."
Some Jets aren't leaving anything to chance. Punter Steve Weatherford hasn't shaved his mustache since the day after Christmas. Once the Jets upset the Colts on Dec. 27, Weatherford decided to let his mustache grow, although it is barely visible from far away.
"My playoff mustache," the punter proudly said. "The beard would grow in better but it's not cool. People grow beards. People don't grow mustaches. (But) it is growing all trashy like. Look at me, tattooed with a grimy mustache. I'm going to see (my wife) Friday night. She is probably going to puke all over me."
Tight end Dustin Keller couldn't believe Weatherford still hadn't shaved.
"Is he still rocking it?" Keller said with disgust. "Horrible. It's horrible. Everybody is not cutting their hair, looking raggedy as heck. People are growing beards. I think (Tony Richardson) is still wearing the same drawers, a pair from his rookie year in Dallas."
Richardson insisted Keller was joking. What is no laughing matter, however, are some customs that have developed.
The Jets have had the same practice schedule for weeks - practice indoors on Wednesdays and Fridays and outdoors on Thursdays.
"We were doing a walkthrough in San Diego the day before the game and I didn't realize it but I walked to one end to start the walkthrough and Rex and Pettine looked at me like, 'What are you doing?'" offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said, laughing. "So I had to run all the way down to the other end because I was going the wrong way."
Ryan has always taken his superstitions to another level.
"You want the whole list or just the top 10?" Pettine asked of Ryan's habits. "I think it has to do with clothes. The one thing he used to do is he used to wear Converse sneakers to training camp all the time and then all of the sudden it came out that coaches had to wear Reebok. So he would bring them out to practice and sit them next to the practice field. I rank them up there as some of the stranger things."
Ryan has also worn the same outfit during games for a long time - a black Jets vest on top of a white long-sleeve shirt. Whether it was in the blistering sun in Tampa or in the bitter cold in Cinncinati, Ryan has dressed the same for games for a while.
"There's a ton of them," Ryan said of his superstitions and possibly stained clothes. "I have a whole bunch of them. We're not superstitious, but we're not dumb, either. We're not taking any chances. I haven't had a haircut for several weeks and I've got three more to go."

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 07:25 PM

New York Jets' defensive end Shaun Ellis back, practices with cast

January 22 New York Daily News

Shaun Ellis returned to practice Thursday, limited by his broken left hand. The defensive end is working with trainers to find a flexible cast for him to wear in Sunday's AFC Championship Game in Indianapolis. There was no doubt in the locker room, however, that Ellis would find a way to be effective against the Colts.
"He's a warrior." Def. end Marques Douglas said. "What more do you want? Here's a guy who is probably one of the most underrated players in this league and for him to come out of that locker room (Sunday) with a broken hand and say, 'No I want to still play go in there,' shows his heart."
Ellis, who had a tackle and an assist while playing with a wrap on his hand after breaking it on the first play of the Jets' 17-14 win in San Diego, did not talk to reporters Thursday. Monday in a conference call, however, the 10th-year end said he postponed surgery until after Sunday's game so he could play. If the Jets win, the two-week break before the Super Bowl will give Ellis enough time for his skin to heal after the procedure - were he to play too soon after having screws inserted in his hand, the skin would break open.
"No question, he'll be ready," defensive line coah Jeff Weeks said. "The last couple of days, he's been working with our trainer on getting a cast that's comfortable to him."
Ellis, who finished the regular season with 56 tackles and 6-1/2 sacks, had a mitten-like cast on his hand Wednesday. Seen walking out of lunch at the Floram park facility Thursday, Ellis had his hand completely wrapped in a bandage.
Last week, the Jets used Mike DeVito more in first- and second-down situations. While Ellis will be in the lineup Sunday, it's likely DeVito will see more action.
"We'll have to see how it goes with Shaun," defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said. "We always rotate anyway. It's hard with Shaun losing the ability to grip. We might have to limit the reps."

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 07:34 PM

Bill Cowher: New York Jets taking right road to Super Bowl

January 22 New York Daily News

Only three there teams have done what the Jets are trying to do: get to the Super Bowl by winning three straight playoff games on the road. Bill Cowher coached one of them.
And he sees a lot of the qualities that his 2005 Steelers had in these 2009 Jets.
"This Jets team is like old-school football," Cowher told the Daily News yesterday. "Run the ball, play good defense, and make it ugly if you have to, but find a way to win in the end. And they have a swagger. Having a swagger based on talk is one thing, but they have a swagger based on performance. They've been able back up a lot of things they've talked about wanting to do."
That's why Cowher, now a studio analyst for CBS' "The NFL Today," gives the Jets "a real chance" to beat the Colts in the AFC Championship Game in Indianapolis on Sunday - a win that would put them with the 1985 Patriots, the '05 Steelers and the '07 Giants as the only teams to ride three straight road wins to a Super Bowl. The Jets may be more than a touchdown underdog, but Cowher believes their defense matches up well against a Colts attack that he said has become "more of a dink and dunk offense" this season.
He also thinks it's a big advantage to the Jets that they played in Indianapolis and beat the Colts, 29-14, just four weeks ago - even though Colts coach Jim Caldwell had most of his starters out of the game in the second half.
"Having just played there, understanding that (Colts) offense and going against that offense the first time, it's hard to simulate that in practice," Cowher said.
And Cowher knows the Jets don't feel like underdogs anymore.
"Certainly history has shown that (winning three straight road playoff games) is not an easy path to travel. But with each win, there's a degree of confidence you start to gather. And when you weather those first two storms, the last one you feel like it's almost in a comfort zone."
GIANT SURPRISE: Jerome Bettis may think that Cowher is waiting for the Giants job to open, but the truth is he has no idea what's in the plans for his ex-Steelers coach. Cowher, who Bettis said last week is "holding out" until he can become the head coach of the Giants, told the Daily News yesterday that he hasn't discussed any of his plans with his former running back.
"I haven't talked to Jerome Bettis in two years," Cowher said. "I'll leave it at that. I think that answers your question."
Beyond that, he declined to address Bettis' comment that Cowher has "got his eyes" on Tom Coughlin's job.

manning2010 · 01-22-10, 07:49 PM

This just in. Jets have a sorry candy a@@ qb and have no chance against the great Peyton Manning. If they think they can hang around with no offense in the first half like that did last week against this Chokers I have some magix diet pills i like to sell their blimp sized coach.

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 07:49 PM

Indianapolis Colts want 'last word' against New York Jets

January 22 New York Daily News

Indianapolis - There was some interesting discussion Thursday regarding the cat and mouse game Manning will play with the Jets' defense on Sunday in the AFC Ch. Game.
"I wouldn't like lining up against us,"Cen. Jeff Saturday said. "As you prepare for us each week, you may think you have the perfect defense called up. Peyton might see something that keys him off to changing the play and doing something different. I think both teams are going to do what they do. They're going to be aggressive, we're going to be aggressive. Ultimately, it's going to break down to who's the most effective."
"It depends on what you do. If you change three times, he may change it a couple. We just kind of adjust," Colts coach J.C. said. "It's like (offensive coordinator) Tom Moore used to say, 'We don't care what you line up in, as long as we have the last word.'"
POWERS OUTAGE? The Colts have concerns that starting cornerback Jerraud Powers might miss the game because of a foot injury sustained during last week's win over the Ravens. He did not practice for the second straight day.
"I'm not certain what he'll be able to do for us this week," Caldwell said. "We'll just have to see as things go along."
Jacob Lacey would start for Powers, one of four Colts defenders who sat out the Dec. 27 game against the Jets.

