AFC Divisional Playoff: Jets 17, Chargers 14

PREGAME
Like Ravens-Patriots last week, this game initially looks like one the road team was born to win, because they win by playing defense and stopping the run. San Diego's rushing game hasn't been that good; neither has their run defense. Seems like weak points the Jets can directly exploit.

But there are a lot of then-agains. Thomas Jones did nothing last week, and the Jet defense got run over by Cedric Benson. Plus Laveranues Coles made all kinds of catches before he got hurt. Darrelle Revis may take away Vincent Jackson, but Phillip Rivers has all kinds of other weapons, particularly Antonio Gates. And OC Brian Schottenheimer's been taking time away from preparing a game plan for San Diego to interview for Buffalo's head coaching job. A lot of supposedly-smart folks are saying to take the Jets because of the first paragraph. But they're ignoring the second paragraph, and at their peril, because that's where San Diego's likely to win this one.

FIRST QUARTER
The Jets won the coin toss, and deferred. That backfires big sometimes. Adulterer Jim Nantz and semi-intelligible Phil Simms on the call for CBS.

Chargers start from their 24. LaDainian Tomlinson bounces outside left for 5. Phillip Rivers to Antonio Gates, who fights through David Harris for a first down. Awful shotgun snap by Nick Hardwick is a near disaster, but Rivers falls on it for a 6-yards loss. Now a delay of game, and it's 3rd-and-23, Chargers. Jerome Boger is refereeing this game. I can't believe Mike Carey wouldn't get a postseason call, so I'm guessing we see him next week. Probably Ed Hochuli, too. Jim Leonhard comes untouched up the middle and Brian Thomas comes free to pressure Rivers into a throwaway. Opening the game on defense? Blitzing on 3rd-and-23? Everything's working for Rex Ryan so far as Mike Scifres punts.

Jets from their 26. Thomas Jones gets squat on 2 runs right, nearly losing the ball the second carry. They stupidly try a bubble screen to - is that Wayne Chrebet? - Danny Woodhead, Braylon Edwards doesn't even block for it, and it's a no-gain-three-and-out. The guy who was too sick to punt last week should have stayed in the nurse's office, flubbing a 28-yarder that sets San Diego up at their 45.

With Tomlinson emptying the backfield, Rivers hits Vincent Jackson, the nearer man on a double slant route, down to the Jet 40. Then Malcolm Floyd's wide open at the 22. Floyd blew Lito Sheppard right off the line. False start by a Charger team off to kind of a sloppy start nullifies a Tomlinson run. Screen with a couple of fake end-arounds gets a predictably bad result, losing LT 4. Nice tackle by Revis. Timeout, San Diego, 3rd-and-15 at the 27.

The Chargers pick up the blitz, but Rivers throws short for Darren Sproles, who doesn't quite get away from Drew Coleman. We do get our first view of the San Diego cheerleaders as a result, though.

NATE KAEDING THEN NEARLY HOOKS THE CHIPPIE FG ATTEMPT INTO THE CHEERLEADERS. WTF IS IT WITH KICKERS THIS POSTSEASON???????

Still no score. What a choking dog. It's like Kaeding senses it's the playoffs, time to start spraying kicks around like he's running the hose at a wet t-shirt contest.

Speaking of which, there's the San Diego cheerleaders again.

Jets start at their 26. Running game is still slow to start, though, and they quickly face 3rd-and-5. Greene picks up the blitz on 3rd down, but Sanchez overthrows Jerricho Cotchery by a mile, forcing another punt. We're not exactly getting that electrifying game we were hoping for sometime this weekend here, either. I should have known it would happen after saying after the Rams' last game that this was shaping up as one of the great postseasons ever.

