FoxPerez
01-23-2010, 10:41 PM
Originally posted here: http://tinyurl.com/yj5ndr6
There is no reason that the New York Jets should win on Sunday. The Colts are proven champions and Peyton Manning is at the top of his game. They're at home and have already proven the critics (like myself) wrong by resting their starters and still winning a playoff game after the bye. The defense gets to feast on a rookie quarterback as well.
Plus, the Jets have history working against them. They haven't made it to a Super Bowl since winning the most important game in NFL history when they beat these same Colts in Super Bowl III. This is usually the point where the other shoe drops and the ride ends for Jets fans.
But I wouldn't be surprised if they punched their ticket to the Super Bowl on Sunday in Indianapolis.
Last decade, we had dynasties involving the San Antonio Spurs and the New England Patriots. The Red Sox won not one, but two World Series. The Texas Longhorns won a BCS national championship. A team from Florida won the Stanley Cup. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals all made it to the Super Bowl.
Of everything we've seen the last ten years, would the Jets making it to the Super Bowl be all that strange?
All this team has done is do things like no one else has. While the league shifts to spread offenses with five receivers, the Jets rely on their running backs. While the league relies on max protection combined with heavy blitzes against the spread, the Jets have Darrelle Revis locking guys down while they zone blitz at most.
And while most other teams manufacture reasons to say, "Nobody believed in us," for the Jets it's true. I was one of many people that expected them to exit quickly from the playoffs. After all, they beat a Colts team that pulled it's starters and a Cincinatti team that didn't show everything to the team they were playing the following week anyways.
"They've got a rookie quarterback! They're lucky to even be there! They don't belong! They'll get bounced out quickly!"
What's crazy is that I'm listening to the Adam Carolla Podcast, and as I'm writing this, he made his predictions for the weekend saying, "I don't think the Jets should be there." But, if you think about it, it's no fluke to make it to the conference championship game. There are 28 other teams that wish they had such a "fluke."
And for me personally, it's tough to root against a Hispanic quarterback taking snaps for one of the four conference championship teams.
What's also scary to me is the way the gambling community is going on this game. New Orleans-Minnesota has stayed pretty much the same. The line favoring the Colts could reach close to double digits by game day because of all the late action coming in for Indy. And what will the "wise guys" in Vegas do? Bet heavy on the Jets. Because the smart money says that this is going to be a close game. And anything can happen...
We're guaranteed to see one long-suffering team reach the Super Bowl this season with the Saints and Vikings playing each other. And while it would be a monumental upset to see a 2nd long-suffering team represent the AFC for all the marbles, after everything we saw happen the last decade in sports, maybe it wouldn't be so shocking.
Originally posted here: http://tinyurl.com/yj5ndr6
There is no reason that the New York Jets should win on Sunday. The Colts are proven champions and Peyton Manning is at the top of his game. They're at home and have already proven the critics (like myself) wrong by resting their starters and still winning a playoff game after the bye. The defense gets to feast on a rookie quarterback as well.
Plus, the Jets have history working against them. They haven't made it to a Super Bowl since winning the most important game in NFL history when they beat these same Colts in Super Bowl III. This is usually the point where the other shoe drops and the ride ends for Jets fans.
But I wouldn't be surprised if they punched their ticket to the Super Bowl on Sunday in Indianapolis.
Last decade, we had dynasties involving the San Antonio Spurs and the New England Patriots. The Red Sox won not one, but two World Series. The Texas Longhorns won a BCS national championship. A team from Florida won the Stanley Cup. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals all made it to the Super Bowl.
Of everything we've seen the last ten years, would the Jets making it to the Super Bowl be all that strange?
All this team has done is do things like no one else has. While the league shifts to spread offenses with five receivers, the Jets rely on their running backs. While the league relies on max protection combined with heavy blitzes against the spread, the Jets have Darrelle Revis locking guys down while they zone blitz at most.
And while most other teams manufacture reasons to say, "Nobody believed in us," for the Jets it's true. I was one of many people that expected them to exit quickly from the playoffs. After all, they beat a Colts team that pulled it's starters and a Cincinatti team that didn't show everything to the team they were playing the following week anyways.
"They've got a rookie quarterback! They're lucky to even be there! They don't belong! They'll get bounced out quickly!"
What's crazy is that I'm listening to the Adam Carolla Podcast, and as I'm writing this, he made his predictions for the weekend saying, "I don't think the Jets should be there." But, if you think about it, it's no fluke to make it to the conference championship game. There are 28 other teams that wish they had such a "fluke."
And for me personally, it's tough to root against a Hispanic quarterback taking snaps for one of the four conference championship teams.
What's also scary to me is the way the gambling community is going on this game. New Orleans-Minnesota has stayed pretty much the same. The line favoring the Colts could reach close to double digits by game day because of all the late action coming in for Indy. And what will the "wise guys" in Vegas do? Bet heavy on the Jets. Because the smart money says that this is going to be a close game. And anything can happen...
We're guaranteed to see one long-suffering team reach the Super Bowl this season with the Saints and Vikings playing each other. And while it would be a monumental upset to see a 2nd long-suffering team represent the AFC for all the marbles, after everything we saw happen the last decade in sports, maybe it wouldn't be so shocking.
Originally posted here: http://tinyurl.com/yj5ndr6