Will Rex Ryan

and the Jets actually do some damage in the AFC playoffs?

New York heads into Indianapolis this Saturday night with a solid road record (6-2) and a decent amount of momentum harvested from two wins in their final three games, including a season-saving 22-17 win at Pittsburgh in mid-December. The Colts are favored by only 3, a line whose lineage can be traced to a tougher-than-expected Week 17 test at home against Tennessee.

In a season defined by bawdy locker room behavior toward a sexy Mexican sports reporter, to the collateral damage done by Brett Favre’s alleged text message photos of Little Brett, to TripGate, to YouTube videos of Ryan’s foot-fetish wife, it all comes down to this: Can the Jets’ defense put up a fight against Peyton Manning’s passing attack?

Last year the Jets (8-point dogs) were able to hang tough for a while and actually had a four-point lead at halftime before the Colts decided that enough was enough and dominated the second half. But that was then and this is now, and with Dallas Clark and Austin Collie on IR, the Jets defense doesn’t have to cover quite as much of the field as it otherwise would.

Truth be told, neither the Colts nor the Jets have the defensive chops that they brought to the AFC title game last season. Indianapolis has given up 341 yards a game (19 teams were better than that) and at 25th against the run they play right into the Jets’ wheelhouse – run first and see what happens before letting Mark Sanchez lose the game for us. But the Jets have also taken a step back defensively, giving up 68 more points than in 2009. All that has led to a much higher total (44.5) offered by oddsmakers than the number last season (40).

At Belmont.com, oddsmaker Peter Childs points out that much has changed since the teams met in the AFC Championship Game last January. “The Jets were coming off two solid victories, including a victory over San Diego, who many thought was the best team in the AFC,” notes Childs, “but Manning picked apart the Jets in the second half.”

Both teams, notes Childs, have such injury issues on both sides of the ball that the winner will survive for only one more game. “Collie and Clark are done,” he says, “and they were big playoff contributors last season. And the Jets are just not the same team rushing the ball that they were last season.”

Childs says that early-week action is pretty even, with a slight edge to Jets backers.

Ryan’s stock and trade is obviously on the defensive side of the ball, but he’s had little luck against the Colts. He’s a combined 1-5 against Indy in his time as HC of the NYJ and defensive boss at Baltimore. And that one win came when the Colts laid down in Week 16 last season, allowing the Jets to back in to the playoffs when the Bengals followed suit the next week.

Weis’s departure raising eyebrows in Kansas City

Fact 1: Last Saturday Charlie Weis agreed to leave the Chiefs and become the offensive coordinator at the University of Florida.

Fact 2: Last Sunday the Chiefs played one of their worst offensive games of the season.

Weis would have been able to put the baby to rest on this one if the Chiefs had come out smoking against the Raiders, but KC managed just 10 points at home, and when fingers started pointing, Weis was clearly in the crosshairs. But Weis says that family considerations and not reports of a touchy relationship with head coach Todd Haley was the reason for the switch. Both Haley and Weis say that Weis’s departure will have no effect when the Chiefs host Baltimore on Sunday afternoon (KC +2.5, 41).

All in all, it’s been a rough season for coaches who earned their spurs in New England – Josh McDaniels fired in Denver, Eric Mangini let go in Cleveland and Weis resigning in KC.

Concern about Vick in Philadelphia?


Seems crazy to even ask the question, but are the Eagles completely sold on Michael Vick?

Recent reports out of Philadelphia indicate that Vick missed some on-field reps last week in order to spend time in the film room working with coaches on recognizing and reacting to various blitz packages. The warning bells rang loudly when the playing-out-the-string Vikings strolled into Philadelphia on Dec. 28 and sacked Vick six times in an inexplicable 24-14 victory. Vick also threw an interception and lost two fumbles in a performance which basically handed the MVP trophy to Tom Brady and opened the door to Kevin Kolb starting in the Week 17 loss to the Cowboys.

Things don’t set up too well for Vick or the Eagles in the playoff opener at home against Green Bay. The Packers’ 3-4 defense helps rein in running quarterbacks, and if the field is a little damp, Vick might have the same kind of problems he had on that slick field in Chicago in Week 12.