Being I gave you such an intense preview of the games this weekend (and not to brag, but pretty accurate previews (actually yes to brag)), we'll do a quick recap of the games.
Indianapolis Colts 30, New York Jets 17
This was a great game, despite the score sitting 13 points apart. The Jets played great in the first half. They got pressure early. They moved the ball through the air on the early downs using a great balance of their running backs and play action, and they took a 17-7 lead into the last two minutes of the first half.
That is when the game turned. Peyton tore down the field, using three passes to Austin Collie to close the gap to three. Rex Ryan made great adjustments at the half of the Charger game to create pressure on Phil Rivers. This time, it was Jim Caldwell and Co. that made adjustments. After 30 minutes of being abused by the Jet blitz, Peyton started to read and the O-line did a great job reacting. The Colts got enough out of the running/short-passing game to be balanced, and Manning made some perfect throws in near perfect coverage.
The Jets could have put together any defensive scheme they wanted, it is impossible to account for the abilities and intelligence of Peyton Manning when he is rolling.
Player of the Game: I used hustle and battling adversity as the reason to give Pierre Garcon POTG last week. This week he added 11 catches for 151 yards and a TD, a game-changing performance. I said that the Jets would need to shut down the two edge receivers to stop the Colts, allowing more men to cover the interior of Collie and Clark. Revis did his job on Wayne, but Garcon wouldn't let that happen on the other side, exploding for a huge game and opening up things for Austin Collie, who gets honorable mention (along with that QB). Also, if no one saw it, special mention to Pierre Garcon for having the most bad-ass mouthpiece (he has vampire teeth drawn on. it looks sweet. unfortunately i couldn't find a picture, but look for it in the super bowl).
New Orleans Saints 31, Minnesota Vikings 28 (OT)
This game can be summed up with one stat. Fumbles: NO: 1 lost (3 total); Minn: 3 lost (6 total!). I mentioned AP's propensity for fumbling in the preview. Even I didn't imagine this onslaught of greasy fingered crap by the Vikings. I figured one big turnover would be the difference. The Vikings made sure that wasn't the case, turning it over 5 times. You can say all you want about the Favre pick at the end of the half. In my opinion, a 55 yard field goal was too long for 36 year old Ryan Longwell. He would have had to match his career long. As for Favre running it, sure it was on option. He might have had a few yards to gain, but if you saw him limping around all 4th quarter after Bobby McCray hit him in the knee, you should understand why he'd shy away from that play. So rather than risking injuring his leg further or getting walloped by trying to run, he tried to make something happen, and failed. He still gave his team a chance to win the game in overtime, despite the fact his team couldn't hold a football and the game shouldn't have been that close in the first place. Favre proved a lot of people wrong this season and had a great year (and I'm no Favre fan). As for the game, outside of the turnovers, I thought Minnesota was the better team on both sides of the ball. They threw the ball better, ran the ball better, played better defense in pretty much all areas. However, turnovers will often tell the story of a football game, and this time the story was:
Saints 1, Vikings 5
Player of the Game: Jabari Greer: This was really not a game of standout players. If he could hold onto the football AP would be a decent choice. Pierre Thomas gets honorable mention. However, I go with Jabari Greer. His personal stat line is fine 8 tackles (7 solo) and 2 passes defensed, but I will give you this stat line instead. Sidney Rice: 4 catches, 43 yards 1 TD. If you were wondering all game where Sidney Rice was (APT certainly was), Jabari Greer knew exactly where he was, so ask him. Every time the Vikings made a play down field, Tracy Porter was standing beside the open receiver. The Vikes picked on him all day, because Greer took care of his business.
Stay tuned for an intense super bowl preview to come...
APT
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