All Good Things...

For 27 minutes yesterday, I was convinced the New York Jets were going to the Super Bowl. The defense had done an admirable, effective job containing Peyton Manning, sacking him twice in the first quarter, knocking him out of sync. And Mark Sanchez, the Jets’ embattled rookie quarterback, looked good, Super Bowl good. When Sanchez found Dustin Keller in the end zone near the end of the first half, the Jets were up 17-6, seemingly in control. 30+ minutes away from the Super Bowl

But then Peyton Manning remembered he was Peyton Manning. From right before the end of the first half to the final gun, Manning was, in a word, magnificent. Truly. In 80 seconds, Manning changed the game, marching the Colts the length of the field for a quick-strike touchdown. A drive that included a spectacular, impossible 46-yard strike to Austin Collie, which somehow zipped past the outstretched fingers of Jets cornerback Drew Coleman. A perfect throw.

A few plays later, the score was 17-13 Jets; it just felt like 23-10 Colts. The bar crowd was uneasy. I was nervous, holding out hope that the Jets would make adjustments at the half to contain a suddenly dangerous Manning. "Why not?" I reasoned. "They held Phillip Rivers to negligible yardage in the third quarter of the divisional game last week. They could do it again." My friend Garcia arched his eyebrow and said ominously, "I don’t know man. Peyton Manning is not Phillip Rivers."

I hate being wrong. The second half, I have to admit, was kind of a blur. Shonn Greene’s injury. Feely’s second miss. Short field. Pierre Garcon. Austin Collie. Peyton Manning. Peyton Manning again. And Peyton Manning once more for good measure. Rex Ryan and the Jets’ D threw everything they had at him. Man-to-man. Zone. Blitzes. Nothing mattered. Manning had an answer for everything. A truly remarkable, clinical performance by one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game.

In the end, the Jets fell 30-17 to a superior Colts team. That’s it. That’s the story of the game, really. I’m not surprised. Disappointed, yes. But not surprised. A few things here and there kept me awake last night. The early groin injury to Donald Strickland. The aforementioned rib injury to Shonn Greene. Ryan’s decision to try the field goal instead of punting. Reggie Wayne second-half fumble that bounced three times on the turf before landing back in his gut. If just two of things, I told myself last night around 4 a.m., had played out differently, Gang Green might have been able to pull off another upset. In the clear light of the morning, though, I realize the Jets, for all their recent success, just aren’t as good as the Colts. That’s not a knock. It’s just the truth.

BEN:

Finally, a good day of NFL playoffs. I asked for the teams to leave it all on the field, and every one of them did. Clearly a tough loss for the Jets, but Rex Ryan will be predicting a division win in 2010 before you know it. And it's like you said--they were outmatched by a superior opponent.

I don't know what's left to say about Peyton Manning. That guy is a beast. It's not just about distributing the ball away from Wayne and Clark, against whom the Jets were clearly prepared; it's about his level of understanding of the defense. I don't think Manning's slow start was as much attributable to poor execution/bad luck as to a learning curve; he was just figuring out what they were up to.

One of the favorite talking points of commentators during this Jets playoff run has been the success of rushing/defensive teams come playoff time; they'll often add, with a note of lamentation, that the NFL "these days" is a passing league. It may be much to the dismay of certain commentators, who grew up on the old NFL, where passing was a novelty and running the lifeblood of a team; but I don't think there's any question that elite quarterbacks are the single best predictor of wins in this league. And Manning is the best of the best.

But grieving Jets fans need look no further than the NFC Championship game to find out just how easy they have it. Losing by 13, with the momentum shifting before halftime? It's a luxury cruise compared to what happened to the Vikings. Seemingly hundreds of fumbles, a wild, up-and-down game for 3.99 quarters, only to arrive at the edge of field goal range, with the score tied and 20 seconds left. What more could you ask?

Well, you could ask for one fewer idiot penalty and something, ANYTHING, as an alternative to Favre's absurdly poor decision to heave the ball back across the field, into traffic, against a ball-hawking defense, on the final play where he could possibly have screwed it up for the kicker, resulting in the overtime-clinching interception.

As many Jets fans will remember, this is the third consecutive season in which Favre has eliminated his own team by throwing an interception as his final act. The golden arm giveth, and the golden arm taketh away.

Favre's 4th-quarter mistake not only dashed his teams' Super Bowl dreams but threw into question the whole future of the organization. Favre seems headed for retirement (again), and let's just say there's some question about his successor. Much of the team is intact, but this team just isn't the same without a strong QB.

The Jets have one or two aging players--Alan Faneca and Thomas Jones probably being the most likely to depreciate--but on the whole they're a young team with a lot of talent. And you know I don't like saying that.

Just be grateful you didn't have to hear this. I'm sorry, Vikings fans, I really am.