Jets Top Colts In Wildcard Thriller, 17-16

Though a trying game for the blood pressure of Jets’ fans, New York was able to come away from Indianapolis with a thrilling 17-16 victory over the Colts on Saturday night.

Offensive production came at a premium for both teams most of the night. But after around a quarter and a half of scoreless football, the Colts’ Pierre Garcon beat corner Antonio Cromartie (and safety Brodney Pool, who came late on the help) for a 57 yard touchdown catch to give Indy a 7-0 lead.

Head coach Rex Ryan was none too pleased about the play, and could be seen dressing Cromartie down on the sidelines for what he would described as a blown coverage. Garcon had something of a field day against Cromartie, recording five catches for 112 yards and the touchdown.

New York looked poised to answer on their next, and last drive before intermission, reaching as far as the Colts’ 19-yard-line. But Colts’ cornerback Justin Tryon intercepted Mark Sanchez at the goal line. The Colts were unable to come away with any points off the takeaway, but went in at half with a 7-0 lead.

Perhaps in response to the dubious way Sanchez finished the first half, the Jets returned to the their familiar, run-first approach to offense on the first drive of the second half, and were quickly rewarded.

New York ran the ball seven times in nine plays on that opening drive, which culminated in the team’s first points of the night, a one-yard touchdown run by LaDainian Tomlinson to knot the score at seven a piece. Tomlinson would finish Saturday as New York’s leading rusher, with 82 yards on 16 carries.

Indianapolis regained the lead on the ensuing drive with a 47-yard Adam Viniateri field goal, but, of course, on Saturday, the excitement was far from over.

Sanchez and company marched 87 yards on the ensuing possession to take their first lead of the night on Tomlinson’s second one-yard touchdown run. The drive took almost ten minutes, and allowed New York a 14-10 advantage going into the final ten minutes of the contest.

The scoring exchange continued with Vinatieri’s second field goal, a 32-yarder to slim the New York lead to one.

When the Jets stalled on their ensuing possession, and set to punt for the first time in the second half on a 4th and 5, the Jets got a break when Indianapolis’ Josh Smith ran into punter Steve Weatherford, a five-yard penalty to give the Jets a fresh set of downs.

Unfortunately, New York quickly squandered the break received on the penalty, going three-and-out and succeeding only in forcing Indianapolis to burn two timeouts.

Manning needed less than two minutes to drive to the field goal range of Viniateri. The Colts’ kicker hit on a 50 yarder to retake the lead at 16-14 with under a minute remaining.

On the ensuing drive, Sanchez would find some late-game magic of his own. The young quarterback was three for three on passing attempts on what would be the last drive of the game, setting the stage for Nick Folk to play the hero. Folk obliged, nailing a  32 yard field goal as time ran out to give the Jets a 17-16 opening round victory.

With the win, the Jets will meet the hated New England Patriots next week in Foxboro, Mass.

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