Not much going to come off the Prose today, as the biggest day of the sports calendar is finally upon us. We’ve finally narrowed down the playoff picture to just two teams – the Indianapolis Colts of the AFC, and the New Orleans Saints of the NFC.

The game will be played at Sun Life Stadium, home to the Miami Dolphins, and kickoff is scheduled for a 6:25 Eastern start time. A quick background of the two teams as follows:

New Orleans is making their first Super Bowl appearance since the creation of the franchise in 1953, and the Indianapolis Colts are making their fourth appearance since the founding of their predecessor Baltimore Colts in 1953. New Orleans is coming into the game after a 13-3 regular season record, and the Colts at 14-2. Both teams were 13-0 heading into week fourteen games, but the Saints sputtered against Dallas at home. The week later, the Indianapolis Colts decided that going undefeated wasn’t an important statistical measure for the squad, and decided to rest their starters in a losing effort to the New York Jets.

The game features arguably the two best passing offenses in the NFL, with Peyton Manning at the helm for Indianapolis and Drew Brees for New Orleans. Both had incredible 2009-2010 campaigns, but Peyton Manning walked away with the Most Valuable Player hardware(Brees finished a distant 2nd).

Both teams have lived by outscoring the opposition, which creates some real intrigue for a Super Bowl match-up. Neither team plays exceptional defense, and with offenses so systemic and methodical, many people are speculating on an absolute shootout in Miami. The Colts are a five point favorite to win the game, as Indianapolis has a slight edge in experience(one recent Super bowl victory) and arguably the greatest quarterback of our generation running the show. It’d be foolish to count out the Saints, however, who absolutely pummeled the Arizona Cardinals, a quality playoff team, and took care of the feisty Minnesota Vikings en route to their SB appearance.

And for those that care about the “musical” aspect of it all, Carrie Underwood is on the vocals for the National Anthem, and The Who is performing during halftime.

Colts or Saints? Make your picks below!

• Travis Yost – Colts 34 Saints 27
• Derek Boucher – Colts 39 Saints 36
• Shane Campbell – Colts 27 Saints 20

The Colts fell behind early, and at halftime were facing a 17-13 deficit in part to two big plays from Braylon Edwards and Jerricho Cotchery. Sanchez hit Edwards on a strike down the sidelines after Jacob Lacey bit on Braylon’s vicious double move, and Cotchery’s big reception(which led to another Jets score) came after an option pass from the hands of Brad Smith. However, the Colts fired back in the third quarter with a score from Mount Union’s own Pierre Garcon, and never looked back, coming from eleven down to win by thirteen.

There’s no way I can better summarize today’s tilt between the Colts and Jets than simply pointing out the fact that Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie both looked like hall of fame caliber wide receivers. The two diced up the Jets secondary at well, even with Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark having their fair share of struggles. Garcon had 11 catches for 151 yards and a score, and Collie added 7 catches for 123 yards and a score.

Rex Ryan’s exotic blitz schemes got to Peyton Manning early, but failed to have any kind of impact soon after. The Colts not only picked up most of the inside gap blitzes fairly well, but gave Peyton Manning plenty enough time to do his usual pocket work and find open targets. For the first time in a long time, the vaunted Jets front seven met its match, and the secondary appeared to have some serious holes. New York was forced to deal with injuries to defensive backs Dwight Lowery and Donald Strickland, but it likely wouldn’t have mattered. Manning once again confirmed my belief that he is undoubtedly the greatest football player of our generation, and will enter the Hall of Fame as one of the best to ever play the game.

The Jets run to the AFC Championship game will go down as one of the more memorable, re-enforcing the long held beliefs that running the ball and playing tough defense can make a team an almost impossible out come playoff time. Furthermore, I’d wager that the Jets could be a Super Bowl team if they had faced most any other opponent. 90% of the time, football comes down to the on-field matchups, and Peyton Manning is a blitzing teams kryptonite. Rex Ryan has never had success against Manning’s Colts even before his stint with the Jets, as his Ravens in years past have failed to get over the hump on multiple tries.

Player of the game? Peyton Manning. With all due respect to Pierre Garcon, I’m pretty confident in saying that there’s a lot of players in free agency right now that could have put up fairly similar numbers if given the chance to play with #18. Manning ended the night 26/39 for 377 yards and 3 touchdowns. Simple math on that will tell you Manning averaged almost ten yards a pass against the #1 defense in the NFL.

