Lots of reaction from Saturday night's thrilling 17-16 last-second AFC playoff victory by the New York Jets over the Indianapolis Colts. Here is some of it.
From Gang Green Nation:
The Jets beat the Colts tonight in Indianapolis 17-16 in an absolute classic. In the final minute, it looked like we were in for a long offseason of trying to figure out where to go from here. It would have been devastating because the Jets had a good plan, executed it really well, and still looked like they were going to be knocked out by the Colts for a second straight year. However, they will get a rubber match with the Patriots late next Sunday afternoon instead. This game should earn a special place in New York football lore.
From Stampede Blue, SB Nation's Colts blog:
In game where the Colts offense gutted it out for every yard, where Peyton Manning and Adam Vinatieri did all they could to get the lead in the fourth quarter on a 50-yard FG to go up 16-14 with less than one minute left, it only took the much overpaid, much over-valued, quite unreliable Colts defense and special teams 53 seconds to allow Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez to lead New York into FG range, and for Nick Folk to bang through a gimme 32-yarder as time expired.
Ball game. Jets win.
So much effort. So much fight. All of it undone. One-and-done, again.
Stampede Blue also has plenty more reaction. Among their offerings are posts questioning Jim Caldwell's timeout with 29 seconds left and receiver Reggie Wayne complaining about not getting the ball thrown to him enough.
By now, you also probably know that Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez was allowed to make his own play call on the pass to Braylon Edwards that set up the game-winning field goal. Here is one take on that move.
This rite of passage was granted by Brian Schottenheimer after Sanchez basically shook off the offensive coordinator's undisclosed first call from the sidelines. Instead Sanchez listened to his top receiver, Braylon Edwards, who told the quarterback in the huddle he could go over the top and take Jacob Lacey, who was playing him man-to-man.
This was a leap of faith on many levels, all of it eventually justified. Sanchez lofted the perfect, back-shoulder pass along the right sideline, the Jets gained 18 yards on the reception and then Nick Folk took it from there, a 32-yard field goal for the 17-16 victory as time expired.
"I wasn't thrilled with the first call," Sanchez said. "Schotty gave me the freedom to do it. I know I could make that throw last year. But I don't know if I could make the call."