My comments on the Jets-Colts

This is why the Jets are the Chicago Cubs of football. Let me recap my Sunday afternoon.

I get home around 11:30 from church and head downstairs to watch a few minutes of the Jets games before I have to leave for volleyball. So on the Jets first possession, our All-World tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson lets Robert Mathis run over Chad Pennington like a steamroller. Fumble. Colts recover on the Jet 26. Four plays later, touchdown. 7-0. The Jets get the ball back and get minus yardage. They punt, I leave for the match. Volleyball was a disaster today, but that aside, back to the game.

I pull into the house around 2:15 and go downstairs expecting a 28-3 score or something like that. I find out the Colts are only ahead 17-14. I was amazed. Jerricho Cotchery had an amazing touchdown run where he ran over one of the Colt defenders. What I didn't know was the Jets had a 9 minute drive in the third quarter where they had 4th and goal from the 2 yard line. Eric Mangini decides to go for it. Colts play the play action attempt perfectly. Ball gets intercepted.

I tune in just in time to see Kevin Barlow (who I was playing against in fantasy football) score his second TD of the game! Figures. 21-17 Jets, 8 minutes left. I knew the Colts would likely score. They go on a 5 minute drive. Manning completes 5 of 6 passes, throwing a 2-yard TD on a 3rd down play where he looked for sure like he was getting sacked. Colts lead.

But we had time and I felt we had a chance. I just didn't want to see the Colt offense on the field again. Justin Miller takes the kickoff from inside the 2-yard line and returns it all the way for a touchdown. I was going absolutely nuts in the basement. I can only imagine how loud Giants Stadium was for those few minutes. 28-24 Jets. Colts have no timeouts left.

Then our immortal kicker Mike Nugent steps up. For the second kick in a row, he can't even get the ball to the 10-yard line. This was a second round pick and his kickoffs suck. No other way to say it. They suck. The Colts return it 30 yards to their own 40. I knew right there the Colts were scoring a TD. Sure enough, Manning completed 6 of 8 passes and ran for a 1-yard TD. 31-28. I almost expected that. So 50 seconds left. The Jets need a field goal to tie and they have a timeout.

First, CBS shows a horrible diagonal camera angle from above the stadium. Then Indy tried a rolling squib kick. It bounces past every Jet and into the end zone. Our rookie RB, Leon Washington picks the ball up inside the end zone and instead of taking a knee, which would put the ball at the 20, he runs it out and gets stopped at the 2 yard line. 18 more yards to go! This is where I lost it. I screamed like I have not screamed during a game in years. I was not this angry when the Jets lost to Pittsburgh in the playoffs, when the Mets lost the World Series or to the Braves, or when the Rangers got swept by the Devils. Probably the last time was during the Giants miracle collapse in the playoffs against San Francisco 4 years ago.

Pennington completes 3 short passes and we had 8 seconds with 68 yards to go. They pull off the old Cal-Stanford play with about 9 or 10 laterals that gets them to the Colts 20, but not close enough. Game over. but the worst is yet to come. During the final play, Laveranues Coles gets tackled by 3 Colts and separates his shoulder. Who knows how long he'll be out for. The AFC Player of the Month now lost probably for a couple of games. Typical Jet luck. The loss was bad but losing Coles and running back Cedric Houston, who has been our most effective runner in what is a hideous running offense makes it even worse. And CBS showed their class by cutting away from Coles writhing on the ground in pain and cutting to another game. Absolutely disgusting and distasteful by that network.

And fantasy baseball. I picked up Woody Williams and Jaret Wright and both pitched terribly, all but sealing my fate in the championship match. And I needed that on top of volleyball and everything else. So that topped off what was a brutal Sunday afternoon for me. Absolutely brutal. Oh, the pain. Oh, the pain.

I blame the defense for the loss. Coach Mangini had little to do with it. He takes chances (a recovered onside kick) and that won't always work. Against Indy, if you have a chance to get points, you do it. Indy is excellent, but our defense can't stop the run against good teams and even against bad teams, we cannot rush the passer except when safety Kerry Rhodes blitzes. Manning had a good 10-15 seconds on several occasions to throw a pass. You can't beat Indy when Manning has that kind of time to make something happen.

Dewayne Robertson is garbage. Get him out. I don't know who will take his money. But he has no business playing in a 3-4 defense. The first two priorities for the Jets this offseason should be to get a nose tackle and also get a running back we can build this franchise on. If we had a running game to complement Chad at quarterback, this offense could be really dangerous. We need the next Curtis Martin, if you will. Although there will always only be one Curtis Martin.