Rest trumped rust, fresh legs stomped most of the momentum, and the NFL’s two conference championship games Sunday will feature three of the league’s top four seeds, with the New York Jets the only upstart able to crash the party of favorites.
Many in the league’s elite entered this past weekend’s divisional round having stumbled into their playoff bye over the regular season’s final weeks as they rested high-profile players, lost games and were hit with criticism along the way.
The New Orleans Saints lost their last three games of the regular season. The Indianapolis Colts lost their last two. And the Minnesota Vikings lost three of their last five. But the big dogs came off the NFL’s porch for the most part, and the conference championship games now include both No. 1 seeds (Saints and Colts) to go with a No. 2 seed (Vikings).
“So much for being rusty,” coach Sean Payton said after his Saints dominated the Arizona Cardinals 45-14 on Saturday. “I knew we were ready.”
“This myth that you can’t win after the bye week, I haven’t believed in it,” Colts quarterback Peyton Manning said after his team’s 20-3 victory over the Baltimore Ravens.
The Colts and Jets will battle in Indianapolis for the AFC’s slot in Super Bowl XLIV, which is Feb. 7 in Miami. The Vikings and Saints will meet in New Orleans for the NFC title.
“We want to bring this franchise a championship,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees said.
For all those who continually offer the theory you don’t need a franchise quarterback to advance deep into the postseason, this year’s AFC and NFC title games are one big alpha passer convention, except for Jets rookie Mark Sanchez.
There is Manning with his record four league MVP awards — the fourth coming last week — leading the Colts, Brees powering the Saints, and a future Hall of Famer, Brett Favre, starring for the Vikings at age 40. Sanchez doesn’t have their star status, but he has won the first two postseason starts of his NFL career.
That’s three quarterbacks who this season were selected for the Pro Bowl, topped 4,000 yards passing, threw at least 28 touchdown passes and finished the regular season with passer ratings of at least 99.9.
Even with Sanchez tossed into the mix, the four quarterbacks remaining threw a combined 10 touchdown passes this past weekend and were intercepted just twice — Manning was picked off once by the Ravens on Saturday, and Sanchez was intercepted in the first quarter Sunday in San Diego.
Of the four teams remaining, the Vikings (19th in the 32-team league) and the Saints (26th) finished the lowest in passing yards allowed per game in the regular season. But the Vikings are playing with a patchwork secondary because of the injury problems of cornerback Antoine Winfield.
Winfield was a situational player Sunday in the Vikings’ 34-3 rout of the Dallas Cowboys, playing on the inside in the team’s nickel package (five defensive backs). But the Vikings led the NFL in sacks with 48 and had six Sunday, with Ray Edwards getting three. The Vikings again will rely on their defensive line against New Orleans.
The blitz-happy Jets charged their way into the AFC title game — first-year coach Rex Ryan declared, “Here we come,” after Sunday’s 17-14 upset — with the best defense.
The Jets led the NFL in pass defense, total defense and scoring defense during the regular season and consistently pressured San Diego’s Philip Rivers on Sunday. They intercepted Rivers twice and sacked him twice, leaving Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson to say it was “the best defense I’ve faced this year.”
The Jets’ power-first profile has enabled them to win twice in the playoffs despite Sanchez completing a total of 24 passes. They are winning the time of possession, having rushed for 340 yards in the two games. Rookie tailback Shonn Greene is averaging 6 yards per carry in the postseason.
The Jets handed the Colts their first loss of the season three weeks ago, 29-15 in Indianapolis. With home field wrapped up, the Colts played their regulars only part of that game. Manning left after Indianapolis’ first drive of the third quarter.
Jeff Legwold: 303-954-2359 or jlegwold@denverpost.com
Championship Sunday
AFC
Jets (11-7) at Colts (15-2) 1 p.m. Sunday, KCNC-4
Welcome to the two sides of the old-school coin, with the best rushing team in the NFL — the New York Jets — taking on the worst in the Indianapolis Colts. Coach Rex Ryan’s Jets pounded out more than 160 yards rushing in each of their playoff wins. And they had the league’s top-ranked defense in the regular season, allowing 252.3 yards per game.
NFC
Vikings (13-4) at Saints (14-3) 4:40 p.m. Sunday, KDVR-31
Brett Favre to Sidney Rice, good for three of Favre’s four touchdown passes in the playoff rout of the Cowboys, is the combination that will add some gray hair to Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. Favre has targeted Rice on 23 percent of his pass attempts this season. No other Vikings player has been targeted more than 17 percent of the time.
Jeff Legwold, The Denver Post
