SAN DIEGO — Well, well. Look what we have here. Look who’s coming to dinner for the AFC Championship against the Colts on Sunday in Indianapolis.
That’s right, Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark. The Jets are coming back to town. Yes, those same Jets you could have knocked out a month ago when you instead decided to kneel down.
How delicious is this, Jets fans?
“I don’t think anybody could have drawn it up any better than this,” Jets linebacker Calvin Pace said.
CBS’ DIERDORF OFF BASE ON JETS-COLTS REMATCH
PHOTOS: JETS BEAT CHARGERS, 17-14
The Jets, by virtue of their taut 17-14 upset of the favored Chargers in yesterday’s AFC divisional playoff game at Qualcomm Stadium, are going to the AFC Championship for the first time since the 1998 season.
They’ve got a 3 p.m. Sunday date with the Colts, whom they beat 29-15 on Dec. 27 in a game riddled with controversy because the then-undefeated Colts took their stars out of the game with a 15-10 lead in the third quarter, opening the door for the Jets to run away with the victory.
“They’re not going to respect us,” Jets defensive end Marques Douglas said of the Colts. “I’m pretty sure those guys are already making plans to go to the Super Bowl. But we’re not going to rest until we’re down in Miami for the Super Bowl.”
RAW AUDIO
REX RYAN ON THE JETS’ WIN OVER THE CHARGERS
MARK SANCHEZ ON HIS TD PASS TO DUSTIN KELLER AND FACING THE COLTS
DARRELLE REVIS ON HIS VINCENT JACKSON INTERCEPTION
BART SCOTT: “WE’RE READY TO SHOCK THE WORLD”
Yesterday’s victory, one of the most significant in franchise history, marked the first time the Jets have won two playoff games in one postseason since 1982 and only the third time they’ve ever accomplished the feat.
Now, with two playoff road wins in the bank, the Jets get to really turn this into something special.
They’re in the NFL’s Final Four. They’re 60 tantalizing minutes away from getting to their first Super Bowl since Joe Namath led them to their only one in January 1969.
“We definitely feel like this is our year,” right guard Brandon Moore said. “This is our shot. We’re one game away from the big party.”
Asked if he feels like the Jets are a team of destiny right now, Moore said, “I’ll answer that next Sunday. I think guys are on a roll. We’re like little kids who don’t know any better. That ‘same old Jets’ stuff, we don’t know about history and all failed opportunities.”
A number of players, including Moore, described this win as the greatest moment in their careers.
“It’s so much sweeter to win when nobody picks you to win,” receiver Wallace Wright said. “Before the game, Rex told us, ‘It’s going to be the three No. 1 seeds and the Jets.’ ”
Indeed, Rex Ryan reveled in the fact that the Jets, the No. 5 seed, are the ugly ducklings in these playoffs, saying, “This probably wasn’t the popular choice, but here we are. We don’t have to apologize to anybody.”
Asked what he thinks the Colts are thinking, Moore said, “I could care less what Indy’s feeling; I’m just feeling real good right now.”
The Jets are feeling good because they won this game in a manner that represents everything Ryan has preached since he was hired. The Jets won this game as a complete team. They won it because they were more physical than the Chargers.
Their defense beat up and confused a Chargers offense that had scored 20 or more points in its last 22 games, dating back to last season and averaged 28.4 points per game this season.
Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who managed only 24 yards on 12 carries, delivered the ultimate compliment to the Jets when he said, “Their defense was perfect.”
That respect, according to a number of Jets players — most notably linebacker Bart Scott — came a little too late.
“We were a little agitated because when we came out, a lot of those guys on their sideline were saying we didn’t deserve to be here,” Scott said. “Coming out in pregame, a lot of guys were saying we didn’t belong. That kind of put us on edge coming out.”
The Jets, clinging to a three-point lead, closed the game by converting on a colossal fourth-and-one play to enable themselves to run out the clock and secure the win.
They got a 2-yard Mark Sanchez (12-for-23, 100 yards) scoring pass to tight end Dustin Keller that gave them a 10-7 lead with 13:35 remaining in the game after a huge interception by safety Jim Leonhard, and they got an electric 53-yard TD run by rookie running back Shonn Greene with 7:17 remaining to make it 17-7.
They got contributions from everywhere. And now they’re 60 minutes away from the Super Bowl.
Jets receiver Braylon Edwards said he was fed up with all the talk that the Jets “backed into” the playoffs, saying, “I hope this validates that we belong here.”
“If people keep telling us what we don’t have, they’re idiots,” Edwards said. “They need to watch us play football. People are so caught up on us lucking out that they’re going to keep going against us. Eventually it’s going to come down to us winning the Super Bowl and that’s when we’ll have respect.”