Thank the Good Lord for the New York Football Jets. I say this because they were the only team capable of producing a watchable Divisional-Round NFL Playoff game. While the Cardinals, Cowboys and Ravens weren’t up to the task of visiting their respective opponents’ home stadiums, the Jets fearlessly strode into San Diego, bent on proving themselves worthy of a rematch with the Indy Colts, who must be the odds-on favorite to win it all, now that the Chargers have been eliminated.
The re-match of the Week 16 debacle in Lucas Oil Stadium is a compelling one. Rex Ryan will no doubt have his team believing that even if the Colts would have kept their starters in the game back about 3 weeks ago, they would have won anyway. The Jets players are buying what Rex Ryan is selling. That should not be taken lightly by anyone interested in seeing the Indianapolis Colts going anywhere past the AFC Championship game.
Before I get in too deep in my love for all things J-E-T-S! Jets! Jets! Jets, I should take a look at some cold, hard stats:
Jets QB Mark Sanchez vs. SD Chargers: 12-23, 100 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 60.1 Passer Rating. Talk about hiding your quarterback. I think I could have done almost as well, given that running game and defense.
The Jets put up 169 yards rushing as a team on Sunday, which doesn’t sound like a whole lot for a team that ranked No. 1 overall in rushing offense during the regular season. But when you put it up against the Chargers’ 61 total rushing yards for the game, it sounds like an awful lot. The Jets were able to control the flow of the game with their rushing attack, popping off almost 4.5 yards at a time.
The Jets’ defense chipped in on the passing game too, holding Phil Rivers to his worst QB Rating of the season at 76.9. While Vincent Jackson got his (7 catches for 111 yards), Jets CB Darrelle Revis kept him out of the endzone and negated his influence on the final score.
It went almost exactly as I thought it would. In fact, I can proudly toot my horn that I went 4-0 this weekend. I finally got around to tallying my total picks record for the year, which added up to be 175-89 (66%). Not bad for the first spin around the ol’ picks wheel. My playoff record may not be as stellar, but I can’t imagine it’s too far off. But I like to think that I sound like I know what I’m talking about.
I can’t take credit for the Vikings-Cowboys prediction that my guy A-Squared did for me this week, but he should be given props for his own brand of clairvoyance, seeing as he predicted a semi-blowout of the Cowboys. It was an all-out ass-whipping, one that every Vikings fan should be proud of given the Purple’s recent history of one-and-dones in the postseason. It was a thorough beat-down of America’s Team. Dallas simply was not ready for the atmosphere. Their defense got picked apart masterfully by Brett Favre and Sydney Rice. The Cowboy offense had no answer to for the pressure applied by the Vikings defensive line. Tony Romo looked flustered, panicked, confused, and ready to go home.
Tony Romo, sometimes you just make it too easy.
How will the Vikings and the Jets fare this week? My late-evening-Monday intuition says that neither will advance, but that could change as the week goes on. I find it hard to imagine the Vikings marching into the first-ever NFC Championship game at the Superdome and walking away with the Halas Trophy. The boost that the Vikings got from their home-dome crowd on Sunday won’t be there to serve as a security blanket for them this weekend. Minnesota hasn’t won on the road since Nov. 1. Their pass defense gave up 275 yards, 4 TD’s and a 107 QB Rating to JAY CUTLER and the Bears only 3 games ago. How can they stand up to the Saints?
The Vikings have played 3 games on the road, in domes, this season: Detroit, St. Louis, and Arizona, who played their game with the roof closed in Pink Taco Stadium or whatever it is. The Vikings fared well against the first two destitute squads, but they got smeared by the Cards, who looked more than inept in getting hammered by this New Orleans team last week. Outside of the first play from scrimmage, the Cardinals couldn’t muster 300 yards of total offensive production and looked like a 2nd-rate team. The Vikings, who are admittedly half the team on the road than they are at home, just don’t stand too much of a chance.
That’s not to say that they won’t win. I’m holding off on my predictions. The Cardinals suffered some critical early injuries in that game, and were already without WR Anquan Boldin. But the Purple will need every inch of every play to beat this team, and given the streakiness of Adrian Peterson and the rest of the offense, look for the Saints to win in convincing fashion against a flawed Minnesota squad.
I will continue to revel in Nate Kaeding’s continued playoff ineptitude. I know it’s blasphemy in some circles for me to root against an Iowa Hawkeye, but that dude was a douchebag when I was in college, and I only hope he continues to show that he just doesn’t have the scrotum necessary to kick in the NFL Playoffs.
Picks to come this week. Much love from FlyingPigskin.com.
contact email: nick.thomas@flyingpigskin.com
