AFC WILD CARD

Baltimore Ravens (5) at KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (4)

This one could definitely be a mismatch. The bruising Ravens could have easily been the second seed in the conference and had the week off but will have to settle for doing damage on the road. Quarterback Joe Flacco has a lot of postseason experience for such a young player and the team added vets Anquan Boldin and T.J. ‘Who’s-your-daddy’ in the offseason to open up the passing game. Ray Rice has made Rutgers proud and is a quality back.

The Baltimore defense speaks for itself and has been their calling card for a long time. Old dog Ray Lewis can still bring it and will have his mates barking during pre-game huddles.

The Chiefs had a great season and took advantage of a mediocre AFC West to win the division and get a home playoff game. But they blew a golden opportunity on Sunday to wrap up the third seed. They could have went undefeated at home by beating the Raiders but their long-time rivals knocked them around.

That’s not the way to head into the postseason and the inexperience of quarterback Matt Cassell during the extra season will be a big disadvantage to Kaycee. Backing up Tom Brady doesn’t count and when Cassell led the Pats to an 11-5 mark  a few years ago, they fell short of qualifying.

If the Chiefs are to have a shot here, the running of Thomas Jones will have to be a big part of the game plan. That will be a tough task looking across the line at the Ravens.

No one wants to hear this, but the Chiefs will get over a quick exit due to their successful regular season. For the Ravens, this game means a whole lot more and they will be called a huge disappointment if they get ousted in this game. That won’t hapenn, though.

PREDICTION

Baltimore will be way too much for Kansas City to handle and home field will not be much of an advantage here. The Ravens march on.

Ravens – 24, CHIEFS – 7

Photo by Bill Menzel

Gang Green led the NFL in rushing in 2009 and Thomas Jones played a big part in that. The Virginia product had a career-best 1,402 yards on the ground and 14 touchdowns but began to slow down later in the season just as the Jets made their playoff move. Rookie Shonn Greene took over as the number one back in the postseason and looked like a veteran.

Third down back and special teams standout Leon Washington suffered a broken leg halfway through the season and the uncertainty of him being effective after that was on everyone’s mind.

Washington’s leg and Jones running out of gas was more than enough to convince Tannenbaum to look in a different direction. West, to be more exact.

The San Diego Chargers decided to part ways with running back LaDainian Tomlinson and the Jets gladly signed the five-time pro Bowler to a free agent contract. Critics cried that if Jones was on the decline after his best statistical campaign, then how could LT – who saw his rushing totals go from over 1,800 yards in 2006 when he won the NFL MVP Award to 730 three years later – be an improvement?

Through the first 12 games of 2010, Tomlinson has run at times as if he was put through a time machine and amassed 788 yards on 176 attempts for a 4.5 average. With Greene suffering an sophomore jinx, LT has been the starter since Week 3 and his veteran leadership has been a great addition to the huddle and locker room alike.

Even the prospect of playing cold weather games on the east coast in the stretch run didn’t faze Tomlinson. To the contrary, he actually welcomed the challenge and wanted the offense to emphasize the rushing attack.

“I think that we’re going to do what we do, obviously the things that we’re good at,” he said. “That means we’re going to have to run the football and we’ll have to run it successfully. We definitely want to be able to let the run game set up our passing game. We want to be an all-weather football team, being able to run and pass it.”

Jets head coach Rex Ryan realizes that 2009 was a very special year for the running game and with the changes in the backfield and offense line, leading the league cannot happen every time out. “I don’t know if we’ve (had) the same amount of attempts as last year,” he said. “I think we’re throwing it more this year. I think we’re very effective in the rushing part. Obviously, I love to run the football. Hopefully, that will pick up. In the next several weeks, we’re facing some really good run defenses. Still, I have confidence in our running game. I think our backs are healthy.

“I think we’re (in) a good spot.”

No doubt that Tomlinson’s resurgence has a lot to do with that.

Photo by Rich O’Neill

Injuries and the salary cap sealed LT’s fate out west and he now finds himself on the opposite coast looking to extend a career that started coming off the rails last season. He was being wooed by the Minnesota Vikings as well as the Jets but ultimately decided on Gang Green. “I think the major decision that it came down to was having to learn a new offense versus playing in an offense that I already know and (playing for) someone I already know in (Jets offensive coordinator) Brian Schottenheimer,” Tomlinson said in a conference call.

