Sub .500 teams shocking the world, Rex Ryan knocking out the Colts. A crazy day one of Wild Card weekend for the ages

SCOTT JACOBS

Well how’s that for an opening act to the NFL post-season.

Nick Folk kicked a game winning 32 yard field goal and the Jets shocked the Colts as time expired to put the curtains on a fantastic day one of the 2011 NFL playoffs. Surprising? You could say that. In a matter of a little over 7 hours, both of last years Super Bowl participants were knocked out of the post-season.

The Jets were a popular pick to finally take out the Colts, but it took all 60 minutes in a sluggish, defensive battle. To watch the defending Super Bowl champion Saints get kicked right out of the Wild Card round by a team that couldn’t win more games then it lost? Well that was shocking.

Seattle was the team that came out of the NFL’s punching bag division, the NFC West, and most people had them being an easy one and done victim, but backed by a raucous 12th man and a spirited return to youth from Matt Hasselbeck, the Seahawks and their fiery coach Pete Carrol put up 41 points to win a shootout at the OK Corral.

But the play of the day had to be Marshawn Lynch’s remarkable 67 yard run. To pull off a true shocker– and make no mistake about it, this one was a stunner — you have to get that “woah” play from that guy you wouldn’t expect. Seattle got it from Lynch. Breaking tackle after tackle en route to the clinching touchdown in a “did you see that” bulldozer across the field, Lynch salted away one of the NFL playoffs’ greatest upsets, sending an already deafening Emerald City crowd into pure bedlam.

While the tackling was shoddy to say the least and New Orleans’ secondary was atrocious, the Seabags were not handed their win. Hasselbeck showed impressive touch (and the footwork that made him one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks only a handful of years ago) and Seattle milked 151 rushing yards out of Lynch and Justin Forcett, to give them a balanced enough attack to eat up New Orleans usually ball hawking defense alive.

And although Drew Brees did everything he could to bring back the Saints, it didn’t happen. It just wasn’t New Orleans’ day. Nowhere was that more evident than Garrett Hartley’s brutally bad onside kick, which went nearly 20 yards and gave the Saints no shot to recover.

Since 2005 the NFC West is 9-5 in the playoffs, the best mark in the NFL, so maybe all that scrutiny the division takes just makes it stronger.

7-9, now 8-9.  Chew on this: Seattle would have to win the Super Bowl to finish the season with a winning record. Now that’s amazing. Not that I see them getting to the Super Bowl, but then again who saw Arizona advancing out of the NFC just 2 years ago with a 9-7 mark.  So who knows. As our resident pickatologist Mike Kaye said, “crazier things have happened.”

Then there was the Jets, who finally beat their arch-rival Indianapolis. In a first half that was about as exciting as watching paint dry, Caldwell and friends dictated the kind of pace this one would have, when they opted not to take one last crack at a field goal before the half expired.

The Colts just didn’t look themselves. Up 10-7 with a 3rd and 7 inside the Jets red zone, Indy ran the ball, basically playing Sparano ball and settling for a field goal. It was atypical of a Colts team that usually never takes the easy way out. But this game was different. This season was different. Injuries clearly took their toll on Manning and Indy, and their lack of big play threats really cost them in the end.

The Jets had a critical time eating drive that really demoralized the locals and kept Manning glued to the bench. Down 10-7, the Jets held onto the ball for nearly 10 minutes, using 17 plays to navigate themselves 87 yards into the endzone. But with a chance to end it, New York couldn’t convert on a pair of third and 5’s, and the Colts got the ball back with one last chance to win.

But even when AdamVinatieri hit a 50 yarder in typical “damn it he’s so clutch” fashion, the Colts left almost a minute left. Again not typical. And when Antonio Cromartie who was beat badly on a few big plays, returned the ball 47 yards on the ensuing kickoff (setting up the Jets in prime position for a game winning drive) you just had that feeling that something big was about to happen. Calmly marching his team down the field using their two timeouts and Braylon Edwards’ hands, Mark Sanchez got the Jets all the way down to the Colts 14 yard line, giving Nick Folk an easy chip shot kick to stun the Lucas Oil Stadium crowd.

There was no doubt about it.

And just like that, Indy was gone.

It was a wild and crazy day of football to say the least, and in a round with “wild” in its name, today lived up to the hype.

Photo: Getty

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