Chargers at their 20. LT up the middle for a big 3. Each team's strategy today appears to depend on putting the other team to sleep. Well, it's working on me. LT right up the middle AGAIN, FOR NOTHING. Rivers beats a 6-man rush/blitz with a quick hitter to Gates, who runs through Eric Smith for a first down. Leonhard blows up a screen on 1st down, then Rivers blows San Diego's SECOND TIMEOUT ALREADY. What were the Chargers doing in the run-up to this game? Surfing? Because they sure don't look prepared for football!

Jackson's wide open over the middle at the Jet 42 for a 28-yard play. Revis was covering Gates, which apparently left Jackson free to prance up the middle with no one around for 5 yards. A failed run is then followed by a false start. Rivers guns to Gates on an out route for 11. Sproles picks up the blitz on 3rd down but Revis breaks up the 1st-down pass to Legedu Naanee. Then the Chargers false-start and commit unnecessary roughness on the punt. What a well-prepared team.

Jets get it at their 15 with 0:46 left in the quarter. Jones runs for 4, then Greene gains 4 more out of Wildcat formation, as the quarter ends. No? Penalty on Sanchez with 4 seconds left. He lined up under center, then went into motion and didn't come to a stop before the snap. 2nd-11 at the 14. Jones gains 7 as we're finally done with the first 15 minutes of this snoozer of a crapfest.

End of first quarter: Jets 0, Chargers 0.
SECOND QUARTER

Brad Smith in on 3rd-and-4. They try the option pitch to Greene but Steven Cooper blows that up for a huge loss. Looks like San Diego's already on to Brad Smith, then. Better use him as a decoy the rest of the game. Sproles returns the punt to midfield. Seriously, Steve Weatherford - thanks for making the U of Illinois proud, btw - has been such crap today, the Jets should go back to having Jay Feely punt.

ANOTHER undisciplined penalty, illegal hands to the face, moves San Diego all the way back to their 31. Except for Rivers being in a little groove, both teams have been absolute crap today. Jacob Hester sneaks out of the backfield for a 15-yard catch-and-run. Sheppard seemed to break up a pass to Floyd cleanly but drew a flag for DPI instead. Yeah, he grabbed him by the jersey early; we didn't see that live on TV. Huge play next, as the Chargers set up a screen on both sides, Rivers lobs left to Gates with a blitz coming, and Gates makes an impressive one-handed catch and chugs down to the Jet 16. A 25-30 yard play. The safety blitz gets there a touch late on 2nd down and Rivers hits a wide-open Wilson in the back of the end zone for a score, finally in this damn thing. Kaeding actually hits the extra point to top it off.

Chargers 7, Jets 0.

Jets really need to make something happen on the ground now. Wilson follows his TD by tackling Brad Smith at the 16 on the kick return. A false start on Damien Woody sure won't help their running game. Neither will Woody falling down in the hole, limiting Greene to a 2-yard dive on 1st down. Sanchez gets in trouble and has to throw away a play-action pass. 3rd-and-a-country-mile. Play-action again, Sanchez fakes deep and hits Tony Richardson with a useless swing pass. More punting for the Jets, who still don't have a first down.

A Charger TD could put this one away right here, right now. Instead Floyd appears to fumble a reception at midfield. He wasn't down? Elbow's down, Phil Simms. That's San Diego's ball. Norv Turner challenges and should get the call. Nice play by Leonhard either way. He made the hit and pounced on the loose ball, despite losing his helmet. That's the kind of guy you want on your defense.

Apparently I'm the only guy alive who thinks this is a completed pass to Floyd. Nantz proclaims it's either an incompletion or a turnover? Really? Because Floyd catches the ball, possesses it and makes a move with it. ("Football-related move" is such a dumb phrase. What was he going to do, make a bobsled-related move?

Simms and Nantz change their opinion to agree with mine in time for Boger to call the pass incomplete upon further review. I still think his elbow was down. Ah well, Leonhard deserved something for his defensive effort anyway. Kerry Rhodes keeps Gates from wheeling for a first down on 3rd-and-10. Punt team in on 4th-and-1. Cotchery is taken down immediately by Spillman on the return. And the Jets get called for holding. Sheesh.

