NFL Playoffs Wild Card Recap: Jets 17, Colts 16

I think his running was pretty ineffective too. He can’t cut to hit a hole.. He only seems to be able to follow his blockers. He may be a great blocker, but he is really not much of a RB

I agree with your overall assessment. I think in the end losing most of our starting secondary, 3 wide receivers ( i include Clark there) and having 2 rookie LB’s was just too much to overcome.

I was glad to see how well linkenbach did. I almost choked when collinsworth said without Diem we were missing our best lineman. I really didn’t notice a difference between linkenbach and Diem.

I do really question the officiating yesterday. The refs were NO where to be found. I think the only thing they called were false starts and that one poor penalty on Taj Smith for running into the kicker(who really did his best soccer dive). NO hold NO pass interference NOTHING> And they claim the calls don’t change in the playoffs.

Given the plethora of injuries we had.. Even making the playoffs and keeping the game that close was a great job..I’d rather be the colts this morning than the Saints…

How is it possible to be so bad for so long? Clearly some sort of conspiracy is going on here….

Somebody get Jesse Ventura on the case.

From the first series the Colts defense took the field, one had to know this was a game Indy would lose.

But yet it was Caldwell’s time-out in the waning seconds of the game that lost it. Huh. The fickle finger of blame strikes again.

But I am proud of what we were able to make of it considering all of the bad bounces we had to overcome. Every year is superbowl or bust and we all should have realized at the end of October that there was no way this team was winning the superbowl this year.

Changes need to be made. We need a nice draft pick/off-season this year, get healthy, and go win the super bowl in our own stadium next year. BBS summed it up perfectly. This simply was not an Indianapolis Colts season. Maybe we won’t have 20 guys on IR next year.

Caldwell will be back for another year, if for no other reason than Irsay is not going to want to pay two coaches to sit during the lockout.

Special teams certainly need to be reevaluated, as do the OC and DC positions.

This morning I am disappointed, but not depressed, as the number of young players who had to step up this year will be of great benefit when the Colts next take the field.

Now lets start with the mock drafts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

How about not knocking our 9th consecutive playoff appearance BBS? I’d much rather be reeling from a loss this week than know our guys we’re sitting at home last week watching Jacksonville prepare for the Playoffs. My standards for the Colts are as high as anybody’s but just because they don’t achieve the final result I’d hoped for doesn’t mean I don’t take pride in what has already been accomplished by this team. If you’d rather not make the playoffs, that’s your problem.
Caldwell’s Timeout call was inconsequential, if you want to bash a coach’s timeout management try Ryan’s burning one just before the booth reviewed Braylon Edward’s catch.
It did appear that the Jets changed their gameplan after the half but that really should have been their plan of attack in the first place. They’ve got two horses in the backfield and Sanchez was wildly overthrowing balls be it because of is shoulder or not.
Also Hughes played as much in the 2nd Half as I’d seen all season. Not sure what you were watching. Speaking of which, I don’t see how you blame McAfee for the big kick returns when he placed the kickoff on the one yard line. At some point it becomes the responsibility of the coverage team (which Hughes is a part of if you’re paying attention).
Here’s what I saw last night…
-For as bad as our run defense was, we knew that coming in. I was really shocked by our lack of any kind of pass rush. And our one sack came by everyone’s favorite whipping boy, Daniel Muir.
-Absolutely cannot say how impressed I was with Kavell Conner. We all love Brackett and Angerer has impressed all season but none of our LB’s played downhill the way Conner did against the Jets. He was absolutely all over the field and was bringing bad intentions with him. If I saw a big hit I knew exactly who it was whether I could make out 53 or not.
-I’ve gotta believe we when this game with either Hayden or Powers healthy. Sanchez was 18-31 picking on our 3rd and 4th CB’s. Tryon was great for the most part it’s hard to argue that. But Lacey was outmatched and Cornelius Brown might as well have been Charlie Brown trying to cover Santonio Holmes.
-The line wasn’t awful. The pass protection was outstanding really. The one sack came at the end of the half when Peyton simply took a slide. This is a far cry from the Cowboys and Chargers games when Peyton was getting harassed and consequentially throwing up INTs. Their run blocking still wasn’t great. obviously. Pollak looked solid and Linkenbach held is own so we can’t blame it on that. The Jets just outmuscled us from the start, Saturday included. This should come as no surprise because the Jets are simply built differently than we are.
That’s all I got for now.

This game is such a great example of why you cannot judge a QB by how many wins or losses he has in the playoffs. And that the best TEAM wins (not the best QB). Does anyone believe for a second that Sanchez is as good a QB as Manning is? Of course not. Likewise, can anyone make an argument that Sanchez played better (In This Game) than Manning did? Of course not! Just take a look at their stats:

[Sanchez: 18-31 (58.1%), Manning: 18-26 69.2%)] – [Sanchez: 6.1 yard avg, Manning: 8.7 yard avg] – [Sanchez: 62.4 QB Rating, Manning: 108.7 QB Rating] – [Sanchez: 0 TD 1 INT, Manning: 1 TD 0 INT]

It is blatantly obvious that Manning significantly out played Sanchez in every facet of the game, yet his team still lost. The bottom line is this: Come January everything gets magnified to such a high degree, that if you do not play well as a team, you are not going to win the game. It is just that simple. And like Dan Marino before him, more times than not Peyton Manning has not had the better team!

More than six tackles, or the equivalent for his position.

Garcon 5 catch 112yards and TD. And I know 2 of those catches were on important 3rd downs and he did not drop a pass all night.

but disagree with criticism of Pat McAfee. He consistently booted kickoffs five yards deep into the endzone. What else is he supposed to do? He hasn’t hit one out the back of the endzone all year to my recollection, so it would be unrealistic to expect that. This was McAfee’s best kicking performance since his suspension, really.

No way I blame McAfee for any of it. That’s on inept special teams coverage, not the kicker.

Can you do an article on what you believe some of the off-season moves the Colts will need to make or might make in 2011? I would love to see your insight on this matter. No offense to everyone who did recent fan post but, I think its hard to make predictions without any sources.