And lastly, I’ll end with a statistic that can wrap this game up in one short sentence: The 2009 Jets won every game in which they held their opposition to 17 points or less, but never won a game in which they gave up more than that.

Two absolutely monumental games on the Sunday slate as the New York Jets head to Indianapolis to take on the Colts, and the Minnesota Vikings make their way to the raucous Superdome to play the New Orleans Saints. This conference championship weekend shouldn’t disappoint, as all three four teams have played their way into the final four.

New York Jets v. Indianapolis Colts(3:00 PM EST, CBS)

The Colts are a nine point favorite in this tilt, and for a good reason – Peyton Manning is playing as good of football as he’s ever played in his NFL career. When the two teams met in week sixteen, they played a highly physical, low scoring affair for the first half, with the Colts pulling out most of the usual starters with nothing to play for soon after. Mark my words, absolutely no stock should be put into that game one way or another. The Jets have created an entirely unique gameplan defensively for this feature, as they’ll try and confuse Peyton Manning with exotic blitz packages and an ever-changing array of schemes. On the other hand, the Colts used a fairly vanilla gameplan for that match-up on both offense and defense, and will return to their high octane passing attack as soon as the game kicks off. A lot has been made about the Jets ability to rattle even the best of quarterbacks with Rex Ryan’s famed blitzkrieg defenses, but Manning is a player of another echelon – unless the Jets can completely stifle the Colts running game and force Manning to throw the ball on every down, New York has little to no chance at stealing one in Indy. The Jets have done a phenomenal job of simplifying the game for Mark Sanchez on offense, and he’s looked as comfortable as ever managing the game. The running and short playaction passing game suits his style of play perfectly, but if the Jets get behind early they’ll be forced to open it up downfield, something that Mark still struggles with from time to time. I like this game to be relatively low scoring as well as close late, but I think the Colts are the pick in this, winning by a touchdown.

Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints (6:40 PM EST, FOX)

New Orleans is giving three points in the later feature against the Minnesota Vikings, who will benefit from playing in the always noisy, always intense Louisiana Superdome. Both teams looked infinitely talented last week, as the Saints ran through the Cardinals without much of a fight, and the Vikings stifled the upstart Cowboys in a game that many(including myself) thought would favor Dallas. Rarely will you see two games that are the complete antithesis of one another, as the points will be aplenty come Sunday night. Both defenses are good but not great, and rely on key turnovers to win games. Without question, the defense that shows up and is able to get after it while their offense is being iced on the sidelines will lead their team to victory, because both teams should fill it up offensively. On offense, Minnesota has had trouble running the ball, with Adrian Peterson having another pedestrian effort in the win against Dallas. Getting All Day started could be a key to success, but for a player who has only rushed over 100 yards three times this season, this might be classified as a utopian idea. Favre getting comfortable inside of the dome, a structure that has often times plagued him over his career, will mean the difference in a win or a loss for the Vikings. New Orleans’ offense is absolute clockwork, and with Reggie Bush firing on all cylinders there’s no way you can physically hault this vaunted Saints passing game. New Orleans’ main enemy has been their own inconsistencies over the course of the season, as the three game losing streak to end the year, although considered an aberration of sorts by some, definitely signaled to others that the team can be thrown out of it’s rhythm if Drew Brees is under siege. As for a pick, I’m fairly indifferent to a side, but gun to my head I’ll take the Saints and their opportunistic defense in another tight one.

The Cowboys and Vikings game was played in classic Dallas fashion, with the Cowboys unable to get out of their own way for much of the entire game. Minnesota stifled the Dallas rushing attack, and Tony Romo’s inability to keep control of the ball made the turnover laden game one sided early. Without question, the main headline of this game was the ability of the Vikings front four to win almost every battle in the trenches, opening up incredible gaps on blitz packages the way of Tony Romo. Minnesota on offense was fairly methodical save two explosive Sidney Rice touchdowns, as Brett Favre threw for 234 yards and four scores on the day. Adrian Peterson was once again bottled up for much of the night, however, which has to be a concern for the Vikings heading into New Orleans next week. Minnesota tacked on a touchdown late, drawing the ire of most Cowboys fans and players, most notably Keith Brooking. Final score: Minnesota 34, Dallas 3.

Turning Point – Sidney Rice had an awesome game with three scores on the day, but none prettier than the fly route he beat Gerald Sensabaugh down the sidelines. Favre put this one on the money!