A similar situation existed with the Jets that happened with the Chargers. Thomas Jones led the team in rushing and had over 1,400 yards, but was released because he was due a large bonus and became a salary cap casualty. The 10-year vet also had 14 touchdowns and averaged over four yards per carry. He went on to sign with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Jets were in the market for a veteran to mentor Shonn Greene, who became the feature back in the playoffs and was very effective in that role.

Enter Tomlinson, who will inherit the privilege of working behind arguably the most effective offense line in the NFL for a team committed to pounding the ball. “I’ll just say, this is my type of football,” he said. “I’ve always had an aggressive style and taken pride in running the football and wearing people down.” 2009 was the first time that Tomlinson failed to rush for over 1,000 yards in nine NFL campaigns. His best year came in 2006, when LT ran for 1,815 yards and 28 touchdowns and was named the Associated Press NFL MVP.

General manager Mike Tannenbaum had to make the tough decision to cut Jones, a favorite in the locker room. “We feel like (he) did a great job for us the last three years,” he said. “He did a lot of things obviously on the field as well as off, but when we looked at all the factors and what we thought was in the best interests of our team, taking all factors into account, we’re really excited about LaDanian.”

Now the Jets have a deep backfield that not only includes Greene and LT, but also Leon Washington, who will be coming back from a gruesome broken leg injury and is an effective change-of-pace back. The bulk of the carries will initially go to Green, but Tomlinson is one heck of a fall back option. Being the veteran in this mix, LT is coming into the situation with an open mind about his role, one which he is going to welcome.

“People are going to look at the old tapes and see what he did on the field, but the greatest thing you can have in this league is a legacy and teaching young guys that carry on the tradition of running the football,” he commented. “To me, I embrace that role of mentoring the young running backs, including Shonn Greene.”

Photo by Bill Menzel

Although they still have a long way to go, the Jets (5-6) can at least think about the playoffs if not talk about them. But that word didn’t even come up after the game. “This was a great team win,” head coach Rex Ryan said. “It feels good to say that. It’s been a while.”

The team’s much-maligned secondary stepped up on this day with four interceptions and sent 76,381 fans home happy. It all began on the Panthers’ opening drive, one in which they converted three third down plays. Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme then tried to hit Steve Smith on a slant that would have gone for a big gain, but there was apparent miscommunication and the wideout had yet to turn in. The ball caromed off his heel up in the air and right into the hands of Darrelle Revis, who returned it 67 yards for the Jets first defensive touchdown of the season.

“The great ones are lucky,” joked Ryan.

After trading field goals, the Jets capitalized on Delhomme’s third pick of the day when Kerry Rhodes – who was removed from the starting line-up this week in favor of Eric Smith – pulled down the floater and brought it back to the Carolina 38-yard line.

“The message was sent to me by Coach and now I’m moving on,” said Rhodes, who also had another interception and received a game ball. The Jets extended their lead to 14-3 when Thomas Jones (25 carries for 75 yards, 1 touchdown) plunged into the end zone from three yards out.

The big talk all week leading up to this game was that Ryan was going to take a more active role in the offense to try to cut down on the mistakes of his rookie quarterback. A more conservative game plan seem to benefit Mark Sanchez, who completed 13 out of 17 for 154 yards and one interception, but the USC product was not totally satisfied with his performance.

“I was playing smart on offense and we still gave up a couple of turnovers,” he said. “They (the coaches) were telling me in the meetings, ‘If you take a sack, that’s OK. Just don’t lose the ball.’”

Ryan added, “I thought he did a great job. He really managed the game well and had some nice runs. When in doubt, he checked the ball down.”

At one point in the third quarter, Sanchez was shaken up with an apparent knee injury and missed the majority of one series, but returned the next one. “He said he was good to go,” Ryan said. “I was just anxious to get him back in there.” Sanchez had the knee checked out by the team’s medical staff after the game and said that there was nothing abnormal found.

The Jets sealed the win with a 47-yard field goal by Feeley with 3:39 left to make the score 17-6. The big play on the drive was a 16-yard completion to converted running back Danny Woodhead on third down to move the chains.

“Coach put me in a great situation, Mark put the ball on me and the line did a great job so I just had to make the catch,” the wide receiver humbly said.

The Jets do not have much time to enjoy this win due to the Thursday night affair against the Bills in Toronto. “This is a short week for us, so we can enjoy it for about five hours,” said Ryan.

Better to enjoy the victory than wallow in another loss.

