What was supposed to be another wildly unpredictable playoff year is now only unpredictable because of the AFC's New York Jets, the only non-1 or 2 seed remaining. And those zany Jets and their rotund coach, Rex Ryan, have really grown on me. Well, any team that beats the San Diego Chargers is OK by me. The Chargers are the most hateable current team. Year after year, they're pissy and arrogant even though their current Philip Rivers-led configuration hasn't made a Super Bowl, much less won one.
Watching a red-faced Philip Rivers run around screaming at the officials after the Jets' Darrelle Revis hauled in an improbable interception of Rivers, I realized that Rivers is so annoying that I wondered if the Chargers get an extra penalty or two every game because the refs get so sick of being screamed at. Certainly, Vincent Jackson's kick of the challenge flag later on in the game didn't necessarily look like a 15-yard penalty, but who am I to judge? And if I'd been listening to the Chargers whine and complain all day, I'd probably have taken any chance to throw a flag too. They're just that hateable. So now the Jets move on to face another high-powered offence with no running game in the Indianapolis Colts.
Over in the NFC, the championship will be the Resurrection Bowl, for a player (Minnesota's Brett Favre) and a team (the New Orleans Saints) that also stands as a symbol of a city in the process of resurrection (New Orleans, natch). The Saints are a genuine feel-good story, while I guess Favre's a feel-good story if you're a Favre fan. I myself am not, though I do have to give him props for having the best statistical season of his career at the age of 87.
Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints: I don't trust the Vikings because I don't trust Brad Childress to coach worth a damn. And the Saints have an actual Dome advantage if their fans can scream really, really loudly -- that should disrupt the Vikings' offence, while the silence during Saints' offensive plays should work to slow down the Vikings' line compared to their suffocating home-field performance against Dallas last week. Also, I don't think the Saints will miss what was it two, three field goals? WTF is up with field-goal kickers this post-season? They're playing like it's 1969. New Orleans Saints 38, Minnesota Vikings 27.
New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts: And here we have Irony Bowl. The Jets are probably in the playoffs because the Colts decided to take a knee on the remainder of their season during their game with the Jets in Week 16, pulling the starters midway through the third quarter with a 15-10 lead. The Jets came back to win and The Legend of Rex Ryan was born. Prior to The Longest Knee, the two teams had played close -- the Colts had required a return TD to go ahead. The closeness of this game, like pretty much every game this playoffs, will depend on turnovers or the lack thereof. The Jets' superior running game can beat a high-scoring team if the #1 defence creates turnovers and the offence avoids them. And the opposing team misses makeable field goals. I don't think the Colts are going to miss field goals from 40 yards and in the way the Bengals and Chargers did -- Matt Stover may be a hundred years old, but he's played well in the playoffs before and he seems automatic from 40 and in. Operative word this playoffs: 'seems'. I'd like the Jets to win, but they need a lot more things to break just right than the Colts do. Indianapolis Colts 23, New York Jets 16.
Record to date: 4-4 (1-3 Wild Card round, 3-1 Divisional Round)
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