FROM CBSSPORTS.COM
The Jets will come full circle Sunday.
Their improbable playoff run will take them to the place where it all began, sort of. It was their 29-15 victory over a disinterested Indianapolis team that helped get them into the playoffs in the first place.
When the Colts began pulling their starters with 5:36 left in the third quarter against the Jets on Dec. 27, Indianapolis held a tenuous 15-10 lead. Of course, Peyton Manning has protected, and expanded upon, many such leads in his incredible career. He didn't get the chance on that day at Lucas Oil Stadium.
So heading into Sunday's rematch, it's not easy to say exactly what was a legitimate barometer of what might happen this time around, and what wasn't.
"We were holding our own. We were weathering the storm," linebacker Bart Scott said Monday, referring to the slim deficit the Jets faced when Manning, wide receiver Reggie Wayne, tight end Dallas Clark and others were pulled from the game.
Manning "is a great quarterback and they've been in that system for so long that they can do it with their eyes closed," Scott added. "A lot was made that they weren't connecting on passes, they were off. As people can see throughout the year, we have a lot to do with that."
True, but maybe not as much as the Jets would like to believe in that game. While it is true that Manning was off that day, how much of it was the Jets' doing, and how much of it was Manning simply being off? (Perhaps he was pressing because he knew he would get relieved early.)
Let's look at the tape.
In two quarters plus one series that day, Manning was 14-for-21 for 192 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions, although he led two touchdown drives. He wasn't sacked and was knocked down only once. And that was without left tackle Charlie Johnson, who sat out with a foot injury but started against Baltimore last week.
His first and last passes that day, both to Clark, sum up the frustration the Jets had in getting to him.
On the Colts' first drive, Scott flushed Manning out of the pocket to his left, yet he delivered an 18-yard strike to Clark.
On Manning's last throw, backup running back Donald Brown did a terrific job picking up blitzing safety Jim Leonhard. That gave Manning enough time to find Clark for 19 yards to the Jets 7-yard line, setting up Brown's touchdown run two plays later.
Of Manning's seven incompletions, three stand out. All were, in tennis terms, unforced errors on which Manning simply didn't put the ball where it should've been.
Early in the second quarter, on third-and-goal from the 4, Wayne got a bit of separation from Darrelle Revis and was open. Manning threw the ball high and outside, and Wayne couldn't bring it in. Had it been low and inside, it's probably a touchdown.
Wayne had Revis beaten badly on the first play of the next possession, but Manning's throw was a bit too long, and Wayne came up empty with a diving try. It would have been a 40-yard completion, at least. Wayne had three receptions for 33 yards, but easily could have had five catches for 77 yards and a score. Manning also missed Clark, who was open on a deep route, on that same series, which led to no points.
Whatever adjustments the Jets made at halftime didn't work, as Manning went 4-for-4 for 61 yards on an 81-yard touchdown march and finally seemed to be finding his rhythm. The Jets must play much better this time around to win.
SERIES HISTORY
69th overall meeting. Jets lead postseason series, 2-0. Colts lead regular-season series, 40-26. The Jets ended the Colts' bid for an unbeaten season with a 29-15 victory on Dec. 27. However, the Colts sat numerous starters for precautionary reasons and pulled several others, including Peyton Manning, in the third quarter. The Jets outscored Indianapolis, 19-0, after that. The Jets routed the Colts, 41-0, in a wild-card game in the 2002 AFC playoffs, and of course, upset the heavily favored Baltimore Colts, 16-7, in Super Bowl III behind Joe