Photo by William J. Hauser

Thomas Jones had absolutely no reason to justify his comments made on a New York radio station on Tuesday. The running back was totally justified by calling out the 39-year-old quarterback and his dismal performance during last Sunday’s 24-17 home loss to Miami, which eliminated the Jets from playoff contention (along with wins by New England and Buffalo). Much of the reason why the team didn’t control it’s own destiny was the ineffective play from Favre over the last five games, in which the Jets were lucky to win the one game they did salvage.

Jones is a very serious player and at times has seemed aloof to the media, but in reality he is just a player that expects the same commitment and performance from his teammates that he gives. According to reports that have come out since the season ended and head coach Eric Mangini was fired, Favre did not put in the effort during the week, which may have led to his less than satisfactory performances on many Sundays since September.

“The other day, the three interceptions really hurt us,” Jones said on Hot-97 FM. “I mean, that’s just reality. If I were to sit here and say, ‘Oh, man, it’s OK,’ that’s not reality. I don’t like it, I know everybody else on the team doesn’t like it.

“If somebody is not playing well, they need to come out of the game,” Jones continued. “You’re jeopardizing the whole team because you’re having a bad day. To me, that’s not fair to everybody else. You’re not the only one on the team. So when you get to the wire and somebody is just giving the game up, I mean, it’s just not [fair].”

Jones attempted to clarify some of the comments on ESPN’s First Take and stated that the second part of his comments were not directed at Favre. But when you are talking about somebody not playing well and your quarterback is in the midst of a three-pick game, then it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.

Having just wrapped up a career year, Jones has every right to call out a teammate that did not do his job when called upon. Especially considering that rumblings out of the locker room also had issues with Favre’s work ethic, there is no reason for Jones to try to sugar coat any of his comments. He is arguably the MVP of this team and was named to the Pro Bowl, so his opinion carries some weight.

When the Jets brought in Favre in August, it was supposed to be the final piece of an offseason improvement executed to get the team into the playoffs and one to be reckoned with. Favre ended up leading the league with 22 interceptions and looked even older than his actual age.

Maybe it was about time that someone had the balls to speak up about a player that has been on a pedestal for a long time. Yes, he did deserve all of his accolades for many years, but has been on a steep decline sans 2007. And even that year ended with him throwing a terrible interception in overtime in the NFC Championship Game. He should retire and finally have his number four retired at Lambeau Field, if he hasn’t screwed up that relationship.

Don’t accuse me of jumping on or off any Brett Favre bandwagon. I’m on record as not being in love with the acquisition of the first ballot Hall of Famer back on August 7. (“Throwing Cold Water on the Favre Parade” – http://www.musclesportmag.com/2008/08/07/throwing-cold-water-on-the-favre-parade/?preview=true&preview_id=291&preview_nonce=4e72bb6a34.) In fact, a week earlier, I was even more harsh in my opinion of Favre while he was still property of the Green Bay Packers and not my beloved Jets. (“Favre Far From Leader of the Pack” – http://www.musclesportmag.com/2008/07/30/favre-far-from-the-leader-of-the-pack/?preview=true&preview_id=186&preview_nonce=8e4cbfaab0.)

Now that Favre is showing all of his 39 years and then some, don’t point any fingers at me. I was one of the few that didn’t splurge for a number 4 jersey and wish that number 10 was still in green and not teal. Perhaps it was more of my having no confidence whatsoever in Kellen Clemens and his ineffectiveness. With the Arena Football League now a thing of the past (not officially, but for all intents and purposes), Roger’s namesake will have no place to ply his trade once the Jets come to their senses and let him go in a year or two.

I suppose it was human nature to feel as if my original feelings of Favre may have been wrong when the Jets were riding high at 8-3. But if you follow this team as closely as I, then you know that they were moving the ball more efficiently due to the jelling of the offensive line; the running of Thomas Jones and Leon Washington; and Favre dumping the ball off more and staying away from the dangerous long passes.

Earlier in the season, he was throwing a ton of interceptions and trying too hard to prove that he still had a gun and could thread the needle when needed.

Since the Jets won in Tennessee, they have gone 1-3 and should have lost to Buffalo two weeks ago. Favre has performed horribly of late, with abysmal quarterback ratings of 60.9 against Denver, 60.8 at San Francisco, 61.4 versus Buffalo and a season low 48.7 in the latest 13-3 loss at Seattle.

The silver lining in this is the Jets’ draft pick to be surrendered to Green Bay will not be as high if they fail to make the playoffs. By the time the Jets take the field at the Meadowlands at 4:15, their fate may already be known. Gang Green needs to beat Miami – and Chad Pennington – and have the Patriots lose to Buffalo, which starts at 1:00. Fat chance.

Photo by Bill Menzel