There is so little happening in this game it's the rare game I haven't fallen behind blogging. Thanks for making me watch all the commercials, guys. Greene goes up the middle for 7 from his 7. He cuts back left and breaks a couple of tackles for 11 more. There's the sleeper player for your FFL draft next year, Shonn Greene. Greene for 5 more out to the 30. Sanchez beats a blitz with a swing pass to Richardson, who breaks a tackle for 4. Greene churns out the first down. Momentum starting to gather for Gang Green(e). Richardson gets beaten badly by Eric Weddle on a safety blitz and Sanchez gets sacked before he can even react. Terrible job by Richardson, who appears to be lobbying for an offside penalty. No dice. Greene goes up the middle for 7 behind a good block by Moore. Sanchez hits Braylon Edwards for 21 and a big play. The Jets call timeout after getting a run stuffed. About 3:00 till halftime.

2nd-and-9 at the Charger 42, Sanchez finds Greene for a short middle pass for 5. Jets pick up the Charger blitz but Quinton Jammer breaks up a pass for Dustin Keller. Weatherford to the punt again, returned to the 12 by Sproles.

Rivers goes deep for Jackson off play-action, but Revis has it blanketed. Incomplete. Tomlinson's run around the right corner gives us 3rd-and-about-5 after the 2:00 warning.

Make it 3rd-and-7 at the 15, and a vanilla handoff to Sproles gets squat. What a crap call. Scifres hits a 60-plus-yard moon shot and the Jets will start all the way back at their 32.

1:44 till halftime. Sanchez fakes downfield twice, then throws a dumpoff that Keller can't stay in bounds with. 7-yard completion to Cotchery against a safety blitz. Big completion to Edwards, though, puts them at the Charger 45 with a 1st down. 4-man rush that last play. Sanchez spikes with 0:55 to go. Overthrow to Edwards, well-covered by Antonio Cromartie. 3rd-10. The halftime highlights for this game may take 15 seconds, tops. Chargers blitzed a LB on 3rd down, Sanchez threw while hit, and the pass is well off. Yet another punt.

Chargers at their 20 with 36 seconds till the half. Inside handoff to Sproles for 9. Timeout. Offensive line sells the pass look beautifully and Sproles draws out across midfield for about 22. Rivers spikes there with 0:12 in the half. The Jets use their last TO because THIS HALF HASN'T TAKEN LONG ENOUGH ALREADY. Jackson gets inside the 40 with 6 seconds left. Jets only rushed 3. Kaeding is actually coming in to try a 57-yard FG after badly butchering a chip shot earlier. Of course he misses it. Revis fields it in the end zone and gives Chargers fans a small heart attack before Scifres the holder and Kris Wilson bring him down at midfield.

Halftime score: Chargers 7, Jets 0.

With San Diego being the team that hasn't scored under 20 points once all season, this game is actually still going the Jets' way as much as anything. They're only one play out of this game, and that could easily be a defensive play as sloppily as the Chargers have played all day. Rivers is doing an excellent job of throwing away from Revis. If his teammates cut out the stupid penalties, they'll be hard to catch. Neither team has run all that well, which hurts the Jets a lot more than it's hurting the Chargers. The Jets should probably keep feeding Greene. I'd like to see a little more Sproles for the Chargers, especially as a receiver. Get him into the open field against a Jet blitz, and, as Emeril would say, BAM.

THIRD QUARTER

Brad Smith bounces off a tackle and brings the second half kickoff out to the 40. Jones goes for 8 off the right side off a Richardson block. Jones goes up the middle and across midfield for the 1st down. They go deep for Edwards in the end zone, but nothin' doin' against double-coverage. Have to like the shot, though. 3rd-7 at the SD 45, Cotchery lobbies for, and gets, a very late flag. Did look like Jammer held him up. Jets now at the 37. Banging Jones a couple of times only gets them 3rd-and-5. Jammer makes a terrific play to undercut Keller along the sideline a yard short of the first down. Simms' idea to use a challenge here is one of the stupider things I have ever heard. It's 4th-and-1, the Jets don't need to blow a challenge to maybe get a few inches closer, you goofball. They call timeout, and it appears they're going for it when we come back.