Later on Sunday, the San Diego Chargers jumped out to a comfortable lead against an inept New York Jets offense, but failed to put them away and paid the price. Costly errors late in the game, including a Philip Rivers interception by none other than Darrelle Revis, paved the way for an incredible Jets comeback. The headline of this game had to be the massive and untimely errors committed by San Diego, most notably the ten penalties for just under 100 yards on the day. San Diego’s inability to run the ball all season came back to bite them in the postseason once again, as the Jets front seven bottled up Ladainian Tomlinson(12 for 24) all night. New York didn’t do much offensively, but stayed true to their gameplan of winning games by playing smart with the ball and wreaking havoc on defense. Shonn Greene did have a nice game, touching the rock 23 times for 128 yards.

Turning Point – Shonn Greene’s incredible scamper put the Jets ahead 10-7, but honestly, this play was all about the hit stick the ex-Hawkeye put on Eric Weddle.

Looking into next week, the New York Jets will play the Indianapolis Colts and the Minnesota Vikings will take on the New Orleans Saints. The Jets have opened up as a seven point with the O/U set at 40,  and the Vikings are a four point underdog with the O/U set at 52.

Editor’s Note – Bare with me over the next day or so, pain medication for a recent surgery I had may have altered my perception of certain games as well as the writing that ensues.

The pattern of Saturday blowouts continued this week, as New Orleans took care of Arizona 45-14, and Indianapolis handled the Baltimore Ravens 20-3. Neither game was ever in doubt, and both Drew Brees and Peyton Manning were stellar in their performances.

New Orleans played host in the first game, and the two offensive juggernauts set the stage on the first play of the game as Arizona running back Tim Hightower scampered for a 70 yard touchdown run, putting a real jolt in the Cardinals offense. After that, however, it was all downhill for ‘Zona, as New Orleans systemically and methodically marched down field for scores on almost every possesion. Drew Brees was 23/32 for 247 and three scores, and the Saints forced two key turnovers on defense to change the momentum of the game, including a strip of receiver Jerheme Urban. Will Smith, the big defensive lineman also intercepted Warner, who was absolutely blasted on the runback by Bobby McCray. Warner left the game with a chest injury and did not return. Surprisingly, the New Orleans Saints rested heavily on Heisman trophy winner Reggie Bush, who has been hit or miss in NOLA his entire career.

Turning Point – Watch Reggie Bush’s absolutely shred the Cardinals defense, including one of the all time great jukes on Calais Campbell.

The prime time feature was a much more physical game, with a ton of key plays early on. The Colts and Ravens traded field goals in the first, but Indianapolis opened the game up in the second quarter with two touchdown passes, the first to Austin Collie and the second to Reggie Wayne. Baltimore’s defense did play fairly well against the vaunted Colts offensive machine, but couldn’t muster anything up when they had the ball. Joe Flacco looked exceptionally awful, averaging five yards a completion and throwing a pair of interceptions, the big one coming after he greatly underthrew a wide open Derrick Mason, who was streaking down the middle of the field. Peyton Manning was 30/44 for 246 yards and a pair of touchdowns, although he did throw one interception to ball hawk Ed Reed. Reed became the story of the game tonight, as on consecutive passes he intercepted Manning, both for naught. The first interception was an incredible read, but as he scampered down the sidelines he was hawked by wide receiver Pierre Garcon and fumbled the ball, recovered by Indy. His second interception and subsequent return was called back after Corey Ivy was flagged for pass interference.

Turning Point - Ed Reed’s momentum changing interception ended with arguably the biggest blunder of his career.

I want to hear all of your takes on Ed Reed and his huge gaffe on Saturday. Reed’s made a career off of being one of the biggest playmakers of our generation, but has any defensive opportunist ever fumbled the ball more than Reed? On more than a handful of occasions, Reed’s dropped the rock whether on punt returns, interceptions, or laterals.

For Sunday’s games, I’ll take the Dallas Cowbows to upset the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis. I like the fact that Dallas has been able to balance their attack on offense, and now effectively uses the three headed monster of Barber/Choice/Jones instead of relying heavily on just one. Minnesota’s Brett Favre has played admirably all season long, but the fact that Adrian Peterson has only ran for 100+ yards three times this season has me believing it’s no longer an aberration of sorts – Minnesota struggles to run the rock at times.

