Pro Football Jerseys, I wasn\'t overly excited about the NFL\'s Conference Championships when the matchups were determined last Sunday evening. Then I watched Terminator Salvation and decided things could be worse. I could be running from Pro Football Jerseys killer machines, living in a desolate world, and listening to Christian Bale\'s over-the-top Batman voice on my transistor radio. Upon further review, the conference championships have enough to entertain.
Jets at Colts
The Jets are a scary team. Their fierce defense and physical ground game are enough to beat any opponent. Their mind games off the field aren\'t bad either. Rex Ryan is a master at twisting opponent\'s ordinary statements into insults. Ryan then uses the contrived insults to rally his team. Sounds lame but it\'s actually brilliant. Ryan\'s imposing his style on the opponent before either team has stepped onto the field. Beware what you say, Colts. The Jets are listening. (I can relate to the Colts here. The other night while watching The Bachelor, (crap, shouldn\'t have admitted that) I mentioned that the guy (ok, I know his name is Jake) sent one of the more attractive girls home. \"What?!\" My wife said. \"You think SHE\'s attractive?... Aw man, I must be ugly.\") So yeah, the Colts better watch what they say this week.
I\'ve picked against the Jets throughout the postseason. Naturally, I\'m inclined to do so here as well. The talk this past week has focused on the Jets. \"The Jets know how to win; they hang around long enough to deliver the knockout blow; the Pro Football Jerseys Chargers were no match for New York\"...Blah blah blah. If the NFL\'s most productive kicker over the past three seasons doesn\'t have the worst game of his life, the Jets are on vacation right now. If Nate Kaeding makes even two of those kicks (I\'ll excuse the 50+ yarder), we\'d hear all about how the Jets played tough, but just weren\'t good enough. So, a kicker chokes and the 2009 Jets go from not quite good enough to the greatest Jets team since Joe Namath led the green and white. You gotta love the playoffs. The Jets are a tough, solid team... that got LUCKY. That\'s it. Did they block those kicks? No. Granted, they kept the offense out of the end zone, so they deserve credit for forcing the field goals. Regardless, I\'m not jumping behind Rex Ryan\'s sweater vest because the NFL\'s best kicker thought the yellow goalposts meant \"Caution, stay away.\" I refuse.
Speaking of field goals, make sure to pay close attention when the Colts attempt their first field goal. If Matt Stover nails it through the uprights, there will be a riot on New York\'s sideline. Confusion, anger, heartbreak; it will all be there. Opposing kickers are 0-5 against the Jets in the playoffs to this point. They\'re arrogant enough to think they\'ve earned the misses. Rex\'s father, Buddy, may even punch an assistant coach (again).
Maybe Buddy could sock Peyton Manning for me too. After confidently predicting that Manning would excel in the playoffs, he\'s performing his usually \"unstoppable in the regular season, average QB in the postseason\" routine. I thought we\'d be past this, Peyton. Perhaps Eli got the clutch gene. I digress.
The Colts\' offense has more weapons than the Chargers\', including a deeper receiving corps. Additionally, the Indy defense was successful last week by containing Baltimore\'s rushing attack, thus forcing an unproven quarterback to win the game. While the Jets\' ground game is superior to Baltimore\'s, the key to winning remains the same for the Colts (stop the run). Indianapolis has the best defensive end duo in football (Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis). If they\'re able to tee-off on Mark Sanchez, he will struggle immensely.
As long as the Jets stay within in striking distance (two scores or less), they\'ll continue to run the football. Peyton Manning will need to put up points early to help his defense. As we saw last week, the New York offensive line is too good for a defense to handle the entire game. Building a sizeable lead will force the Jets to abandon the run, letting the Colts\' pass rushers Pro Football Jerseys to force Sanchez into mistakes. Conversely, allowing the Jets to hang around could be disastrous. If you\'re the Colts, \"lucky\" and \"good\" are two things you don\'t want to mess with in the 4th quarter when a Super Bowl berth is up for grabs. The longer the game remains close, the more it favors New York. For Indianapolis, winning big early is the key to winning at all.
