Jets Start Where Things Finished Last Season

The sixth seeded Jets are now matched up with the third seeded Colts in the AFC Wildcard round. The game will be played Saturday night at 8 pm. The Jets’ surprising playoff run ended in Indianapolis last year against a heavily favored Colts team in the AFC Championship game. It is only fitting that the Jets would start this year where they left off last season.

New NFL Playoff Overtime Rules

As some of you may know, during the offseason, the NFL owners officially voted in new rules for overtime in the playoffs. These rules now prevent the team that possesses the ball first from winning the game with a field goal on the first drive, thus eliminating the new sudden death rules. We can see these new rules for the first time this weekend.

If the team that receives the ball first in overtime only scores a field goal on their first drive, then the opposing team gets a chance to tie the game with a field goal of their own, or win the game with a touchdown. If the first team scores a touchdown on the opening drive, then the game is over like normal overtime rules. If the first team scores a field goal and the second team scores one as well, then overtime becomes sudden death as it usually is. If a ball is turned over on the first possession, then sudden death is back in play. Playoff games still cannot end in a tie and will go to as many overtime periods as needed. The point of this rule is to prevent the coin flip from being the deciding factor in a playoff game.

In my opinion, I feel that the NFL owners still messed this one up. If they were going to implement this rule, it should have been for the entire season, not just the playoffs. Also, if they really wanted to make overtime even, they would use NCAA football rules, where each team gets a chance from the 25 yard line and keep going until one team outscores the other. I feel that the NFL is not done with these rule changes and will fix the overtime rules again at some point in the near future.

The NFL Playoffs

AFC

All roads to the Super Bowl in the AFC go through New England. The AFC East champion Patriots are the top seeded team in the AFC tournament with a 14-2 record and are by far the most threatening team in the playoffs.

The Steelers (12-4) locked up the AFC North and second seed in the AFC with their convincing win over the Browns on Sunday. They will have a bye and home field in the AFC Divisional round.

B-B-B-Bruney and the Jets

A game that meant so little probably does not need such a big recap. So here’s this:

Playing with most of their backups in, the New York Jets crushed the ailing Buffalo Bills 38-7 on Sunday. Mark Sanchez started under center, but only played one drive and never passed the ball. Mark Brunell came in for Sanchez and threw for two touchdown passes. Kellen Clemens took over in the fourth quarter and ran for another touchdown. Rookie Joe McKnight got the start in the backfield and produced an impressive 158 rushing yards on 32 carries. The defense forced six turnovers, including two interceptions by Marquice Cole, one of which was returned for a touchdown. Calvin Pace played his best game of the season, recording one sack, deflecting three passes, and intercepting a ball. This game may have had the feel of a preseason game, but the Jets got that 11^th win that everyone wanted and got a big win going into the playoffs.

This rout was definitely needed going into the playoffs. The backups will gain some confidence just in case they are needed in the playoffs. The defense played extremely well. Joe McKnight showed that his newfound work ethic is paying off. I almost hope the Jets give McKnight some playing time in the playoffs. If LT isn’t cutting it again, I would not be against giving McKnight one of LT’s drives to see if he can make an impact. If he can, the Jets should definitely play the hot hand. The Jets can now go into the playoffs feeling and looking good.

Oh and…Brian Brohm got destroyed: