****The Official New York Jets vs. Indianapolis Colts Game Thread WILDCARD EDITION****

[Sharrow]

This is the game. From 50 Yards.

Its over.

Sanchez can't throw. We will not drive the field in 50 seconds. And if we do Folk will miss.

[Vudu]

Wow I think Folk's kick knocked us down, sorry about that everyone.

GO JETS...

See BP this is a respectable way of addressing the site issue, not calling me a baby and complain about whining and bitching.

[Maxman]

The Iceman came through. Big time! Good job.

[Iceman88]

I start game threads and we ******* win! J-e-t-s jets jets jets. Were gonna rape the pats next week!

[GimmeShelter]

What a win. Sanchez made it much harder than it should have but rebounded some in the 2nd half.

He gets another year to grow but with a better QB we win that game somewhat going away.

Hopefully the kid gets there and I may be guilty of asking too much of him too soon. My issue is there were many completely easy NFL caliber QB throws he missed and he was high on simple pitch and catch plays.

[SoFlaJets]

What a win. Sanchez made it much harder than it should have but rebounded some in the 2nd half.

He gets another year to grow but with a better QB we win that game somewhat going away.

Hopefully the kid gets there and I may be guilty of asking too much of him too soon. My issue is there were many completely easy NFL caliber QB throws he missed and he was high on simple pitch and catch plays.

what sucks is he's going to be rehabbing again this off season-it could be a bad thing/good thing though. Last year he spent a lot more time in Jersey after the knee and it helped keep him in the playbook and the coaches ears

[Guest]

Sanchez is still growing. Will he ever be elite? I don't know but would changing OC next year help or just stall his progress as he has to get used to a new system and playbook? With that said, BS has to adjust some of his play calling to play to Sanchez's strengths!! Throwing that 3rd down bomb when a short dump to LT or Keller would have worked was crazy! I need my meds.

[visajets]

I start game threads and we ******* win! J-e-t-s jets jets jets. Were gonna rape the pats next week!

Agreed and I will block for you next week so you can start the next one. Those other boys need to sit back watch and learn how its done. ***

[Scott Dierking]

Sanchez is still growing. Will he ever be elite? I don't know but would changing OC next year help or just stall his progress as he has to get used to a new system and playbook? With that said, BS has to adjust some of his play calling to play to Sanchez's strengths!! Throwing that 3rd down bomb when a short dump to LT or Keller would have worked was crazy! I need my meds.

The 3rd and 5 call to Braylon (if indeed that was the first read) was a very smart call.

The Colts were sitting on the sticks and had the lanes clogged. Given Sanchez' accuracy issues, completing a slant in a narrow window was a low percentage play.

The Jets asked n athletic WR to make a play one on one and the thing is, the play was wide open.

Sanchez did so poorly that he did not even give his player a chance. That play was higher percentage than a slant, given the coverage and performance of Sanchez to that point.

Good play call, poor execution.

[Iceman88]

The 3rd and 5 call to Braylon (if indeed that was the first read) was a very smart call.

The Colts were sitting on the sticks and had the lanes clogged. Given Sanchez' accuracy issues, completing a slant in a narrow window was a low percentage play.

The Jets asked n athletic WR to make a play one on one and the thing is, the play was wide open.

Sanchez did so poorly that he did not even give his player a chance. That play was higher percentage than a slant, given the coverage and performance of Sanchez to that point.

Good play call, poor execution.

Yup agree 100%. That was probably my favorite play call all game, we were being aggressive going for the knock out punch. The play was perfect except for Sanchez overthrowing it.

[visajets]

Yup agree 100%. That was probably my favorite play call all game, we were being aggressive going for the knock out punch. The play was perfect except for Sanchez overthrowing it.

He overthrew his WRs all night long. But still won the game.

[CTM]

The 3rd and 5 call to Braylon (if indeed that was the first read) was a very smart call.

The Colts were sitting on the sticks and had the lanes clogged. Given Sanchez' accuracy issues, completing a slant in a narrow window was a low percentage play.

The Jets asked n athletic WR to make a play one on one and the thing is, the play was wide open.

Sanchez did so poorly that he did not even give his player a chance. That play was higher percentage than a slant, given the coverage and performance of Sanchez to that point.

Good play call, poor execution.

And it would've never happenned if not for that idiotic Caldwell timeout. THe jets seemed content to run down the clock and kick a 45 ish yard fg, he seemed like he was trying to preserve time for his own try, but it was only second down!!!

On the other side, rex's timeout with 1:02 left was smart and something he probably wouldn't of done last year (thinking his defense would come through). That timeout is what gave us the time to score..

All in all, just a horrible job at time management by the colts at the end imo, after the 2:00 minute warning, from the 48, they complete a 12 yard pass play which sets them up for Vinatieri to win the game. It seemed like they couldn't decide what they wanted to do from here (play for the game winning fg or move closer) and it cost them. After a 12 yard gain, they snapped it quickly and ran Addai for 1 yard and only chewed about 10-12 seconds off playclock. The play call said playing for FG, the clock management said move closer, i know they quick snapped to try and catch us off gaurd or something, but that's the kind of cutesy thing you do with Nick folk as your kicker, not Vinatieri. The next call is a wr screen, another safe call, playing for fg, hoping maybe somethign will break, this time they ran about 26-28 seconds off the play clock, so now they are definitely playing for fg, so why not run down the whole clock? The last play call was one of those roll out - throw it away unless it's there safe patterns which makes no sense given the amount of time/timeouts available and the QB they have. I was surprised, cause i thought the game was over after the 12 yard completion given who we were playing.. they handled it like the detroit lions..

anyway, i thought we were the better team and deserved to win. If not for Sanchez playing some of the worst football I've ever seen for most of the game, we would've been up handidly by that point. Glad the kid put it together at the end, but if he plays this bad next week, we are doomed.

[HT2112]

Good article in SI....

Folk Hero: Jets edge Colts on last-second kick

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Personally, Rex Ryan will take it.

He beat Peyton Manning with a made-for-TV script.

Nick Folk made a 32-yard field goal as time expired Saturday night, finally giving the Jets and their bombastic coach a 17-16 playoff victory over Manning's Colts to wrap up a head-to-head showdown that Ryan called personal.

"I'll tell you what, it feels awesome because this is the playoffs and we're moving on," Ryan said.

Manning, somewhat surprisingly, is not.

After winning four straight to clinch the AFC South, Manning moved the Colts into position for a go-ahead field goal with 53 seconds left. Then the four-time league MVP watched helplessly as the Jets drove down the field for the final time.

It's not the kind of finish Manning, or Ryan, are used to in this series.

"It's certainly disappointing tonight and that's really all you think about tonight," Manning said. "It's disappointing with the way we lost tonight. Any time you lose on a last-second field goal, it certainly stings."

With his main tormentor out of the way, Ryan and his Jets (12-5) head to New England for a third meeting with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick next Sunday; they split during the season, but the Patriots won 45-3 at Foxborough.

The Colts (10-7) beat the Jets for the AFC title a year ago. But both defending conference champs were eliminated from the playoffs Saturday. New Orleans, which beat Indy in last February's Super Bowl, lost at Seattle.

It was a remarkable turn of emotions - and events - for the Colts, who thought they had just beaten Ryan again when Adam Vinatieri made a 50-yard field goal that could have added to Vinatieri's reputation as the best clutch kicker in NFL history.

"You know, he (Manning) is the best," Ryan said, "and he almost did it to us again."

But Antonio Cromartie returned the ensuing kickoff 47 yards and Mark Sanchez needed only five plays to get the Jets into position for the winner.

Manning certainly had chances to beat Ryan again. He was 18 of 26 for 225 yards and one TD and put Vinatieri in position to win it with the eight-play, 48-yard drive.

The mistake Manning made was the one opponents like the Jets usually make against him: leaving too much time on the clock.

"We were certainly trying to pick up that first down at the end, we thought that would make them use some of their timeouts and we could run the clock down," Manning said. "But we didn't pick up the first down and had to settle for the field goal."

The Jets made Manning pay, and when the Colts called timeout with 29 seconds left and the ball at the Indianapolis 32, Sanchez connected with a high pass to Braylon Edwards for an 18-yard completion on the right sideline to the Colts 14.

On the next play, Folk trotted on and won it.

"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."

Manning connected with Pierre Garcon , the star of last year's championship game, on a 57-yard TD pass for the only score of the first half.

LaDainian Tomlinson , considered washed-up by some before the season, carried 16 times for 82 yards and scored on two 1-yard runs to give the Jets their first lead at 14-10 with 9:59 left in the game.

"It's emotional, exciting and all those things at once," Tomlinson said. "We knew it was going to be a dogfight against a great team."

It needed to be after Vinatieri made it 14-13 and then put Indy back in the lead with his longest field goal since making a 51-yarder to beat San Diego on Nov. 23, 2008.

And it looked like Manning would top Ryan again.

But Cromartie, Sanchez, Edwards and Folk didn't let it happen.

"We've been in some close ones this year, but to come out and pull this game out against a great football team, against a great quarterback, it was a Herculean effort," a relieved Ryan said. "I mean really, I'm just thankful for the men I coach. Thankful for the two backs we got, that pounded it in there. Thankful for that coaching staff. Thankful for Nick Folk , and I'm thankful that I finally got to beat Peyton Manning ."

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/gameflash/2011/01/08/4293_recap.html?xid=polarmobile#ixzz1AYPE7QlJ