This week the NFL offered up the best of the best, the creme de la creme, the elite teams that dominated their respective divisions all season long… and also the New York Jets.
To be fair, the Jets made a show of it. Early on, it looked like they were going to take it to the Indianapolis Colts. The Jets defense was stingy in the first half, limiting the Colts to a puny field goal for the first 28 minutes on Sunday. Unfortunately for the Jets, there are 30 minutes in a half.
At half-time, the naysayers were having a ball naysaying Jim Caldwell, Peyton Manning, and the rest of the Colts organization for resting their players, for giving up the chance for a perfect season, for choking under pressure, and for causing global warming.
The last 32 minutes were more along the lines of what we all expected to see. Manning and company dismantled the Jets defense to the tune of 27 unanswered points while the Indianapolis defense completely shut down rookie Mark Sanchez and the Jets offense.
The second game was more evenly matched. Early on, it looked like it was going to be a case of two offensive juggernauts pushing the opposing defenses around for sixty minutes. But after a couple of early touchdowns for each team, the defenses stiffened up.
Although four touchdowns a piece in regulation is nothing to sneeze at, this wasn’t the high flying, aerial extravaganza that we expected. Somewhere in late in the first half, the entire Vikings team got the old fumblerewski going on and just couldn’t stop. Six fumbles (they only lost three of them) and three interceptions is tough to overcome.
But still the Vikings had the chance to win in regulation, and if not for a bone headed 12 men in the huddle penalty with nineteen clicks left on the clock, they probably would have kicked a long field goal and packed their bags for Miami. Instead, Favre threw an ill-advised interception, and the Vikings offense never get back on the field.
A final footnote: I didn’t look it up, but I’m pretty sure that this week marks the first time in NFL history that two guys named Pierre scored touchdowns in the Conference Championships. That would be Pierre Thomas and Pierre Garcon (I don’t know how to make that funny French squiggly ’c’ thing on my keyboard) who scored for the Saints and Colts respectively.