AlphaOmega · 01-22-10, 07:52 PM

Beaking news: Jets rookie qb Sanchaez has crabs in his beard

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 07:59 PM

Rooting for the dream matchup
January 22 St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell

With a Super Bowl trip on the line, the NFL's conference championship weekend provides an annual desperation that routinely makes this the NFL's most compelling weekend. But there's a little something extra on tap this weekend, and we all know it.

It's the potential for a rare Super Bowl dream matchup that could make the regular mega-hype of Super Bowl Week turn into something even larger than life.

If an incurable NBA lover's ultimate Finals showdown would be Kobe vs. LeBron, then the NFL's equivalent fantastic dream is the very real possibility of two of the greatest quarterbacks of all time facing off in Super Bowl XLIV.

Brett Favre vs. Peyton Manning.

"The Favre story is the obvious one for us in the NFC championship game," said Howie Long, the NFL Hall of Famer and current network analyst who will be part of the Fox Sports NFC championship pregame show. "But in New Orleans, there's such an emotional tie between that team and the city, so you'd certainly like to see the Saints in the Super Bowl. But I think the network (CBS) covering the Super Bowl would like to see Brett Favre vs. Peyton Manning."

It's not only the folks at CBS who are anxious to see that dynamic duo arrive in South Beach (Miami) in two weeks. Basically with the exception of New York and New Orleans, it's a good bet that most pro football lovers are fascinated at the very least with the possibility of seeing the winningest quarterback in NFL history (Favre) against the guy who many believe could very well be the smartest passer to ever play the game (Manning).

It's hard to imagine two guys who go about their jobs in such dramatically different fashions. On one hand there is the ageless Favre, a graying 40-year-old who runs about the locker room, practice field and game huddle behaving like a bubbling, goofy 15-year-old. Favre's approach to the game is all guts and gumption. He's the emotional gunslinger who cracks tasteless jokes all game long. And he's come out of retirement (how many times?) to live up to the hype by getting his Minnesota Vikings one step away from Super Bowl glory.

On the other hand, there is the cool and efficient Manning. He is the emotionless machine. He is the coach on the field, all-business on the field, but a hilarious pitchman off the field, a celebrity who is the closest thing to a one-man offensive show that we've seen since John Elway. Of all the records that Favre currently holds (and they are too many to mention), Manning will probably break most by the time he finishes playing. And his Indianapolis Colts do hold the home-field advantage in Sunday's AFC championship game over the New York Jets.

So why wouldn't the NFL want those two future Hall of Famers on this Super Bowl XLIV marquee?

Ahh, but our hopes and dreams don't really mean much on championship weekend. The New Orleans Saints have the noisy and potent home-field advantage in the NFC title game vs. the Vikes, and Rex Ryan's loosey-goosey New York Jets are behaving like they have absolutely nothing to lose against the heavily favored Colts.

While I suspect that the Vikings and Saints will provide the more high-scoring contest and the most eye-popping offensive highlights, I will be lured toward the Jets and Colts because of the tempting duel of Ryan's rugged and aggressive defense against Manning and his big-play Colts offense.

Brian Baldinger, the NFL Network analyst who breaks down so much game film each week that the only letters he sees in his sleep are X's and O's, was so intrigued by this AFC championship game that he was at NFL Films headquarters in suburban Philadelphia at 4:15 on Monday morning to review the Jets-Colts Week 16 game.

"I was just dying to go back and watch that game (a Jets victory), and I watched Peyton against that Jets defense and it wasn't easy," Balldinger said. "The Colts were leading 15-10 when he left in the third quarter, but it was all as a result of some tremendous throws. And the Colts were very aware of the pressure Rex's defense can put on you, so you saw the Colts run a ton of double tight end formations on every play."

The Jets think they can rattle Manning, even if they didn't last month. They want to believe that beating an Indy team that pulled its starters in the third quarter and rested five regular starters for the entire game, can be a great barometer for what will happen Sunday.

"When you have a defense like the Jets, you always have a chance, always," said Baldinger.

But the Jets still have to find a way to score. And if Manning does what he normally does — which is score TDs in devastatingly quick bunches — the Jets offense will have to go away from their ugly, slug-in-the-mouth style and put the game in the hands of their rookie quarterback, Mark Sanchez.

And it's hard to imagine that he'll be able to respond against a Colts defense that is 100 percent healthy again and even better than the ultra-quick strike force from the world championship team of a few years ago.

My picks:

— NFC — Vikings over Saints, 37-33.

— AFC — Colts over Jets, 35-12.

Shafted69 · 01-22-10, 08:01 PM

Colts are the underdogs!!!!!!!!!!!

-

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 08:14 PM

January 22 Indianapolis Star

So the private is assigned to the motor pool with his buddy out on sick call. It's one-day duty, in at 8 a.m., out at 5 p.m., or 0800-1700 hours, if you will.

The phone rings at 4:55."Private, what vehicles are available?" came the inquiry.
"We've got compact cars for privates, some mid-size for the rest of the staff and a couple luxury cars for the old, dumb generals," replied the private.
Silence.
Then the unmistakable ring of offended authority: "Private, do you know with whom you are speaking?"
"No, sir," said the private.
"This is General Chappy James."
More silence.
Then the unmistakable glee of a man unburdened. "General, do you know with whom you are speaking?"
"No, I don't," responded the general.
"Well that's good," the private triumphantly replied. "It's 5 o'clock. Goodbye, dummy."
Indianapolis Colts coach Jim Caldwell uses that story in his public speaking.
It conveys a message.

Can you imagine how much of a dweeb his players view him as

Sorry boys had to throw my 2 cents in now back to the story.

"The point is, he could hang up and leave the motor pool," Caldwell said. "But in this position, you've got to answer that call and everyone knows who you are."
That point was brought home in the aftermath of the Colts' 29-15 loss to the New York Jets on Dec. 27. The Colts had a 14-0 record and were leading 15-10 when Caldwell decided quarterback Peyton Manning and several starters had played enough, that they wouldn't be exposed to further exertion or the possibility of injury.
The Jets rallied. The Colts lost. The fans howled. Some of the players clearly didn't like it, either.
The decision was made, Caldwell said, on the basis of the players' best interest and the team's long-term Superbowl championship goals.
He compared the resulting scrutiny and vilification to what happened when New England coach Bill Bellichick went for it on fourth-and-2 and failed in a 35-34 November loss to the Colts.
"That's why we do what we do, because we're not afraid of it," Caldwell said. "We have convictions we believe in and we consider the alternatives."

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 08:26 PM

Colts coach Jim Caldwell is never unprepared

Jim Caldwell spent the better part of 30 years preparing to be a head coach in the NFL. He's pushed all the right buttons, and made all the right decisions.