Remember when I called Rex Ryan's offensive approach "Spagnuolian" last week? That manifests itself again as he brings on Feely, who strokes the FG pure and true to put the Jets on the board.

Chargers 7, Jets 3.

Sproles out to the 26 with the kickoff, reminding us that Brad Smith is pretty much responsible for the Jets being on the board now. Simms continues to IDIOTICALLY argue that Ryan should have challenged the 4th-down spot earlier so he could have decided to go for it. FROM A WHOLE FOOT CLOSER. PHIL, IF RYAN WAS GOING TO DECIDE TO GO FOR IT, HE WOULD HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT A CHALLENGE, BECAUSE IT WAS STILL FOURTH AND 1. Does Phil Simms really think coaches have a different mindset when it's 4th-and-two-feet vs. 4th-and-a-yard? Gawd.

Rivers steps up and appears to get his arm hit on a 1st-down pass. Floyd nearly makes a nice play on a third-down jump pass but the ball hits the ground. Strickland the DB actually popped it loose. Another three-and-out for San Diego, though I refuse to believe that was their third three-and-out ALL YEAR as Nantz just said. He meant today, right?

Then again, this is San Diego's first game in 2010.

OOH, Revis is getting worked on on the sideline.

From the 19, Greene sweeps right for 3. He follows that with a 9-yard cutback run behind blocks by Faneca and Mangold. First-down pass to Keller for 12. End-around to Cotchery blows up, but at least they're mixing things up. According to the stat book, the Jets have run 23 times and passed 19; how 'bout that? Pass #20 goes very badly for Sanchez, though. He gets it away before the blitz gets him, but Steven Gregory tips it to Jammer, who returns to the Jet 38. This game has finally had a big play.

Jackson appears to turn a dumpoff into a 23-yard gain but a flag brings it back. Illegal block on Floyd. 1st-12 at the Jet 40. Thomas stuffs a 2nd-and-9 screen to LT. 3rd down, Jet blitz forces Rivers to throw a kind of jump-hook pass. Jackson grabs it over Revis, but loses it coming down and actually kicks it over to the Jet DB. New York ball, and this game has had a second big play.

Excellent call by the officials on that last play, btw. Kevin Burnett blows up a 2nd-down Greene run to leave the Jets 3rd-and-10. Cotchery's wide open underneath the Charger cover-2 for 15, though. Ball at the 38. Jones gains 7 on a couple of runs. Cotchery and Sanchez seem to cross wires on the 3rd-down pass and it's way incomplete along the sideline. In what may prove a pivotal play, the Jets down the punt at the 2.

Or the 4. The Jets stuff LT up the middle. Then, making me a prophet, Rivers throws AN ABSOLUTELY AWFUL PASS right to Leonhard for an INT. The throw is so bad, even Simms can't figure out wtf Rivers was trying to do.

Jets at the Charger 16. Green goes up the middle to the 14 as the 3rd quarter expires. Make it the 7 after Boger calls Shawn Phillips for a head-butt after one of his trademark hour-long on-field conferences.

End of third quarter: Chargers 7, Jets 3.
FOURTH QUARTER

But hoo boy, do we have a game here, and the Chargers in peril of committing an epic choke job.

First and goal, Jets, at the 7. Greene gets maybe a yard off right tackle. He goes up the middle again, inside the 3. The Chargers initially cover the play-action routes beautifully, but Sanchez does a fine job buying time on the rollout, and fires a low bullet that Keller makes an excellent play on for the Jets' first TD of the day. Uh-oh, San Diego.

Jets 10, Chargers 7.

Antonio Cromartie is returning this kickoff for some reason, and has the ball knocked away, but Sproles recovers. Chargers hugely lucky to get the ball at their 29. The home crowd boos a 1-yard run by LT. 13 minutes left, gang. Rivers beats a blitz with a pass to Tony Tolbert on a circle route, but he runs right into Brian Thomas and gets schmeared. Injury timeout.

Back to the fumble on the kickoff return: why do special teams coaches insist on having guys return kicks in crucial situations who haven't done it much? Just another stupid case of coaches making special teams far harder than it actually is.

3rd-and-3 for the Chargers. Gates is all alone in the flat for 9. Good job by Simms to show us how Revis could never get to Gates thanks to the trips formation. Mike DeVito? WHO? sacks Rivers with a good bull rush. Dumpoff to Sproles only gets 2 and it's 3rd-and-13. Yep, the Jets are blitzing, bringing a couple, and Rhodes gets Rivers from the blind side untouched and drops Rivers for a huge loss.

Cotchery returns the punt to the 35 and it's all falling apart for San Diego right now. Brandon Manumaleuna missed the blitz pickup on Rhodes but it's not clear he really had much of a chance.

The way this game's going, I'm expecting the Jets to put together about a 7-minute FG drive. Greene up the middle for 4. Outside left for a couple more. Sanchez threads a 6-yard pass to Cotchery with just a 4-man rush coming. First down at the 47.

And heh, what did I say? Greene blows up the middle and crashes off Eric Weddle for a 53-yard TD run. Kevin Gregory appeared to have an invisible piano on his back as Greene pulled away.

Holy freaking cats.

Jets 17, Chargers 7.

Before we give the Jets too much credit, coming next, IT'S THE GOD DAMN STUPID SQUIB KICK, returned by Manumaleuna to midfield. IDIOTS! KICK DEEP! The Chargers lose a big play when Gates drops a short pass on 2nd-and-2 with nothing but open space between him and the goal line. 3rd-and-2 at the Jet 44, 15-yard catch and run by Gates. Rivers hits Jackson for 5 while bailing out from pressure. Throwaway on 2nd down. Quick slant to Floyd comes up a couple of yards short. They're kicking here? 0-for-two Kaeding is kicking here.

Fire Norv, and Kaeding, right now. The 40-yard attempt misses by a mile, and the Jets have the ball with 4:38 left. Looks like I'm a god damn moron for insisting they would win easily. What a bunch of damn jokers. And chokers. They're the Carolina Panthers of this year. Tools.

Charger timeout stops the clock on 3rd-and-5 with 3:50 left. Bryant McFadden just texted me to thank Kaeding for replacing him as the 2009-10 Postseason LVP. You're welcome. Pitch left to Greene is good for maybe 3. The Jets got San Diego to use 2 TOs and took a minute off the clock; they don't mind. Hester misses blocking the punt by a blink. Cromartie smartly grabs a high-bouncing kick at the 37. Charger ball.

11 to Gates, but then a false start on the RG. I don't know how he does it, but Jackson somehow gets both feet in on a jump ball at the 20. Rex Ryan challenges with 3:00 left. I couldn't believe it live, but it's a catch. JACKSON IDIOTICALLY KICKS THE CHALLENGE FLAG AND GETS A 15-YARD PENALTY FOR IT. They'll get the ball eventually here, but at the Jet 35. I'd wager that's about 33 yards out of Kaeding's range yet.

Fine call by the refs again on the Jackson catch. Good point by Simms on the necessity of that unsportsmanlike call on Jackson at this juncture of the game. I know I'd be complaining like hell about it if it happened to the Rams (see: 2008 game in Washington). Sproles takes a flare pass and slips Eric Smith down to the 16. Two Jets nearly get Rivers before he scrambles away for 3. 2:45 to go. Rivers throws for Gates in a crowd and Harris knocks it down. 3rd-and-7. With the Jets rushing 3 the 2nd straight play, Rivers hits Jackson wide open underneath. I have no idea how he failed to score, but the refs mark it just outside the goal line. Rivers hustles them up and sneaks the TD in himself. Can Kaeding make the PAT? Wow, yes, he does. 2:14 left.

