NFL – New York Jets defeat the Indianapolis Colts with last minute field goal

The Jets and the Colts have had a great season. At 11-5 for the season the Jets managed to get their act together and with a little luck were able to defeat Peyton Manning and the Colts at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Let’s give credit to Manning and Co. because it really has to be a painful experience to lose a playoffs game by a last-second field goal. And it must be really nerve breaking for Manning to have left the field with a winning margin and only 53 seconds left in the clock for the Jets to put in together a play.

Peyton Manning was a vital part of the team that was able to link 4 wins late in the season to secure their wild card berth by winning the AFC South with a 10-6 record. Manning worked his magic on the field completing 18 of 26 attempts for 228 yards and 1 touchdown with no interceptions. Actually, Manning move the Indianapolis Colts into position to hold off the Jets and take a 16-14 win.

Manning had arguably the best clutch kicker in the NFL history -Adam Vinatieri- by his side. He left his star kicker in position to win the game with the eight-play 48-yard drive that finished with Vinatieri’s 50-yard field goal. If you see the tape, you would realize that Adam could have kicked the ball from 60 yards away and it would still have been a clean goal.

By now, the 4-time league MVP should now that 53 seconds is too much time for an offense like the Jets. And the Jets made Manning pay for his only mistake of the game. Most fans in the Lucas Field Stadium were not expecting much from the Jets after Vinatieri seemed for a moment to have broken down the Jets’ spirit.  And yet Mark Sanchez and his men had enough left in their legs to put on one heck of a play.

First Antonio Cromartie returned the following kickoff 47 yards. From there on Mark Sanchez needed only 5 plays to get the New York Jets in position for the winning field goal. When the Colts called timeout with 29 seconds left and the ball at the Indianapolis 32 it really seemed that the game would be played until the last minute. But then the magic happened: Sanchez connected with a high pass to Braylon Edwards for an 18-yard completion into the Colts 14.

Then it was all in the hands, actually in the feet, of the Jets’ starting kicker Nick Folk. From 32-yards away Folk completed a beautifully executed field goal as the game ran out of time. That was just enough to give the Jets their well-deserve payback from last seasons’ playoffs as the team took a 17-16 win on the road over the Indianapolis Colts.

The New York Jets will now face no other than Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on Sunday. Head coach Rex Ryan will try to keep up the momentum as they face the Pats. This would be the third match-up of the season between both teams. The season games had gone one a piece, but it is hard to forget that on December 6 the Patriots manhandled the Jets by 45-3 at New England. This will make up for an interesting matchup for this weekend.

Indianapolis Colts bounced back from a 3 game slump

Thursday night, Peyton Manning went back to been Peyton Manning as he guided the Indianapolis Colts with a 319 yards and 2 touchdown performance in the team’s 30-28 win against the Tennessee Titans. The Titans’ D had to deal with vintage-like Manning as he was brilliant completing 25 of 35 passes to match Dan Marino’s record as he also hit his 63rd 300-yard-game. At 7-6, the Colts’ hopes of making into the playoffs are still alive.

It has been a while since the Indianapolis Colts head coach, Jim Caldwell, walked out of the field with a grim smile on his face. The Colts, the almighty Indianapolis Colts had been struggling significantly during their last three games. First came their visit to the New England Patriots where Tom Brady and Co. brought in their A-game and defeated the Colts by 31-28. Then the Colts went back to Lucas Oil Stadium and faced the San Diego Chargers which whooped them on their own field by 36-14, and as if that wasn’t enough, on the following week, they hosted the Dallas Cowboys who took them to overtime on the Cowboys 38-35 win. Suddenly, the Colts where seriously jeopardizing their chances of making it into the NFL Playoffs.

At 6-6, right before their game against their Thursday game against the Tennessee Titans, the Colts where in a serious need to turn this game into a winner and finally but an end to a 3 game slump. Who’s to blame? Well, it get’s tricky. An easy answer would be to take a look at the Colts Quarterback. Peyton Manning had a series of under-par performances that where critically affecting the Colts’ chances of winning games.

Against New England, Peyton Manning recorded 38 of 52 for 396 yards and 4 touchdowns. It could have been a brilliant game, had he not been picked 3 times during the game. Those 3 interceptions finally gave the win to the Pats. On the following game, playing at home, one would have guessed that Manning was going to bring on his A-game but against San Diego, Manning completed 31 of 48 for 285 yards, connecting two touchdowns but suffering 4 interceptions. There’s no way you can suffer 4 interceptions in an NFL game and somehow managed to win it. Then came the Dallas Cowboys. He completed 36 of 48 passes for a very decent 365 yards and two touchdown passes. And yet againt, the Cowboys defense was capable of picking up 4 of Manning’s passes.

So just in case you where not following the math, up to last Thursday game, Peyton Manning had thrown 11 interceptions in his last 3 games. That’s almost 4 times the number of picks he had for the entire season. Now, if Manning wanted to make a comeback and guide his team into a winning game, it had to be the Titans.

For the Titans, Kerry Collins completed 28 of 39 for 244 yards 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. The Titans managed to rally back into the game, but time ran out before they could seriously affect the Colt’s win. The Titans have now recorded their 6th consecutive lost. Things are not looking great for the Titans this season. Offense, Defense, Special Teams