January 22 Indianapolis Star

Jim Caldwell conducted his first full-squad meeting as Indianapolis Colts coach on March 16. Tony Dungy's eight-year assistant spoke quietly, in a self-effacing manner befitting a General Motors plant worker's son, but with a new gravity and authority.He made a promise. He told his players he would keep them fresh, healthy and hungry. He told them he would do everything possible to put them in position to win.Expect the Colts to play fast when the New York Jets visit Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday for the AFC Championship Game. They have done it all season. Caldwell planned it."He read everything you can on sleep. He read everything you can on flying and jet lag," said Clyde Christensen, Colts assistant head coach/receivers. "He read army studies, anything ever written. He cut practice, to the assistants' dismay at times. None of us want to see our time cut, but he stayed with his guns."A lot goes into winning football games. Fresh legs is one of them, and it wasn't just that Caldwell made it a priority; it's how he went about it. He put his fingers on his team's pulse and he kept them there, day to day, player to player. He made a connection.
"He'll come up to veterans. I've seen him come up to rookies. I've seen him come up to the third-string guy," Pro Bowl defensive end Dwight Freeney said. "He'll come and find you."
How are you feeling? What hurts and how bad? Caldwell wants to know. What do you think of where we are and what we're doing? How is your wife or your son or your mother? How about the Pacers last night?
The head coach maintains his distance in many organizations. Assistant coaches are buffers, go-betweens. Not in Indianapolis. Not this regime.
"Here it's totally opposite," defensive tackle Daniel Muir said. "You know your coach like you know your teammates."
And he knows them.
"It's my job to know how they feel," Caldwell said. "I'm gauging fatigue. I'm gauging mental freshness. I'm gauging anxiety. I'm probing all the time. I'm looking. I'm getting a sense of my team. I'm trying to get to know them.
"I figure the more I know them, the better job I can do in servicing them in terms of having what I told them we'd have: an atmosphere conducive to winning."
An incessant seeker

A book-strewn table in Caldwell's office is testimony to his intellectual energy and insatiable curiosity.
"The Drunkard's Walk" is one of the titles. It's physicist Leonard Mlodinow's plain-speaking examination of probability theory and random events and their impact on human existence, from physics to football.Another is the Bible. This is the one for which Caldwell reaches first after arriving at the Colts' Northwestside complex, usually between 5 and 6 a.m. What he reads is grist for meditation during the pre-dawn run that comes next, weather be darned.
"Exalt thyself and be humbled, or humble thyself and be exalted," he might say in a team meeting a few hours later. Or perhaps, "Talent beats hard work only if talent works hard."Said safety Jamie Silva, "I bring a pen and pad into our team meetings and write down the things he says. Somebody could write a book if they followed him around for a while."
Caldwell's curiosity didn't arise with his appointment as an NFL head coach. It was evident throughout the 32-year apprenticeship that brought him to that position.
As an obscure young assistant coach at Southern Illinois, he began writing letters to college head coaches, anyone who did something unusual, especially if they did it unusually well. Caldwell typed his question at the top of a sheet, left space for a scrawled answer and included a stamped, self-addressed envelope.
Bear Bryant answered. So did Tom Osborne, and a legion of others.
Caldwell sought, studied, sorted, absorbed. He came to believe that speed is crucial, particularly at this time of year, when fatigue is prevalent and a step or two can be decisive.
For nearly a third of a century, he took notes on every meeting conducted or talk given by the half-dozen head coaches under whom he worked. The notebooks, about 50 of them, fill a shelf in his office and box on box in a storage facility in Winston-Salem, N.C., where he maintains a home.
No wonder then, Colts defensive Robert Mathis would say: "A first-year head coach just coming in, he's about the most prepared a guy could ever be. He's on top of everything."
That's a good thing, because his players were watching.
"When you're dealing with a guy like Tony Dungy, which is the highest of the highs, and then you have a new coach come in, you've almost got to have a drop-off," linebacker Clint Session said. "We did not have a drop-off."
Showing the way

Dungy conducted team meetings with casual efficiency. Caldwell is a power point guy.
Dungy had a patient faith, a facility for letting things ride, giving them time, allowing them to work themselves out. Caldwell is more urgent: He attacks a problem. Within days of his ascension to head coach last January, he sent defensive coordinator Ron Meeks and special teams coordinator Russ Purnell down the road. He brought in Larry Coyer and Ray Rychleski; they raised the level of the defense and special teams.

I think it takes vision and courage to say, 'I can keep some things because they're good and I believe in them and I can change some other things and make this process better,' " Dungy said. "He put his own stamp on things without saying, 'I've got to change everything to show I'm in charge.' "

Again, the players were watching. Christensen was watching them watch."Jim pulled all the right strings early and all of a sudden, the players just kind of believed in him," Christensen said. "He did so many things right. So many things went the way he said they would.
"A lot of guys are maybe sincere but not right. He's been sincere and right."
What Caldwell didn't say at that first meeting is what he most fervently believes: "This is not about me. This is about you." One of the reasons he has been so right so often is he knows his players, how they feel, where they hurt, what they need. He talks to them.
"He really understands the players. He gives you respect as a player and a man. I love coach Caldwell," safety Antoine Bethea said.
"He's the best," echoed wide receiver Reggie Wayne. "He's done a great job of taking care of us."
The 14-2 Colts play the 11-7 Jets on Sunday for a trip to Super Bowl XLIV. They are fresh, healthy, hungry and in the best possible position to win.
Just as Caldwell promised.

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 08:35 PM

If Powers can't go, Lacey is ready, as usual

With starter nursing foot injury, fellow rookie prepares as if he will step in again

January 22 Indianapolis Star

Jacob Lacey was schooled on the Colts' "next man up" philosophy shortly after he joined the team as an undrafted rookie.Be ready for anything, everything and at any time, secondary coach Alan Williams told him.Thus Lacey insists he'll be ready to step back into the lineup if a foot injury keeps starting rookie cornerback Jerraud Powers out of Sunday's AFC Championship Game against the New York Jets.
"Alan told me awhile ago you've got to prepare each week like you're going to be the man because you never know what's going to happen," Lacey said Thursday. "Anybody could go down at any time. I found that out this year. I've had to go in at strange times, at regular times. I always prepare the same way, like I'm the starter."
Powers, a third-round draft pick who started 12 games, suffered a foot injury in last weekend's divisional-round win over Baltimore. It isn't known which foot Powers hurt or the extent of the injury. He hasn't practiced this week.
Coach Jim Caldwell said the team's medical staff would continue to treat Powers.
"He's obviously trying to get better and get better as quickly as he can," Caldwell said.
Caldwell will have no problem turning to Lacey if necessary. That was the case when veteran starters Kelvin Hayden (hamstring/knee) missed extensive time and Marlin Jackson (knee) went on injured reserve.
Lacey appeared in all 16 regular-season games, nine as a starter. He finished fifth on the team with 78 tackles and had three interceptions and a team-high 13 defended passes. He returned an interception against the ST. Louis Rams 35 yards for a touchdown.
"There are unintended positive consequences from injuries, that you have young guys that have an opportunity to step in," Caldwell said.
The game never seemed too big for Lacey.
"I think that has a lot to do with my personality," he said. "I'm a laid-back kind of guy. I just take it one play at a time.
"And they say you've got to have a short memory if something goes wrong, and I take full advantage of that."
A boost in pay

The Colts' reward for a league-best 14-2 record was the No. 1 seed, a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the playoffs.
After the bye, the reward is a fatter wallet.
Players on the active roster received $21,000 each for last weekend's divisional-round game. Players in the conference title game are due $38,000. The Super Bowl winners earn $83,000; the losers $42,000.
Teams earning the first-round bye got nothing, other than extended rest.

