The New York Jets defeated Peyton Manning in a dramatic last second field goal by Nick Folk 17-16 at Indianapolis last night. Head coach Rex Ryan made it clear that he was taking the game against Peyton Manning personally and it showed. The Jets did not blitz Manning as they had in the past. Instead they changed up their defensive looks by overloading defensive backs and stayed back. The Jets held Manning to three 3-and-outs in their first three possessions to set the tone for the game. The Colts opened up the scoring on a great 57-yard pass to Pierre Garcon that split the Jet defense. The Jets had a chance to tie the game before halftime but Mark Sanchez threw an interception toward the left-corner of the goal line. Sanchez missed a wide open Dustin Keller a few seconds before that interception as Keller crossed the field. Sanchez was overthrowing every pass in the first half but got better as the game progressed.
In the 2nd half LaDainian Tomlinson scored two rushing touchdowns on the Jets’ next two possessions that took a total of fifteen minutes off the clock and kept Manning off the field. The Colts were held to just 3 field goals in the 2nd half, notably on their last drive where the Jets stopped Manning on a 3rd and 6 at the Jet 32-yard line. Adam Vinatieri kicked a perfect 50-yard field goal that gave the Colts the 16-14 lead with less than a minute left on the clock. Antonio Cromartie, taking the kickoff, ran the ball out of the end zone one yard deep and took it along the right sideline to the Colt 47-yard line. I was going nuts. Sanchez completed three passes to Braylon Edwards with the biggest pass of the game on the last completion. The Colts called timeout with 29 seconds left in the 4th quarter, confusing me and giving time for the Jets to discuss a play. Edwards went to the sideline and told Sanchez and the coaches that he could beat the cornerback covering him and he did just that, getting the ball to the Colts’ 14-yard line. The Jets let the clock run down to 3 seconds and Nick Folk came onto the field to kick the Jets into the next round of the Playoffs. I feel the Jets had the chance to win the game on their second last drive where they had a 3rd and 5 and Sanchez threw a deep ball incomplete along the right sideline to Edwards. I jumped off the couch, screaming, pleading for a slant play to get the 1st down. They were fortunate to get the ball back from the Colts. Also on that drive the Colts ran into the Jet punter Steve Weatherford which gave the Jets the 1st down and caused the Colts to use two of the timeouts before getting the ball back. My Wife and I listened to the Jet radio announcers for the 2nd half and watched NBC’s TV coverage. Marty Lyons said the Jets had no more timeouts and as we watched the clock tick down my Wife and I were screaming for the ball to be spiked. Lyons thank goodness had it wrong and the Jets were able to call timeout with :03 left and setup for the final game winning field goal. I was keeping my Cousin up to speed via text messages late in the game as the drama unfolded. Watching Manning’s puss in high definition was priceless. The Jet running game was terrific with Tomlinson gaining 82 yards, with 2 touchdowns on 16 carries and Shonn Greene gaining 70 yards on 19 carries. Sanchez went 18-of-31 for 189 yards and 1 interception. What a game. J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS! Ryan said the following in his press conference afterwards:
“We've got to tip our hat to our offense. It was unbelievable," said Ryan, whose bravado made him a summer sensation in HBO's "Hard Knocks" series. "I mean, we totally dominated the second half offensively. On defense, we had to hold serve. Against Peyton, you're not going to stop him completely, but our guys played well enough to get it done and keep him out of the end zone. Our offense was just spectacular."
No comments:
Post a Comment