Only this time, it’s starters versus starters for a whole 60 minutes to determine who wins the AFC

SCOTT JACOBS

Let’s face it: there was just no other way for this to end.

There were too many questions left unanswered the first time.  The second time will be a heck of a lot different.

The Jets and Colts were destined to play each other once more.  It’s not the world’s sexiest matchup, but it was a needed one.  It’s the grandest opportunity to right some wrongs, to clear some slights, and to ultimately see if the Colts didn’t play things right.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you know the story by now:  Up 15-10 early in the third quarter, with an undefeated 14-0 mark on the line, Jim Caldwell pulled out many of his key players, including the franchise, Peyton Manning, basically raising the white flag and allowing the Jets to steamroll Indy the rest of the way en route to a dis-spiritng 29-15 defeat.  The win not only kept New York’s season alive, it gave the Jets the driver’s seat to the playoffs.  After dismantling the Bengals a week later, the Jets found themselves playoff bound.

With the chance to knock them out and preserve their perfect record, the Colts took a pass.  This week, Gang Green comes to town again. The Colts are no longer undefeated, but the stakes are bigger this time.  Much, much bigger.  It’s a winner take all grudge match for all the marbles: a trip to Miami and a berth in the Super Bowl.

With a win, the Colts can put to rest Rex Ryan’s bunch of loud mouths and make his plans for sunny South Florida.  No one will second guess his decision to rest so many starters on that fateful night.  But a loss, and o man, will the sports world be spinning with stories.

Jets beat Colts again, no guarantee needed
No rest is best: Colts lose again
Shoulda, coulda, woulda, but the Jets are still going
Giants who?  Jets show ‘em how you do it
Cald-Fail: This never had to happen

You know the football gods mapped this out all along.  It’s only fitting. Do I think the Jets are the second best team in the AFC right now?  No, but did anyone think the Cardinals were one of the two best teams in the NFC last year?  No.  So what I think doesn’t matter, because the Jets are here and they’re not appologizing for nothing.  While the Saints, Vikings, and Colts can carve up their opposition with potent offensive attacks, the Jets niche is a great running game and the number one defense in the sport.  Defense wins championships, but the 2009 Jets?  The same team that lost to Miami twice in the regular season?  The same team whose coach thought had been eliminated from contention while the season was still going?

Then again, this time last year, it was the Cardinals who were getting those barrage of questions.  Logic be damned.  Get in, and anyone can win.

This time there will be no resting starters, and if you thought the crowd was loud in week 16, wait till you hear ‘em with a Super Bowl berth on the line.  Most people will pick against New York, concluding that the Colts, the clear best team in the AFC all year, should romp to a comfortable victory.  But not so fast– sometimes when you don’t finish off a team when given the chance, it comes back to bite you in your blue backsides, and the Colts certainly don’t want that to happen.

So here we are.  Colts win, and everything goes back to status quo, and the football world will be right again.  But if they lose, well, let’s just say they’ll be hearing about it for a long, long time to come.

And that’s music to the Jets ears.

Photo: Reuters

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