"Players always want the No. 1 seed. You want home field," veteran place-kicker Matt Stover said. "Once you get to the playoffs, you've earned your salary. (Playoff checks are) a bonus on top of your salary."

Easier path to Miami

With all due respect to the Jets and Baltimore Ravens, it's not a stretch to describe the Colts' path to South Florida for Super Bowl XLIV as the road of lesser resistance. Sunday, the AFC's No. 1 seed faces the No. 6-seeded Jets for a trip to the Super Bowl. The previous week, the Colts ousted the No. 5 Ravens 20-3.
It marks just the second time since the NFL went to its current playoff format in 1990 that a No. 1 seed has faced Nos. 5 and 6 -- the wild-card entries.
The only previous time was 2005 when No. 1 Seattle beat No. 6 Washington 20-10 and No. 5 Carolina 34-14.
Edge a co-captain

Former running back Edgerrin James and Sammy Davis, a former U.S. Army soldier and Medal of Honor recipient, have been named the Colts' honorary co-captains for Sunday.
James is the team's all-time rushing leader who earned four Pro Bowl trips during his seven-year career with the Colts that ended in 2005.
Davis, a native of Dayton, Ohio, joined the U.S. Army out of Indianapolis. He was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968 for his service in Vietnam. He also earned a Silver Star and Purple Heart.
Aiding burn foundation

Firefighters and volunteers will be outside Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday beginning at 1 p.m. to collect donations for The People's Burn Foundation. The first 15,000 who donate will receive a limited- edition poster of Jeff Saturday. The Pro Bowl center and his wife, Karen, have aligned with the foundation, which supports Hoosiers affected by burn injuries and fire devastation.

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 08:54 PM

Like Big Apple teams before them, New York Jets have shot at history at Indianapolis Colts

January 22 New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica

So many of the best wins for New York football teams, the most famous of all time, were the kind of win the Jets want to get off the Colts in Indianapolis on Sunday. It means they want to play a game where first team to 20 goes to the Super Bowl.
Phil Simms in Pasadena was the exception, the day when Simms almost threw a perfect game at the Broncos. But the game before that,NFC Championship Game against the Redskins, it was 17-0,Giants , in the cold and wind at Giants Stadium.
Joe Namath won SuperbowlIII, 16-7. The Giants beat the Bills, 20-19, in Tampa, one week after they beat the 49ers, 15-13, stopped the 49ers from getting a shot at three Super Bowls in a row without even scoring a touchdown.
And when Eli Manning and the Giants beat the Patriots in Superbowl XLll, the final score was 17-14. Which just happened to be the score when the Jets beat the Chargers last Sunday in San Diego.
"We had a mind-set, a philosophy, to build a team that could win in Northeast weather,"Mike Tannenbaum , the Jets' general manager, said Thursday. "Giants Stadium weather, if you want to call it that."
Tannenbaum paused and said, "I guess what we're really trying to do in Indianapolis on Sunday is play one more game of Giants Stadium football."
They try to bring the philosophy with them against Peyton Manning and the Colts, bring the mind-set Tannenbaum talked about. Try to bring Giants Stadium with them to the Colts' dome. As Mike Tannenbaum said, "Namath didn't throw a touchdown pass when he beat the Colts."
The blueprint for the Jets is Namath's game, so many other big games in New York football history, in Miami and Tampa and San Francisco and Glendale, Ariz. It is the old Bill Parcells line from the winning locker room in Tampa, fist in the air, Parcells saying, "Power wins."
We'll see about that on Sunday, if this Jets team is another New York team that can win a big game on both lines. Archie Manning was another one talking about all that Thursday. Archie's got one son, Peyton, trying to stop the Jets on Sunday, trying to make it back to another Super Bowl.
But Archie Manning, you may have heard, has another son, Eli, who slew a giant once for the Giants, who made just enough throws and let his defense do the rest against a great quarterback.
Archie was asked if the Colts can win the kind of game you need now to beat Rex Ryan's Jets.
"Well, they just did last week," he said.
He was talking about Colts 20, Ravens 3.
"Now I know people will say, the Jets aren't the Ravens," Archie said. "And I'd say, the way the Jets are playing, they're right. All I'm saying is that it's the same type of team."

He talked then about watching the Jets-Chargers game on Sunday, not knowing which way to root, just knowing that if the Chargers won, that a Colts-Chargers game in Indianapolis would have been "a shootout."
"And I knew that the Colts vs. the Jets would be what we're going to see on Sunday," Archie Manning said. "Field goals and field position and ball control, one of them hoping their special tams can make a play."
He was asked again if Peyton's Colts can play - and win - that kind of game against the Jets. Not the 4-6 Jets. Not the Jets who lost to the Falcons to go to 7-7. The Jets who have won these past four games the way they've won them. Talk about all of it, Peyton getting pulled and the Bengals pulling starters of their own on the last Sunday night of the regular season. The numbers are still the numbers, and the Jets in those four games have given up a total of 43 points.
"Can the Colts win playing that way?" Manning said, then laughed. "Heck, they're not going to have much of a choice, are they?"
"Can they run the ball on the Jets?" he was asked.
"They haven't run it much against anybody," he said, then he added, "But not many run on the Jets, do they?"
He can see this game from all angles. Mostly he can see the Jets trying to do to his oldest son, the heavyweight champion of modern quarterbacks, what his youngest son did to Tom Brady and the Patriots once. He sees another team from Giants Stadium trying to write the kind of underdog story that Eli wrote, playing Giants Stadium football in the big game the way Eli's Giants did.
"Would I have picked the Jets to beat the Chargers?" Archie Manning said. "Probably not. All I know is that when I sat down to watch the game last Sunday, I was really only thinking one thing: Which one would I want my son to face in a week? And to be honest with you, I wasn't sure."
Archie Manning never thought his son's Colts team was the 2007 Patriots. He never thought they were on their way to being called the greatest team of all time, the way those Patriots were until they ran into the other Manning kid.
"They were 14-0," Manning said Thursday, "but they won seven of those games in the fourth quarter."
The Jets think they are the ones who can win the fourth quarter this time. The Jets think they can win a first-to-20-points game. The Jets think they've got one more day of Giants Stadium football in them, even with the place out of business now, even under that dome.

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 09:26 PM

Woody Super confident in Jets' chances

January 22 New York Post By MARK CANNIZZARO

Jets owner Woody Johnson came very close to guaranteeing a trip to the Superbowl yesterday.
Recalling the last time the Jets got to the AFC Championship game in 1999, Johnson said, "I remember watching the game, but I don't remember exactly where I was. I remember they came very close, playing out in Denver [and losing, 23-10]. I think we'll come closer this year."
A guarantee?
"I have a lot of confidence," he said. "This is the No. 1 running offense, which is what you need this time of year. And then the defense speaks for itself.
"We're peaking at absolutely the perfect moment. If you look at athletes getting ready for events like the Olympics, the guy that wins often is the guy that's in the right spot in his training regimen."

Johnson said yesterday that going back to Cortland for training camp next summer is in coach Rex Ryan's hands.
"It depends exactly what the coach wants at the end of the year," he said. "The coach has got to make that decision."
Expect a return engagement to the Finger Lakes region for the Jets next summer.