Jets 17, Chargers 14.

Onside kick should be on the way. Chargers have one TO left. I think Simms is actually arguing the Chargers should kick deep. Well, they need a stop either way. Rhodes hauls in Mike Scifres' remarkably high-bouncing kick, on the rebound, at the SD 38.

Simms doesn't have a bad point for a change; San Diego needs a stop either way, and if they do get it, a deep kick would have given them better eventual field position. The onside kick, though, gives them a chance to get the ball back they wouldn't have otherwise. Worth the risk to me. This situation's been argued in Rams Nation more than once.

Greene off the right side for no gain. San Diego lets the clock run down to 2:00.

Greene gets up the middle to the 35. Hmm, that's long FG range. San Diego's last timeout comes at 1:55. Wow, Greene gets damn close on 3rd-and-6. The clock stops for a measurement. 4th and about a yard for New York. I can't decide what to do. It appears Ryan's going to go for it. That actually seems like the safest play. There's a lot of risk to a FG and it doesn't get you much. A punt doesn't get you a lot more. The 4th-and-1 appears a good percentage deal here. The Jets have their destiny in their hands and can clinch it. Plus the field position is much more favorable than it was when Bill Belichick went for it on 4th down against Indy. The Jets let the clock run to 1:09 and call timeout.

THOMAS JONES PLUNGES OVER THE LINE FOR THE FIRST DOWN AND THE NEW YORK JETS ARE ON THEIR WAY TO THE AFC CHAMPIONSHIP.

Holy cats.

Kneel, kneel, game over. Nice choke job, you San Diego morons.

Final score: Jets 17, Chargers 14.

MVP: Game ball's going to Jim Leonhard, 2nd on the Jets in tackles with 6, a dangerous part of New York's blitz all game long and his INT, though a gift from Rivers, was certainly the turning point of this game. LVP to Kaeding for being a choking dog and to Norv Turner, whose team was unforgivably sloppy. And that onside kick is looking more and more like a bad idea, which I guess makes me a bad coach as well. I think I'm conditioned to think I need to be able to stop the clock three times to kick it away there, and Norv had just 1 timeout and the 2:00 warning.

Looking ahead: San Diego needs to rev their running game back up. Sproles and Tomlinson gained only 57 yards today, LT 24 on 12 carries. Hard as it is to believe, LT is clearly on the decline, and San Diego reacted too slowly to find a workhorse back to replace him. Well, there's this offseason.

Despite the success of the Jets' formula so far, I'm sticking with the Colts in the AFC Championship next week. Revis didn't exactly take anybody away today; Jackson was 7-111, Gates 8-93. I don't think Manning will have to worry about losing Wayne or Dallas Clark. The blitz really bothered Rivers today, but that's a buzzing fly to Peyton if he's on top of his game, and again, Indy picks blitzes up better than anybody. Also, while Rex Ryan and the Jet defense get all the pub, don't ignore that Indy defense that shut down Ray Rice last night and can certainly shut down the Jet running game as well. I like the Colts for all those factors.

Karma is the big question. The Colts let the Jets end their undefeated streak Week 15. In fact, the Jets wouldn't even have made the playoffs had the Colts not quit their game in the second half (with only a narrow 15-10 lead) by pulling the starters. The Colts let the Jets in the door; now the Jets are the team standing between them and the Super Bowl. If you think Jim Caldwell made the right decision Week 15, it'll be justice if the Colts beat the Jets next week. If you think he didn't, justice would be the Jets coming back to bite him.

I actually think the AFC game will be the better of the two games next week. It'll certainly have no lack of story lines. But ultimately, I ain't betting against Peyton Manning. Colts in a close one.