I’ll also take the San Diego Chargers in a tight one at Qualcomm. The New York Jets are once again going to be under valued heading into the game, as their blitz schemes and overall talent on the defensive side of the ball should be able to counteract the vaunted Chargers attack. San Diego can’t run the ball in the first place, so look for a heavy dose of Philip Rivers, Malcolm Floyd, and Vincent Jackson for the majority of the points, as they’ll look to exploit Lito Sheppard and the Smith/Rhodes platoon.

First, Bill Belichick went for it on fourth down from his own 28 with the game on the line, only to come up short in a pivotal clash against the Indianapolis Colts.

Next, Mike Tomlin decided to try an onside kick late against the Green Bay Packers while holding on to a small lead. The Packers recovered, but Tomlin escaped unscathed after some Ben Roethlisberger heroics.

Jim Zorn’s epic play call of a fake field goal(..twice) against the New York Giants was more bizarre than the first two. Hunter Smith throwing a lame duck into seven New York Giants defenders without a Redskin in sight was more of an exclamation point on the ‘Skins miserable season than anything else.

But what in the world was Jim Caldwell thinking, sitting Peyton Manning AFTER taking a lead in the third quarter? Quite frankly, I don’t get it.

Caldwell, the Indianapolis Colts, and the entire roster have said that going undefeated was more of a secondary goal than anything else. All week the team was quiet about how much Manning would play, and most of us either expected two things: Completely sitting the starting lineup on both sides of the ball after a drive or two, or playing the entire game in an effort to remain undefeated.

I’ve always been a proponent of keeping starting lineups on the field – if you play each snap worrying about a freak injury of sorts, you’re simply not cut out for the National Football League. However, the Colts are in a slightly different situation, as the team is quite average and is meant to protect the one unrivaled asset that 31 other teams would die for – Peyton Manning.

You don’t want Peyton Manning so much as even scratched in a meaningless game, especially with the playoffs right around the corner. Trust me, I get it. But what on earth did Caldwell gain by pulling him in the middle of the third quarter? Did he save Peyton and the first team offense twenty or so snaps? Anyone who defends such an idiotic decision takes the ‘better to rest our players!’ argument, one that hardly applies to the situation at hand. If rest was so vital to the Colts on both sides of the ball, they would’ve been benched long before Caldwell pulled the trigger.

Caldwell didn’t play his first team, and somehow managed to not rest them at the same time. Quite ironic, isn’t it?

The saddest part of this ordeal is watching the players’ reaction on the sidelines as the Jets bumbled their way to a win. The Jets defense had once again played well, but the offense had been miserable in the first half – with Manning out of the game, the Jets front seven feasted on Curtis Painter(yes, he’s in the NFL), forcing a fumble and returning it for six. The Jets held on to that lead all the way through, and knocked off the undefeated Colts by fourteen.

To touch on the earlier point of the players reaction: Check out Peyton Manning as the Jets took the lead late in the third quarter. For the rest of the game, Peyton stayed close to the sidelines with his helmet ready, almost wanting to force himself onto the field and take the game over. Think he didn’t care about being undefeated now?

And what was gained through all of this? If the Colts win the Super Bowl, they accomplished their primary goal, and nothing positive or negative will come from this. If they lose, fans and analysts will point to this shitstorm as the beginning of the end for the 2009 Colts. The minute the Colts offense looks out of sync, do you think people will blame infinite time Pro Bowler Peyton Manning, or come gunning for first year coach Jim Caldwell? Vegas won’t put odds on that, and neither will I – it’s the latter every time.

The Colts had a real chance to be the first team to stay undefeated wire to wire, and that was thrown away for a quarter and a half of rest. Bizarre isn’t the word, and neither is stupid. For now, I propose a new adjective when discussing anything that’s so mind blowing it leaves people speechless: Caldwelled.

Who are the only winners out of all this? The New York Jets. Gang Green was gift-wrapped a win after practically blowing their chances last week at the Meadowlands, and now have a chance to make the playoffs as a wild card should they take care of Cincinnati next week. Contrary to popular belief, the Bengals haven’t been all that impressive lately aside from a strong showing against San Diego, and the Jets could be facing a squad entirely comprised of backups if New England beats Houston next week. A Patriots win means the Bengals would be locked into their current four seed, meaning most of the team would get the day off.

 Fourteen weeks into the NFL season and our dream Super Bowl matchup of two undefeated teams is within reach. Both the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts will be the proverbial favorites in their conference playoffs, but one team is already playing with fire.