* In the days before the Jets were to play the Chargers last week, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer was asked if the game carried added meaning to him considering the Chargers had fired his father, Marty, after a 14-2 season in 2006.
Schottenheimer said at the time that had no bearing.
He lied.
He said that, after the Jets ended the Chargers' season with a 17-14 victory Sunday.
"It felt really nice to be able to pick up the phone after the game and talk to my father and tell him that was for him," Schottenheimer said. "Because [the Chargers] did a lot of good things [while coached by Marty] and 14-2 to get fired is a tough situation."
Schottenheimer said yesterday that Ryan blew his mind earlier this week when he told him that he was sending a game ball to Marty, from the San Diego game.
"[Ryan] grabbed me Tuesday and said that he was going to send my dad a game ball from this last game in San Diego," Schottenheimer said. "That meant the world to me. They had it painted up and sent it down to him. That meant a lot to me and my father that Rex took the time to think about that.
"It just shows you the type of person we work for. Who thinks about that? We're getting ready to play an AFC Championship game and this guy has wherewithal to think about my dad, who's not even part of the staff.
"He realizes how important people are. If I wasn't his biggest fan then I am now, because that meant a lot to me that he took the time to think about that. I hadn't even thought about it."
* S Kerry Rhodes bruised a knee in practice yesterday and was limited, though he insisted he will be fine for the game. DE Shaun Ellis, who broke his left hand last week, was limited in practice and will play, though his role likely will be reduced. RB Thomas Jones (knee) and FB Tony Richardson (ribs) returned to practice full after sitting out Wednesday. Colts starting right CB Jarraud Powers didn't practice because of a foot injury. Starting free safety Antoine Bethea (back) was limited.
* Superstition has become a big part of the Jets because of Ryan's quirks. Ryan has been wearing the same blue hooded N.Y. Titans sweatshirt for the month the Jets have been winning.
"He still has the same grease stain on his blue hooded sweatshirt. He refuses to have it washed out until we get beat," defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said jokingly. "A lot of coaches are like that. You'd be shocked at how reasonably-intelligent rational men can get superstitious about things like underwear and routine and what they eat and the route they drive to work. It's a crazy business."
Asked about Ryan's superstitions, Pettine asked, "You want the whole list or just the top 10?"
Pettine said the strangest came when they were in Baltimore together.
"He used to wear Converse sneakers to training camp all the time and then it came out that coaches had to wear Reebok so he wasn't allowed to wear [Converse] anymore," Pettine said. "So he would bring them out to practice and sit them next to the practice field. I'd rank that up there as one of the stranger ones."
Interestingly, in what could be viewed as a jinx, the Jets are offering AFC champions shirts on their Web site already, days before the team is playing the title game.
Ryan, who's highly superstitious, likely wouldn't approve of that, if he knew about it.

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 09:32 PM

Jets envision themselves being Super

January 22 New York Post columnist Steve Serbey

The Super dreams have begun in earnest for the Jets, just 48 hours from Sunday, just 60 minutes from the Super Bowl. They can't help themselves now. With each passing hour, the dream becomes clearer and clearer. Some of them were Joe Montana as little boys. Some of them were Jerry Rice. And so on and so forth. Now it's their turn, and their time. Only Peyton Manning and the Colts can shatter their Super dream now.
"I've won a lot of Super Bowls already in the backyard," Jim Leonhard said, and smiled, and it was as if he were back in tiny Tony, Wis. "If I had one thing to go back and do again, I would have won a few AFC Championship games, so I knew what that felt like."
Leonhard and Rex Ryan, the Jets' rookie head coach, lost to the Steelers in last year's AFC Championship game, while both were with the Ravens. It hasn't stopped the diminutive safety from visualizing playing in Super Bowl XLIV in Miami. "I see a lot of big plays," Leonhard said, and smiled again.

Do you intercept any particular quarterback in the Super Bowl?
"It doesn't matter -- that's a blur," Leonhard said. "That other team never really shows up. It's always you. There's not a whole lot of color, there's not a whole lot of purple or gold in there, but I do know that I've played pretty well in all my Super Bowl experiences."
So you make a pick and take it to the house?
"That's one thing I've seen," Leonhard said.
Understand that in no way are the Jets looking past the Colts.
"This is actually a bigger game than the Super Bowl," special-teamer Wallace Wright said. "This is the game."
It's the game that allows the imagination to run wild.
Wright, a terrific special-teamer, hasn't caught a touchdown pass since preseason, but that doesn't mean he can't be David Tyree -- or Rice, his favorite -- in the Super Bowl. There he is, wide open. "I mean, as wide open as you can get," Wright says. "The one I think about, the defender fell, beating the defender, and then he got up and chased me from behind on a 9 route down the sideline."
Does Mark Sanchez throw you the pass?
"Absolutely. That's our quarterback."
You catch it in stride?
"In stride, yeah."
Who fell?
"I don't necessarily remember who it was."
Did you keep the ball?
"Did I? I took a shower with it, you know what I'm saying? I didn't let it go!"
Wright also makes a thunderous tackle on the opening kickoff.
"Everybody watches the opening kickoff, everybody's in front of the TV," he said. "You want to set the tone for the game, and what better way to set the tone than to go down there and just smack somebody in the mouth?"
Darrelle Revis, Aliquippa, Pa.: "Growing up, that's the biggest stage you want to play on and be on. They got the offensive MVP and the defensive MVP. . . . I don't play offense, so it'd be great to get the defensive MVP if I could."
Jay Feely, Odessa, Fla.: "In my rookie year, I watched [Adam] Vinatieri make that kick for New England and win the Super Bowl for them against St. Louis. You want to be in the position, and you want that opportunity, and I think that every kicker desires that opportunity. I think if I could script it, we'd be in victory formation at the end of the game, and we'd be taking a knee. But if it comes down to a kick, yeah, you think about it, you visualize it, you put yourself in that situation, absolutely."
Dustin Keller, West Lafayette, Ind.: "In my dream it's not even a close game. Our offense is running the ball all over the place, passing the ball over the place, defense is playing lights-out defense, and . . . I have a career day. I have a couple of touchdowns; had to jump over a couple, run over a couple."
Have you dreamed about it this week?
"During the day I have, not when I went to sleep but . . . I see it comin'. I see it comin'."
Jerricho Cotchery, Birmingham, Ala.: "I envision myself running out of that tunnel, and the camera flashes and all those things."
Nick Mangold, Centerville, Ohio: "When they show everybody after the game, confetti's falling and everything, and people with their families."
Lito Sheppard, Jacksonville, Fla.: "An interception, a key knockdown to seal the victory, or scoring a 100-yard touchdown. Those type of plays are history in games like that, and you just want to be a part of history."
Now make Sunday Peyton Manning's worst nightmare.

PAULYPOKER · 01-22-10, 09:36 PM

Jets fans turn Times Square into Green zone

January 22 New York Post By EDMUND DeMARCHE

Chants of J-E-T-S! Jets! Jets! Jets! echoed in Times Square last night as thousands of screaming, green-garbed fans converged for a pep rally before their team heads to Indianapolis for Sunday's AFC title game.
Mayor Bloomberg led the raucous party -- unofficially estimated by one police officer to number 20,000 revelers.
Also on hand were Gov. Patterson, Jets owner Woody Johnson, injured running back Leon Washington, former Jets Dave Herman and Curtis Martin, fan "Fireman Ed" Anzalone, and Gang Green's curvy Flight Crew cheerleaders.

