At first glance, a Jets and Colts matchup for the Super Bowl doesn't exactly excite me. I knew from the minute the Jets eliminated the Chargers, I would have to talk myself into this being an exciting matchup. Luckily for me, it will be easier to talk myself into this rather than talking myself into liking Chan Gailey as the Bills Head Coach.

Last week, the Colts eliminated the Ravens with the same kind of boring precision that allowed them to go 14-0 before throwing away their perfect season in the last two weeks. I credit this to myself for changing my pick to favor Baltimore at the last second. I obviously have the magic touch. With only three games remaining in the postseason, I think I'm officially going for the 0-11 record. I was in Detroit this past weekend and even made the point of riding the Detroit People Mover across town so I could see Ford Field. When attempting a winless record, I have to pull out all the stops. I wish I was kidding but I'm really not.

Anyways, back to the Colts. Even as they were up 17-3 at halftime, I had the sneaking suspicion that the Ravens could make this into a game. I suppose this was wishful thinking because I should've known Joe Flacco wasn't going to all of a sudden put together a good half of football. When your starting quarterback goes a combined 24 for 45, 223 yards, zero touchdowns, and three interceptions in the first two rounds of the playoffs, you're probably not thinking about the Super Bowl anymore. To be honest, I like Flacco and have nothing against him, but he was horrendous this postseason.

If this game was ever in doubt; that officially ended when the Colts took a 20-3 lead on a drive where Peyton Manning threw not one, but two interceptions to Ed Reed and still maintained possession. The first interception was nullified by a great play from Pierre Garcon. Its plays like that from lesser known players that separate the good teams and the bad teams. The second interception was cancelled out by the stupidity of the Ravens, which seemed to haunt them multiple times this season. I seem to remember a game against Pittsburgh that Baltimore eventually lost, mostly because of multiple penalties that continuously took points off the board.

The Jets game was a different story. I ignored all looming thoughts of the Jets stealing another playoff game from the Chargers because I figured this San Diego team was different. For one, they were 13-3 and riding an 11 game winning streak. Two, I didn't think Nate Kaeding would miss as many field goals in one game as he did for the entire 2009 season. However, that is exactly what happened. The Chargers played into the hands of New York for the entire afternoon until it finally bit them and ended their season. The Chargers game plan should've been extremely simple. Get an early double digit lead and force Mark Sanchez to win the game with his arm. Instead, the Chargers took a 7-0 lead and seemed content with that. To be fair, had Kaeding made his first two field goal attempts, the lead would've been 13-0 and we may not be discussing this at all.

The Jets game plan was executed almost perfectly. Rely on their defense to hold them in the game and wait for San Diego to make one costly mistake. With a 7-3 lead, Phillip Rivers did exactly that when he threw one of the worst interceptions that I have ever seen not thrown by a guy with the last name of Sanchez. The Jets promptly took a 10-7 off the turnover and never looked back. While trying to grind out some more time on the clock, Shonn Greene did more than that when he broke off a 53 yard touchdown run and simultaneously ended the Chargers season and the Thomas Jones era in New York.

What followed this sequence was a perfect display of why coaching matters the most in the playoffs. At this point in the game, the Chargers were down 17-7 and would remain down by 10 after Kaeding's third miss of the afternoon. So for what it's worth, the Chargers were finished. But still, Rivers was able to rally the offense and cut the lead to 17-14 with just over two minutes remaining and one timeout left. Common sense would dictate that the Chargers kick it deep and simply stop the run. Even with only one timeout, they have the two minute warning on their side and could have easily forced a Jets punt with over one minute remaining in the game. Seeing that the Jets punter wasn't exactly on his game, the Chargers could've easily put themselves in position to kick a game tying field goal. Of course, that would have required Nate Kaeding to actually make a field goal, but you still have to take that chance.

Instead, Norv Turner calls for the onside kick and the Jets predictably recover the ball. They are stopped all three times before facing a fourth down. Seeing that the Jets were already deep enough into Charger territory to risk losing the ball, Rex Ryan calls for them to go for it and they easily get the first. Game over. Take that entire sequence, but place it down inside the Charger 30 yard line and the Jets are definitely punting the ball and giving Rivers one more shot to go down the field. This was an awful decision the second Turner made it and it remains an awful decision after the fact. And for those who think I might be piling on Turner, check my Twitter, I tweeted at that exact moment that it was a horrendous call.

And so here we stand. We have the Colts and the Jets with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. If you would've told me that the Jets would be playing in the AFC Championship game before the season had started, I would've bet my life savings against it. Maybe there is something to Rex Ryan and has inflated sense of confidence in his team.

The team that ended the perfect season for Indianapolis now has a chance to ruin their Super Bowl dreams as well. Here is some food for thought. The Colts yanked their starters against the Jets because the Colts were concerned with keeping everyone healthy for a potential Super Bowl run and didn't seem to care about the perfect season. When they pulled the starters, it allowed the Jets to win and pretty much allowed them to cakewalk into the playoffs. Now the Jets have a chance to beat them again and completely finish their season. Had the Colts actually tried for the perfect season, they would've beaten the Jets, the Jets wouldn't have made the playoffs, and this scenario would've never played out. Football works in mysterious ways sometimes.

Continuing with the Jets trend this postseason, I expect a low scoring game that will start to favor New York as time goes by. The biggest factor in this will be the play of Mark Sanchez, or more like how the Jets will keep him under control. If they are smart, they keep the game plan close to the same as the past two weeks and limit his opportunities to throw at a minimum. I highlighted this in my Brian Schottenheimer article, but when the Jets start to pass the ball more and get away from a clock controlling ground game, they almost always lose. This is kind of stating the obvious, but in every single playoff game so far this year, the team with the least amount of turnovers has won the game.

Then again, the Colts could do what the Chargers failed to do and get a decent sized lead early and then just pick Sanchez apart. If there is one thing Peyton Manning is good at, it's marching right down the field for the early lead. As it stands now, it really could go either way. My pick would definitely be better served if it was made after the first quarter and I could accurately judge how this game will go.

I'd like to say the Colts will need a good running game to win, but I just don't think that is true. In the wild card round, the Jets allowed the Bengals to rush for 171 yards and still won with relative ease. Last week against Baltimore, the Colts ran for a whopping 42 yards on 25 carries, and the game was never really in doubt. Normally I would say that a solid running game is the most important part of winning, but I'm starting to think that having a QB like Peyton Manning simply renders that point obsolete.

Contrary to popular belief, the Jets can be beat through the air. If Reggie Wayne is nullified by Darrelle Revis, that simply leaves Dallas Clark, Austin Collie, and Pierre Garcon open to make plenty of plays. Last Sunday against New York, Rivers did throw the ball for 298 yards. Vincent Jackson caught seven passes for 111 yards, Antonio Gates caught eight passes for 93 yards, and six other players contributed with at least one reception. On the flip side, Mark Sanchez cannot win this game on his own. If the Colts can hold the Jets to under 100 rushing yards, they will win the game. I know it isn't totally fair to refer back to the meeting in Week 16 because of the circumstances surrounding the game, but I will anyways. The Jets ran the ball for 202 yards that day while Sanchez only attempted 19 passes. I can't reiterate this enough. It is not a coincidence. Sanchez will not win the game for the Jets, but he absolutely will lose the game for them.

With all that being said, the Jets just beat one of the hottest teams in the NFL, and even if they lose this Sunday, it will be a very close game. Unfortunately for me and the rest of America, I see the Jets actually winning this game and finally returning to the Super Bowl. Cue the Joe Namath footage. Err…I mean cue the Joe Namath Super Bowl footage, not the Joe Namath sloppy drunk "I want to kiss you" footage.

My Pick: New York Jets (+7.5) over Indianapolis Colts



NFC Championship:

Minnesota Vikings (+4) over New Orleans Saints



Sanchez! Favre! It's Super Bowl XILV!!