As both teams plod through the NFL season, we hear so much about parity in the NFL and why it keeps each team on its toes every week. Parity went out the window once the Patriots went 16-0, and now the possibility of two teams in the same season reaching that exact mark has people thinking the disparity levels in talent across the league might be widening.

And while I’d like to imagine the Saints and Colts are eerily similar and will easily roll into the showdown at Land Shark Stadium this coming February, part all of me thinks otherwise. The  Colts have playoff experience, and the Saints do not. The Colts win games with defense, and the Saints do not.

A defensive comparison considering how strong the two are on offense is hard to do, but consider this: The Colts are almost dead last im time of possession, yield tons of yards on defense because of the former, and still lead the league in points allowed per game. The Saints on the other hand tend to control the ball(almost four minutes more per game), yield fewer yards per game, yet are giving up almost a touchdown more on the defensive side.

The Saints are all about the big play on defense, which is going to be crucial come postseason. Except that playoff caliber teams usually don’t turn the ball over as frequently as your cellar dwellars. And of course the Saints can run the ball exponentially better than the Colts, which of course will mean nothing come playoffs – both teams will have home field advantage throughout and play in domes. I promise you that every game the Colts and Saints will likely participate in will be around climate controlled thanks to state of the art technology.

Even considering all of the aforementioned, the gray area between the two teams is how they play against weaker competition. The Colts have throttled all of the bottom feeders, and even in their close games against San Francisco and Houston(2x) they seemed to be in control throughout. Yet the Saints close games have come against some really futile teams in the most random of situations.

Why is this important? For one, when you’re a heavy favorite to win your respective conference, you’re going to need to beat the lessers. Both teams will draw the 4/5 winners coming out of the Wild Card round, which as of right now looks as follows: The winner of New England v. Denver against Indianapolis, and the winner of Arizona v. Green Bay against New Orleans. The Colts have already beaten both the Patriots and Broncos(albeit in close games), yet the Saints have beat neither the Packers or Saints.

Here’s where it gets interesting. It’s hard to argue that the Colts offense is “better” than the Saints, as New Orleans has more weapons and can effectively run the ball. Stopping New Orleans for some teams has proved harder than impossible – ask Philadelphia, Detroit, and the New York Giants. But for others, utilizing a bend but don’t break mentality has proved enormous. The futile teams I mentioned earlier that gave the Saints trouble have followed this exact mindset: The Bills in week three, the Jets in week four, the Falcons twice, and the St. Louis Rams. This goes without mentioning close games against Miami and Carolina, where Drew Brees was not at his best.

The Bills and Jets, two AFC East rivals, both forced the Saints into running the ball. Buffalo, even ranked dead last in the NFL against the run and close to passing the 3000 yard mark in terms of rushing yards allowed per game, managed to have the Saints in a 10-7 game late in the fourth quarter. Eventually, Nawlins broke it open due to the resurgence of Pierre Thomas. Against the Jets, New Orleans scored two defensive touchdowns to seal the deal, but never generated much offense throughout.

Even the lowly Rams gave the Saints bits of trouble. Brees had a rather pedestrian game, throwing a couple of interceptions to add to Colston’s two fumbles. The Saints could not stop Steven Jackson at any point during the game, and owe their entire victory to a Special Teams touchdown return in the third quarter – without that, the Rams would have taken down the Saints.

Twice, Atlanta has given the Saints trouble, but such is expected from division rivals. What’s scary is that in the second feature, Matt Ryan and Michael Turner were not available, and the Falcons relied on Chris Redman and Jason Snelling to carry the load. Redman had over 300 yards passing, and was quoted after the game saying “..I felt comfortable back there. There wasn’t a real pass rush all day, and my line let me work and find open receivers.”

What I’m not trying to do is break down the Saints on a game by game basis, pointing out the negatives while ignoring the positives – in much of the contests, the playmaking ability on both sides of the ball made the difference. When the playoffs roll around, a game can be won and lost on one or two key plays,  and if the Saints continue to be opportunistic they’ll be just fine.

On the other hand, it’s quite obvious that turnovers are limited in the playoffs. And it’s also quite obvious that the Saints have been flirting with losses all season before stealing victory from the jaws of defeat. Big plays at big times in games have kept the Saints undefeated, but in the playoffs one bad bounce could change the fate of the entire season. The Saints need to be more consistent at every facet of the game, instead of relying on random bursts of explosiveness to make up for lackluster performances in other areas.