Among the loudest roars from the throaty throng came when Hizzoner unveiled a large, municipal-style sign that read, "Welcome to Revis Island."
That's the nickname bestowed on Jets All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis, referring to his shutdown man-to-man coverage of opposing teams' wide receivers.
The sign will remain posted in Times Square as long as the Jets are in the playoffs -- which most in the crowd think will be through the Super Bowl on Feb. 7.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time," said Jets fan Greg Parker, 46, of Huntington, L.I. "I just wanted to be here to feel the life, the energy."
Parker was one of the first people at the rally, arriving around 1 p.m. for the 5:30 kickoff.
"I wouldn't miss this for the world," he said. "This is our time, and it's just electric."
Jets fans have a long history of bitter disappointment -- but on this day, they all saw the world through green-colored glasses.
"This atmosphere puts me into the spirit that anything's possible, and this is our year," said Kyriakos Philippou, 49, of East New York, who said he has been a fan since he could spell "J-e-t-s."
"Wouldn't it make for a great drama to get [Vikings QB] Brett Favre, a former Jet, in the cross-hairs for the Super Bowl?"
Ted Moran of Colts Neck, N.J., who named his 5-year-old "Vinny" after former Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde, brought his fiance, Valarie Burtis. The two agreed that if the Jets win the Super Bowl, they'll put the team logo on their wedding invitations.
"I've been a Jets fan for 35 years," said Moran, 39. "We're 60 minutes away [from the Super Bowl], and we can just feel the destiny in the air."
Herman, a guard and tackle on the Jets team that stunned the Colts in Super Bowl III after Joe Namath's legendary "guarantee," said this team has the same character as those champion Jets.
"They are playing with confidence right now, and that's important," Herman said. "They have the same confidence we had."
He also said Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez has the same instincts as Namath. "They are team players, and they both play hard," he said.
Johnson said Sanchez is starting to click at just the right time, and the owner called coach Rex Ryan "unbelievable."
"I think we have a good chance," said Johnson.
He and around 20,000 others.

icsky3 · 01-22-10, 10:17 PM

Damnnnnn lots of info there pal.

PAULYPOKER · 01-23-10, 12:37 AM

Advice to these Jets from ghosts of title games past

I remember the visiting locker room in the Orange Bowl after the Mud Bowl in January 1983 -- shell-shocked Jets sitting in stunned silence, slow to remove their mud-stained shoes and uniforms, their hearts broken, their dreams shattered. The Dolphins, 14-0 winners in the AFC Championship game, were going to the Superbowl The Jets were going home.
Marty Lyons was 26 years old at the time. "Don't worry," he remembers some of the coaches saying. "We'll get 'em next year."
Next year, of course, never came. Lyons was six years into retirement when Bill Parcells got the 1998 Jets back to within 60 minutes of a Super Bowl. It took 11 more years -- and five more head coaches if you countBill Bellichicks's 24 hours on the job -- before Rex Ryan has gotten the 2009 Jets back to within 60 minutes of a Super Bowl.
So when you ask Lyons today what advice he would have for these Jets on Sunday in Indianapolis against Peyton Manning and the Colts, you should not be surprised by his answer.
"I think you gotta play like there's no tomorrow," Lyons said.
Because more often than not, whether you are a wide-eyed rookie or a 15-year veteran, there is no tomorrow.
In a matter of weeks, Walt Michaels was fired, replaced by offensive coordinator Joe Walton. A year later, Richard Todd, who threw five interceptions that miserable day, three to linebacker A.J. Duhe, would be traded to the Saints, replaced by No. 1 draft choice Ken O'brien.
Sure, the Jets still had running back Freeman McNeil and speed receivers Wesley Walker and Lam Jones and bookend offensive tackles Marven Powell and Chris Ward, and Lyons and Joe Klecko and Mark Gastineau on their New York Sack Exchange, but there was always that notion that Broadway Joe had sold his soul to the devil for delivering on that Super Bowl III guarantee, there was always this black cloud that hovered over Weeb Ewbank Hall and followed the team to Giants Stadium, home of the Fake Spike and other assorted atrocities.
"You get 60 minutes from going to the Super Bowl and they fire your head coach," Lyons says now. "Figure that one."
Asked this week how disappointing the Mud Bowl was, Michaels said: "Are you kidding me? How much more did I coach in the NFL after that?"
Never again.
Michaels had a friend down in rain-drenched Miami who told him the field was not being covered in the days leading up to the game.
"I mentioned it to people in command in the Jet organization," Michaels said. "I thought it was all taken care of."

"It was a foot deep," Michaels said.
Michaels was informed that Shula's Dolphins did not own a tarp.
"It's a league rule to own a tarp," Michaels said.
I remember a somber Bill Parcells answering questions in the bowels of Mile High Stadium after the '98 Jets, 60 minutes from the Superbowl , had blown a 10-0 lead to John Elway in the second half.
"We thought we could beat anybody," Wayne Chrebet, 25 then, recalls. "In the second half, we just imploded."
The flight home seemed endless.

"I was sick, sick as a dog," Keyshawn Johnson said. "Still get a knot in my stomach 20 years later, or however long it's been. I never thought I would play in another championship game and get to a Super Bowl ever again. I cried like a baby in the locker room, I don't know if you remember that."
Eight months later, on a warm, sun-splashed opening day at Giants Stadium, Vinny Testaverde ruptured his Achilles', and a season of championship expectations along with it. Testaverde, nearly 36, had come back home to Long Island to chase his dream.
He was never the same quarterback after that. At the end of that season, Parcells left the Jets sidelines to become GM, replaced by Al Groh. Before the start of the next season, Keyshawn had been traded to the Bucs, where he became one of the lucky ones, winning his Super Bowl with Jon Gruden.
"What I do remember about it is we got back late at night," Chrebet said of the trip home from Denver. "I remember Mr. Hess being right by the door shaking everybody's hand when we got off the plane in the middle of the night."
They live vicariously through these Jets. Ryan's swagger reminds Chrebet of Parcells.
"I'da loved to play for him," Chrebet said.
Keyshawn too: "He makes me want to play for him right now!"
All of them give these Jets a chance. Lyons expects the Jets to prevail.
"You gotta make No. 18 [Manning] feel the pain, and make him nervous and scared," Keyshawn says. "You gotta bring the pain to No. 18 and feel it."
Chrebet's speech to the 2009 Jets: "Just believe in yourself. Understand how precious the situation is. We thought back in '98 we'd be back there year after year. Lock arms and go out there, 53 guys, and put it on 'em. Leave it on the field."
Keyshawn's speech to the 2009 Jets: "Stay poised and don't panic. Seize the moment. You may not get this opportunity ever again. If you shock the world, you're writing yourself a history book."

