Colts Beat Jets In AFC Championship, On Their Way To Miami For Super Bowl XLIV

Life for a Jets fan must be tough. Something the folks at our Jets blog, Gang Green Nation, knows all too well.

On Sunday, New York lost the AFC Championship game, 30-17, continuing decades of futility.

SB Nation’s Colts blog, Stampede Blue, is still piecing together some of their thoughts after Sunday’s AFC Championship that earned their team a trip to the Super Bowl, but they had some early reaction in a quick recap.

Your team is going to he Super Bowl! Read more about it at our Colts blog, Stampede Blue. For Jets fans, it was a fun ride while it lasted -- share your anguish at our Jets blog, Gang Green Nation.

Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) - Peyton Manning threw two touchdown passes in the second half and the Indianapolis Colts punched their ticket to Super Bowl XLIV with a 30-17 win over Mark Sanchez and the upstart New York Jets in the AFC Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium.

If your team has a ten-point lead midway through the fourth quarter and you have the ball, prevailing wisdom compels you to rely on your running game -- especially when your running back is averaging five yards per carry.

The Colts, though, have elected to pass on about half their plays during their march down the field. And guess what? For the most part, it’s working. Pierre Garçon seems physically incapable of not catching a football -- the man has 151 yards off 11 receptions.

You know an offense is clicking when you think, “whatever happens here, I don’t see the defense stopping them.” That’s Indianapolis right now. It’s less a question of whether the Jets can stop Peyton Manning and the Colts passing attack; the only suspense is whether the Colts will complete a 6, 10, or 15 yard pass.

That’s the way the last drive went, anyway. Going 80 yards down the field, Manning hit over and over and over again—on slants, fades, and then right down the seam, to a wide open Dallas Clark for a 15-yard touchdown. The game’s not over yet, but when Manning’s playing like that, you’re not going to beat him. Sorry, Sanchize.

Video has surfaced of Mark Sanchez’s 80-yard connection to Braylon Edwards for a touchdown. The score gave the Jets a 7-3 lead early in the second quarter.

Kids, this is how you do a pump-fake:

Early in the third quarter, Jets running back Shonn Greene left the field and headed to the locker room after climbing out of a pile of Colts defenders. CBS color man Phil Simms speculated that the injury was to Greene’s thigh, but there’s been no official word yet.

As soon as more information is being made available, we’ll pass along an update.

When Clutch Mark Sanchez gave way in the regular season to Error-Prone Mark Sanchez, writer types such as myself snickered. We facetiously shouted, “POISE” whenever he threw a pick or let loose with a wounded duck.

Well, when I say “poise” now, I am no longer being snide. The stats speak for themselves: nearing the half, Sanchez has completed 5 of 7 passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns. The second touchdown looked like this:

Just when it looked like the Colts were about to hit their stride… After a Colts field goal put the first points on the board on the preceding drive, New York trotted out for the obligatory three-and-out, after which, Peyton Manning would surely connect with Reggie Wayne on a back-breaking 60-yard touchdown.

Colts rookie wide receiver Pierre Garçon has already made an impact on his team and the NFL at large, as the Jets are already learning today. Garçon has recorded 70 receiving yards in the first quarter alone.

So the question, naturally, is this. How do you type “ç”? It’s easy. Hold your ALT key, press 1, 3, 5, then release the ALT key. Boom! You are now slightly more intelligent than you were five seconds ago.

In the first quarter of the AFC Championship, Colts running back Joseph Addai suffered an injury. After being looked at on the sideline, he was taken to the locker room.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any specific information on the injury just yet. We’ll update as soon as we learn more.

Well, you have to admit… The Jets looked pretty decent on their first offensive series. That’s the greatest variable in all of this—whether the Jets can mount a serious attack on offense—and at least on the first series, Mark Sanchez and co. looked pretty competent, notching a few first downs, and getting into field goal range.

And today, Jay Feely continued the trend. Despite a perfect set-up from the shaky Jets offense, Feely’s 44-yard field goal sailed wide, and the Jets’ surprise drive yielded nothing.

In the interest of stoking the embers, I’m passing this piece along from Will Leitch.

Sorry, Indianapolis residents. Don’t get too down on yourselves. The interstate highways that run through your city offer a remarkably smooth ride. And did I mention your beltway? Fantastic!

If you’re a Colts fan, head on over to our Colts blog, Stampede Blue. They have a game thread up and ready to go. Discuss! Argue! Demonstrate! Complain! Debate! Complain some more!

Stampede Blue has rolled out a set of statistics pertaining to the Jets’ and Colts’ performances this season. While not completely one-sided, they seem to tilt in the Colts’ favor. If you’re looking for a preview of the game from New York’s perspective, check out Gang Green Nation’s previews of the Jets’ run offense, run defense, pass offense, and pass defense.

Here’s one piece of statistical goodness for Jets fans: in the regular season, the Jets actually posted a higher point differential (+112) than the Colts (+109). Countless variables factor into point differential, of course, but this might come as a surprise to the casual observer.

Apparently, Jets coach Rex Ryan felt that the Colts were a little low on locker room fodder, so he donated something to the cause. From Pro Football Talk:

Yes, friends, over the past week, Rex Ryan has invented a defensive system that the NFL, in its nearly century-old history, has failed to come up with on its own. What could this possibly involve? Medieval weaponry? Manipulation of spacetime? Helmets mounted with loudspeakers emanating the nonlethal frequency that makes people vomit? Food? Yeah...probably food.

Our Jets blog, Gang Green Nation, has a live game thread set up for you. Fans are already starting a ruckus in there. If you’re a Jets fan, or just a fan who has the compulsive desire to talk about football, get in there.

The conjecture is all over the Internet in spades, but what do the Saints’ and Colts’ statistics have to say? Our Colts blog, Stampede Blue, has neatly broken down all sorts of statistical goodies.

Which team has the best red zone efficiency? At what point in the field do the Saints and Colts typically start their drives? All of it is here, and you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t check it out.

We know the story, the Jets are a run-heavy team that plays great defense in order to protect rookie QB Mark Sanchez. So far in the playoffs, it’s worked. The Jets defense was able to contain the high-powered Chargers offense and score just enough to win. Now, they face the most prolific QB of the past decade, Peyton Manning. It’s likely the Colts will score at home, so the Jets offense will need to keep pace. How do you do that? Run the ball to set up the pass.

From Gang Green Nation:

What weakness on the Colts will the Jets go after?

Evaluate the Colts head coach (and staff) in terms of being ready for a playoff game like this.

Curtis Martin is returning to the New York Jets and Edgerrin James is returning to the Indianapolis Colts.

The last time these two players were on the same field in a playoff game the Jets smoked the Colts 41-0.

What weakness on the Jets will the Colts go after?

Evaluate the Jets head coach (and staff) in terms of being ready for a playoff game like this.

Nothing says, “Welcome to the post season!” like a clump of injuries on both sides of the ball.

The Jets had three OL members not even lace up for practice, while two defensive linemen were limited.

What’s often lost in all this is the game itself. The Colts didn’t pull their starters until midway through the 3rd quarter. So what happened when everybody was playing for both teams? A competitive game, reports Gang Green Nation: