News Archive for Nfl Playoffs

AFC Championship Game Preview: Indianapolis Colts vs. New York Jets

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

There is only one thing that is a certainty in today’s AFC Championship Game, there will be a first-year NFL coach leading one of the team’s in Super Bowl XLIV.  Either the Indianapolis Colts’ Jim Caldwell or the New York Jets’ Rex Ryan will earn the opportunity to possibly become just the third coach in NFL history to win the Super Bowl in their rookie coaching season.

Manning Focused On Another Super Bowl

After that, its anyone’s guess how this game will play out.

The AFC Championship game pits two teams with extremely contrasting styles.  The Colts are a pass-happy squad that plays with finesse on both sides of the ball.  The Jets are a grind-it-out running squad that plays with a smash-mouth attitude for sixty minutes.

These teams met during Week 16 of the season in an infamous game in which the Colts pulled Peyton Manning and other key starters to ensure their health for the playoffs rather than shoot for an undefeated season.  Manning was relieved with the Colts up 15-10, but the Jets would run off 19 unanswered points to end the Colts perfect season.

Thanks to their decision to “forfeit” the game, the Colts catapulted the Jets into the playoffs, leading to a rematch with the top-rated defense in the NFL.

Before leaving the game, Manning was on fire, completing 66% of his passes and accumulating 192 passing yards in just a little over two quarters.  His performance was the most successful of the season by an opposing quarterback against the Jets.  But his removal has sparked lots of questions of whether Manning would have continued that dominance to the end of the game.

The offensive game plan of these two teams are completely predictable.  The Colts will pass the ball.  The Jets will run the ball.  The winner will be decided by which team will deliver its game plan on defense.

What happened in Week 16 is meaningless.

The Jets defense led the NFL by allowing just 153 yards passing per game during the regular season, stunting its opponents with a solid pass rush and terrific man-to-man pass coverage led by All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis.  The Colts offense rated second in the NFL in passing offense despite comfortably winning many of its games during the regular season.

While the Manning to Reggie Wayne combination still rated as tops in the NFL, it was the emergence of newcomers Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon that defined their successful season.  With an expected Revis-Wayne matchup leaning to the Jets, Collie and Garcon must step up in the spotlight to ensure the Colts success on offense.

When the Jets have the ball, they will look to establish the NFL’s top-rated running attack with force.  While the Colts rated 24th overall against the run, their per game 127 rushing yards against is a bit deceiving.  In the two final games when the Colts rested their starters, they gave up 450 rushing yards.  Subtract those two outings, they held opponents to 98 yards per game, good for 8th in the NFL.  And this includes five games against AFC  Pro Bowlers Chris Johnson, Maurice Jones-Drew and Ray Rice.

The AFC Championship game will no doubt be a battle of wills.  Finesse versus Toughness.  Execution versus Attitude.

Expect the Colts to come out on top.  The difference maker will be the seen at the quarterback position.  If the Colts can get out to an early lead and push the Jets to pass the ball, expect Mark Sanchez to finally show that he is a mistake-prone rookie and the Colts will cruise to victory.

Prediction:  Colts 27, Jets 13.

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Posted in Indianapolis Colts, New York Jets, nfl | 3 Comments »

Revis Is The Key To A Jets Playoff Victory

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

The NFL playoffs kickoff today with three repeat matchups from last week, beginning with the most interesting matchup of the weekend between the New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals.  The Jets won last week’s matchup in a 37-0 blowout as the Bengals rested their starters and choose to not give the Jets a glimpse into their playoff gameplan.

Can Revis Shutdown Ochocinco

Can Revis Shutdown Ochocinco

The Jets enter the game with momentum on their side. Left for dead after losing six of seven games during the middle of the season, the Jets closed the season strong, winning five of their last six games to earn their spot in the playoffs.

In contrast, the Bengals are limping into the playoffs after a fast start to the season.  Opening the season with a 7-2 start, the Bengals have been pestered with the injury bug and closed the season with three losses in its final four games.

Last week’s result is meaningless, but should not be completely dismissed.  The Bengals had sewn up their playoff spot and used the game as an exhibition outing to scout the Jets.  Carson Palmer’s 1-11 stink bomb was more than just a rollover showing.  Today’s game will defined by who wins the key matchups, makes the proper adjustments from last week and enforces their gameplan successfully on the other team.

For the Bengals, the keys to victory will be establishing a running game on offense and stuffing the Jets running attack.  On the offensive side of the ball, the matchup between Chad Ochocinco and Darrelle Revis is all but determined.  Revis has shut down every top receiver with relative ease and made his mark as the best cornerback in the NFL.  Cincinnati’s depth at receiver is light, so the Bengals success will ride on the legs of Cedric Benson.

On the defensive side, the Bengals needs to control the line of scrimmage and keep the Jets top-ranked running attack grounded.  With rookie QB Mark Sanchez leading the charge, it is imperative for the Bengals to make Sanchez beat them with his arm.  With a penchant for poor decision making and interceptions in bunches, the Bengals defense can feed off Sanchez if they can keep the Jets consistently in third-and-long situations.

The key to the Jets success is the exact opposite.  They need to get the running game motoring with Thomas Jones and limit Sanchez’s potential errors.  On defense, they need to keep Benson in check.  With LB David Harris ailing from a cheap shot chop block last week by Cincinati’s Brian Leonard, this will be a significant challenge for the Jets defense with him not 100 percent.  The Jets need to make Revis the game decider as they have done numerous times this season, and if they can impose their defensive scheme, they will likely come out on top given Palmer’s lack of receiving options outside of Ochocinco.

The Jets pose a difficult matchup for the Bengals, matching stride for stride where they are strong.  Expect a close game with Revis making the difference in shutting down and hopefully shutting up Ochocinco.

Predicting a Jets victory, 17-13.

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Posted in Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets, nfl | 2 Comments »

Eagles Have Much To Prove In Playoffs

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
Can McNabb Bring Playoff Glory?

Can McNabb Bring Playoff Glory?

The Philadelphia Eagles were rolling to close the season again.   Six straight victories and a first round bye was staring them in the face.   Andy Reid was awarded a contract extension.  Six players named to the Pro Bowl.  Good times.

Then a dose of reality set in down in Dallas with a 24-0 trouncing at the hands of the Cowboys.  The scoreboard was much kinder than what occurred on the field.  The Cowboys rolled up 474 yards against a porous defense. The stats could have been much worse if Dallas had not eased off the gas pedal in the fourth quarter.  The Eagles had no answers, either offensively or defensively against a team considered average by most and primed to the #6 seed.

How could the season unravel so quickly?  One loss drops you from the #2 seed to the #6 seed?  What happened?

The reality is, the Eagles are not a very good team.  Heading into the playoffs, the Eagles are the only team among the 12 playoff teams that don’t have a victory against another playoff team.   The Eagles were 0-4 against playoff teams and hold only one victory against a team with a winning record, the Atlanta Falcons.  And that victory against Atlanta comes with a big asterisk given that Matt Ryan and Michael Turner did not play that day.

So, what it gets down to is that the Eagles have beaten the teams they were supposed to beat and lost to the teams where there was a question mark.  This team lacks mettle.  Their 11-5 record is the product of a soft schedule that afforded them matchups against the bottom feeders of the NFL.  And even with the soft schedule, their defense still rated at the middle of the pack.

The Eagles have two major weaknesses entering the playoff, a lack of a running game and the inability to stop over the middle pass routes.

Opposing defenses have no fear of the running game.  Brian Westbrook is no longer an elite player, LeSean McCoy has shown to be a bust and Leonard Weaver is a fullback that just happens to be their best running back at the moment.  This has allowed defenses to sit back in pass coverage, blitz with recklessness and challenge Donovan McNabb to beat them.

As for the defense, the Eagles have been unable to plug the leak that opened went Stewart Bradley went down with a knee injury in preseason.  The Eagles rotated Joe Mays and Omar Gaither with poor results.  They then pulled Jeremiah Trotter off the scrap heap to no avail.  Then they traded for Will Witherspoon before the trade deadline.  Nothing has fixed the problem.  Opposing tight ends put up Pro Bowl worthy stats against this gaping hole and running backs are feasting on pass routes.

This is not the first time the Eagles have slipped into the NFL Playoffs with a less than deserving squad.  Andy Reid and company always seem to find a way to pull out a win.  But with no quality wins recorded during the regular, it appears the mountain will be much tougher to climb this time around.

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Posted in Dallas Cowboys, Philadephia Eagles, nfl | No Comments »