Colts Book Ticket to Super Bowl

NFL News - January 24th, 2010 - Written by John

Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts booked their tickets to Miami for Super Bowl XLIV, after an impressive comeback win before their home crowd over the New York Jets 30-17. After a sluggish start on both sides of the ball, Manning spearheaded the rally, to overcome the 11-point first half deficit for his second trip to the promise-land.

With the win, Indianapolis is on their way to their second Super Bowl appearance in four years. They should feel right at home in Miami, as it was the site of their victory over the Chicago Bears in 2006.

Manning shined against a very good Jet defense. On the day, the reigning NFL MVP completed 26 of 39 passes, for 377 yards, and three touchdowns. His most important touchdown arguably came with less than two minutes to play in the first half, with the Colts down 17-6. Manning threw a perfect strike to rookie wide receiver Austin Collie to put the score at 17-13 through the first two quarters of play. That score was set up by the play prior, when Manning rifled a pass to collie for 46 yards down the middle of the field on a skinny post route.

"Peyton had just an outstanding game," Indianapolis head coach Jim Caldwell said. "He's one of those guys that can adjust to different situations. A real champion."

Jet rookie quarterback Marck Sanchez played beautifully in the first half in a hostile environment, that included an 80-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Braylon Edwards.

New York was also able to attack Indianapolis on the ground in the opening 30 minutes of play. Running back Thomas Jones broke loose on a few occasions with a 10 and 12 yard runs. This allowed Sanchez to be effective with the play action pass, as illustrated by the Edwards touchdown.

This all changed in the second half.

The Colts defense came out and stymied the New York running attack that had been successful in the first half. They took both Jones and rookie running back Shonn Greene out of the came, and forced Sanchez to beat them with his arm. Indianapolis limited the top ranked rushing offense in the NFL to only 86 yards total on the ground.

Sanchez threw the ball well against the secondary, but the lack of a run game proved to be to tall of a task for the first year quarterback.

Two of Manning's three touchdown passes came in the second half, including a four-yard throw to wide-out Pierre Garcon. Garcon gave the stout Jet secondary complications all day long, hauling in 11 receptions for 151 yards and one touchdown.

"We talked about being patient against these guys," Manning said in a post-game interview. "We knew it would be a four-quarter game. They have an excellent defense."

Coming into the AFC Championship match up, the Colts were installed as an eight-point favorite to defeat the Jets, and with the 13-point victory covered the spread. The over/under for the game was 40 points prior to kick off in the NFL betting lines. With the games total reaching 47, it went the over.

Indianapolis awaits the winner of the NFC Championship bout between New Orleans and Minnesota.