PAULYPOKER · 01-23-10, 12:43 AM

Jets ride wave of good breaks & smart moves to title game

The Jets sit 60 minutes from the Superbowl, and it is impossible not to see an army of unsuspecting butterflies positioned throughout the world, all of them having helped make all of this a reality.
Scientists call this the "chaos theory," and there are a good chunk of football teams in the AFC that would surely agree, that will now surely believe that a butterfly flapping his wings a certain way in rural New Jersey can help cause a typhoon in China.
We've seen this "butterfly effect" in action. Constantly. Consider:
Butterfly I: Woody Johnson has a planned vacation outside the country to ring in 2009. He chooses not to cancel. He is therefore not available to talk to Bill Cowher, everyone's consensus choice to replace Eric Mangini. Cowher pulls out. The Jets turn elsewhere. And on Jan. 19, a day after his team is beaten in the AFC Championship game in Pittsburgh, the Jets hire Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan.
Butterfly II: Abram Elam had signed a $1.5 million offer sheet with Mangini's new team, the Browns, and the Jets had matched it, meaning that by rule the Jets weren't permitted to trade the safety to Cleveland within a year of the deal. Unless Elam granted permission. Elam was a fine player in 2008; most Jets fans couldn't pick him out of a lineup. But before Mangini would sign off on the draft-day deal that delivered the No. 5 pick, Elam had to give his OK. There was no compelling reason for him to do that. He did it anyway. The Jets took Mark Sanchez at No. 5.
Butterfly III: Mike Tannenbaum says today it would never occur to him to move up twice in the space of three rounds. It's too complicated, too nerve-wracking, too risky, too costly. But Shonn Greene was the 19th-best player on the Jets draft board, and as round 3 opened, was still available. Anthony Lynn, the running backs coach, compared him to Curtis Martin. Tannenbaum listened. He made a deal with the Lions. He picked Greene.
Butterfly IV: Maybe the most imperceptible (and busiest) one of all, dressed up in a tiny silver-and-black uniform. In the space of five weeks, the woeful Raiders beat the Bengals, the Steelers and the Broncos, the latter two on the road. No one can possibly know it yet. But those gut-punchers keep Pittsburgh and Denver out of the playoffs, and prevent the Bengals from having any chance of playing for a bye in Week 17, stripping Cincinnati of any motivation to treat the season finale with even a trace of urgency.
See, these were the barely perceptible ground-shifts that allowed everything else to happen. An owner flies out of the country. A player declines to play hardball. A GM goes against his instinct and listens to his lieutenants. And a team the Jets beat worse than any other on their schedule -- 38-0 -- winds up serving as the best kind of wing man for them later on. Butterflies flapping their wings.
We can focus on what happened in Week 16, when everyone who needed to lose lost, when the Colts decided to pick up their ball and go home and all but gift-wrapped a belated Christmas present for the Jets. We can illuminate Week 17, when the Bengals surrendered on national television. We can have a discussion about how even the playoffs broke right, how the Jets were fortunate to draw the Bengals instead of the Patriots in the wild-card round, how it was a break to put off this Indianapolis rematch by a week when the Ravens upset New England. All of that may well be true.
But the Perfect Storm that delivered the Jets where they sit today, 48 hours away from a 60-minute match for the Super Bowl -- didn't start with those late-season rain clouds. It started weeks earlier, months earlier, more than a year earlier, when a couple of invisible butterflies started flapping their wings. And look at where we are now.

PAULYPOKER · 01-23-10, 12:48 AM

Saying Jets have a ‘puncher’s chance’ against the Colts is a compliment and a curse

You tell the Jets they have a “puncher’s chance,” because that’s the phrase you hear everywhere now: on the radio, in the papers, on the Internet, over a beer in your favorite saloon, over a double espresso at your neighborhood Starbucks.
One guy to the next guy: “You think the Jets have a shot?”
Next guy to the other guy: “Yeah. They have a puncher’s chance.”
It’s really supposed to be a good thing, if you think about it. Look, it’s easy to get caught up in the green winds this week. Every time you turn around, another national football voice is picking the Jets. They’ve gone from being the longest kind of long shot to being the most fashionable choice of all. And why?

Because they have a puncher’s chance.
Because everyone says so: “They have a puncher’s chance.” It is designed to be both a compliment and a critique, of course, the image of the bumbling boxer with a rocker hidden in his right hand, the pug with no business sharing the ring with an out-of-his-class opponent
. . . unless that hand happens to connect with a jaw.
The classic puncher’s chance.

Rex Ryan is the kind of guy who relishes the image of his players being the kind of street-wise tough guys that should be reckoned with and feared, of course. He’s not so fond of the notion that the only chance the Jets have against the Colts in Sunday’s AFC Championship is of the lucky mutt who gets in a free shot and connects.
But he sure jumped on the imagery when it was presented to him yesterday.
“Sure,” he said, “we’ve got a puncher’s chance the way George Foreman had a puncher’s chance.”
And then: “We don’t punch like just anyone.”

Foreman, you may recall, became the puncher’s-chance patron saint on Nov. 5, 1994, in Las Vegas, when he entered the 10th and final round of a title fight with Michael Moorer way behind on all three cards and looked for all the world to be flailing out the string . . . until he landed a short right hand that nearly rearranged Moorer’s lip with his forehead.
It’s not a bad model for the Jets to emulate, truth be told. Some of the Jets understand that having a puncher’s chance certainly beats having zero chance. Marques Douglas, for one, embraced the imagery and ran with it.
“We’re going to have to be like Mike Tyson in the early days,” the defensive end said. “We’re going to train as hard as [Floyd] Mayweather [Jr.] trains. We’re gonna be as ruthless and relentless as [Manny] Pacquiao.”
That said . . .
“I don’t expect the Colts to think that we have any chance, let alone a puncher’s chance, because that’s the way almost everyone looks at us,” linebacker Calvin Pace said. “That’s OK. I get it. I understand. That’s a great team, and when you’re as great as they are they should be expected to beat us.”
Added Jim Leonhard: “I don’t think we look at that as a good reflection on us, necessarily. But there’s nothing we can do about it. People want to think we’re million-to-one shots or whatever, they’re allowed to think that. As long as the longshot comes in, that’s all that matters to me.”
Added Douglas: “And that explains why we play with chips on our shoulders. That’s why it’s OK with us if teams don’t want to respect us, or don’t think that we belong where we are. It makes us play with more confidence in ourselves. And you know what happens when you do that? You play in the AFC Championship game.”
The same thing happens when you take advantage of your puncher’s chance one week in Cincinnati and another week in San Diego. The Colts are next, and they are way ahead on points, and even all those prognosticators who love the Jets right now would probably sing a different tune if they had their mortgage riding on the game. The Colts are Michael Moorer, settling in for the kill.
Maybe they finish the old man off this time.
But maybe they don’t. Maybe the right hand connects with the jaw one more time. Maybe he sends him tumbling to the canvas. You never know.

PAULYPOKER · 01-23-10, 12:52 AM

Quiet Colts itching to shut up Jets

INDIANAPOLIS -- If only there was more time, maybe we could learn how the Colts really feel about the Jets and their trash talk about beating Indianapolis in Week 16. If a few more questions could have been asked and few more buttons pushed, maybe we would know if the Colts think the Jets are delusional for believing they would have won that game if Indianapolis hadn't pulled most of their starters in the third quarter.
But because of an NFL-orchestrated rush job on podium appearances, the selected Colts were able to defuse any notion they're miffed the Jets think they could have ended their perfect season with starters playing against starters.
Only defensive end Dwight Freeney hinted the Jets' 29-15 victory at Lucas Oil Stadium on Dec. 27 was a fluke.I think [the Jets] understand the game would have been a little different," he said. "It wouldn't have been like that. But Week 16 was in Week 16. This is the AFC Championship. If they want to talk about whatever happened in Week 16 to motivate them or whatever, that's all good. Our [motivation] is the AFC Championship game -- one more win to the Super Bowl. So we have to get something done." Linebacker Gary Brackett, the former Rutgers star, said simply: "Sunday at 3 o'clock we're going to see what happens."
That's when the two teams meet again at Lucas Oil Stadium for the AFC Championship and a trip to Super Bowl XLIV. It's not like we expected the Colts to engage in a verbal sparring match with the Jets. It's not their way. Their professional, business-like approach has served them well first under Tony Dungy and now Jim Caldwell. It's clear they would rather do their talking on the field Sunday.
"That's how we've always handled things," Caldwell said. "Maybe someone chooses to do things differently. Maybe that's because it serves them and that's what they feel comfortable with. In our particular case, our guys focus on what we have to get done and what we're really trying to get done is get ourselves in the best position to function great within those white lines."
Caldwell and the Colts took plenty of heat from their fans when Peyton Manning and several starters, including Freeney were pulled in the third quarter of the game against the Jets. Indianapolis was leading 15-10 at the time and working on a 15-0 season. The Jets, 7-7, rallied to win the game, the first of an incomparable four-game winning strike that has made them the surprise team of the postseason.
Already Jets coach Rex Ryan has made headlines saying he would be "shocked" if the Jets don't win Sunday, a comment that failed to ruffle the Colts.
"For him to say that, I understand it," Freeney said. "They have to do what they have to do. I would be surprised if he didn't say that. That's what he's supposed to say. It doesn't really surprise me."
Added Brackett: "It is what is. That's their macho. They get it from their coach. That's his M.O. But I'd be confident, too, if I won two road games and one game that I probably shouldn't have. Every football team has a little bit of confidence."
Something tells me under that stoic exterior the Colts are miffed the Jets think they would have won Week 16 fair and square. What better setting than the AFC Championship game to prove them wrong.
"We'll never know what the outcome of that game would have been," Colts receiver Reggie Wayne said. "But we have this game here. We're definitely playing a full game."
Sunday at 3 o'clock we're going to see what happens.

hhsilver · 01-23-10, 12:58 AM

Pauly, thanks for all the work of posting this. I didn't read much this time -- I'll come back and read more later.

PAULYPOKER · 01-23-10, 01:00 AM

New York Jets beat Colts first time, and must make doubt creep in for Indianapolis

When it comes to rematches, there is always an element of doubt that floats around in the minds of the team or athlete that was on the losing end the first time.
Whatever reasons or excuses the loser comes up with, the fact remains that they weren't victorious the first time. If the team that won the first time can work on that doubt, then they will have an advantage in the rematch.
That is the case for the Jets when they meet the Colts in the AFC Title Game at Indy on Sunday. If the Jets can find a way to stir the embers of that doubt inside of the Colts early in the game, they will have a mental advantage that will pave the way for victory and lead them to their goal of playing in the Super Bowl.
The Jets can stoke that doubt early. Disrupt Colts Quartback Manning's game, establish their own powerful rushing attack, put the clamps on receiver Reggie Wayne, the Colts big-play threat. That won't be easy, but it can be accomplished.
This rematch business is not virgin territory for the Jets. They played the Bengals in the last game of the regular season and again in the wild-card round. The Jets won both games.
"What it adds is confidence," Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer said regarding losing that first game to the Jets. "When we played them that first time they beat us pretty good. That added to their confidence and it took away from our confidence."
The Jets slammed the Bengals in that regular-season game, 37-0. But the Bengals used the excuse that they didn't try hard because they had nothing to play for, having already wrapped up the AFC North division title. They said winning that game meant nothing to them.
But from a psychological standpoint it was huge.
"The only thing that is going to carry forward to that second game was the physical nature of how we beat them up," said Jets Jay Feely . "When you physically dominate a team on the offensive and defensive line it's not so easy for a coach to come in on Monday and say, 'OK, this week is going to be different.' Because they know in their heart they were beat up and that team was the tougher team. That's tough to get over."
Zimmer said they didn't take the Jets for granted. But they made some crucial mistakes and they couldn't get the Jets' rookie quarterback, Sanchez, to make any mistakes. Zimmer said they wanted to get Sanchez in third-and-long situations and they did. But they couldn't stop him from converting on some slant passes, which they hadn't seen the first time around.
"If Sanchez does what's he's been doing the last few weeks, then they're going to be hard to beat," Zimmer said. "If they run the ball, play good defense, keep the score down, they'll have a perfect opportunity to win the game."
The Jets did not batter the Colts in that first game the way they punished the Bengals. But Indianapolis did wave the white flag of resignation, eschewing a run at history for a better shot at a Super Bowl championship. That has to play on their minds when they take the field against the Jets.
The Colts can, and have, used the same excuse as the Bengals. With nothing more to play for in the regular season, they rested their starters late in the game, pulling Manning after 2-1/2 quarters while holding a 15-10 lead. Manning has to be wondering why he couldn't dump 21 points on the Jets in 2-1/2 quarters and put them to bed before he was asked to cool his heels for the remainder of the game.
Zimmer said the Colts are a fast-break team and if they go up on the Jets 21-0 early, then the Jets are in trouble.
"But if the Colts are leading 12-9 in the fourth quarter they're going to get frustrated," Zimmer said. "I haven't seen the Jets fold under pressure in any of these games. They didn't do it against us and they didn't do it in San Diego. They feel comfortable playing that way. With fast-break teams you get frustrated if it's close late. Then you look up at the scoreboard at the end and it's all over."
That certainly happened with San Diego, which committed four personal fouls, including kicking the coach's challenge flag. Of course, Manning with the ball in his hands to win the game late is the great equalizer the Colts have.
The pressure is on Indianapolis to prove that it is better than the team that rested its playmakers and lost to the Jets with its second- and third-teamers. There is still that doubt about what would have happened if the Colts hadn't rested their starters that day. Can they beat the Jets straight up?
"We felt going into both games we should have beaten them," Zimmer said. "But it's like the old saying goes. You don't have to be the best team. You just have to be the best team on that day."

PAULYPOKER · 01-23-10, 01:31 AM

New York Jets owner Woody Johnson opens up about tragic death of his daughter Casey Johnson

Jets owner Woody Johnson says he is living in "two different worlds" with the recent death of his daughter and his team's improbable playoff run.
In his first extensive interview since Casey Johnson's Jan. 4 death, her father said he has endured a "brutal couple of weeks."
"It's two different worlds," Johnson told reporters Thursday at the Jets facility in Florham Park,N.J.
"That's the way you can handle it. One really doesn't help the other. The other is reality - I lost a daughter. There's no way to bring her back.
"But with the team, Rex (Ryan) is doing amazing things for the franchise, for the New York Jets, for the city of New York. You see it, you feel it. I've never seen anything like it."
Johnson was very emotional when he received the game ball from Ryan after the Jets' wild-card win in Cincinatti just days after his troubled 30-year-old daughter died of unknown causes in Los Angeles .
Johnson decided to attend the game with several family members.
"After Cincinnati, when I got the ball, too many things hit me at once," he said. "But that's part of it. When you have a major loss, you show your emotions.
"On a personal level, I think of it all the time, obviously. But so do other players who have played.
"The reason I went to that game, I thought it would be kind of weird to ask the players to come to the game after they've had a tragedy in their family and I don't go. So I had to do it."
Johnson, the Jets' owner since 2000, said he loves his Cinderella team.
"It's like Horatio Alger. Nobody believes you can do it, except we believe we can do it," he said.
"We have that mindset. You see that in teams. You saw that in our Super Bowl team (in 1969). Nobody thought we could do it then … but this is a great perspective for us."