They are the talk of the town and the toast of the town, a pair of precocious rookies chasing this most improbable Super Bowl dream together.
Rex Ryan and Mark Sanchez.
Fatman and Robin.
A rookie head coach has not won a Super Bowl since George Seifert replaced Bill Walsh for the 49ers’ victory in Super Bowl XXIX. A rookie quarterback has never won a Super Bowl. Go ahead and tell Gotham’s Dynamic Duo they have no shot to be the first pair of rookies to win one together.
Inside the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center, a fire burns, and it is Fatman and Robin who have stoked it. And now no one should be at all surprised if sometime Tuesday, when the Jets band together again, they find Ryan standing on top of the place bellowing: “Cry Me A Rivers!”
The cry of “Ya’ Gotta Believe!” — which carried the Tug McGraw Mets to an NL championship — belongs to Fatman and Robin and the Jets now. Fatman believes in Robin, Robin believes in Fatman, and every Jet now believes in both of them.
If Sanchez shows up Sunday against the Chargers as poised as he did against the Bengals, if he shows up again as a battlefield commander, if he pitches himself another game that would make Don Larsen proud, if he truly has morphed into the Boy Wonder of these playoffs, then the Jets can do this. It’s a huge if, but they can do this. They can beat the Chargers and put themselves 60 minutes from Super Bowl Bowl XLIV. And then, anything is possible.
“That experience is starting to show,” Nick Mangold said of Sanchez, “and you can see it every week growing in him.”
Rivers will be light years better than Carson Palmer was. And the last thing Ryan wants is a shootout against Rivers, because Sanchez won’t stand a chance that way. But these Jets are starting to believe the way the 2007 Giants believed. No one thought the 2007 Giants could get to Super Bowl XLII, much less beat Bill Belichick and Tom Brady and end the Patriots’ perfect season.
If Ryan doesn’t believe any quarterback — Johnny Unitas or Joe Montana or Rivers — can carve up his defense, then the 53 disciples who revere him as a caped crusader won’t believe it either.
All the pressure will be on the Chargers, who will be highly motivated. Ben Roethlisberger has won two Super Bowls. Eli Manning has won one. Rivers, the third member of that prized 2004 NFL Draft class, is desperate to join the club. This very well could be LaDainian Tomlinson’s last shot at a ring. San Diego coach Norv Turner is looking to get the critics who keep saying he can’t win The Big One off his back.
“They have a great defense,” Tomlinson said. “They have a lot of guys on that team who have played in big games. They have the winning formula. It should be a great game.”
Fatman and Robin, who turned the Bengals into Jokers, are playing with house money. Did the Jets have a preference between the Colts and Chargers? “It doesn’t matter to us,” Damien Woody said. “We’re an all-purpose team; we can go anywhere. We play defense, we run the football. So we can go anywhere.
“I don’t care what other people are saying, ’cause I’m sure now, everybody’s gonna be like, ‘Oh, they beat the Bengals, who are the Bengals?’ Now we’re surely gonna get destroyed by either the Chargers or the Colts so . . . it’s gonna be more of the same type of disrespect next week, so we’ll just get ready for it, and we’ll prepare, and see if we got a fightin’ chance to win next week.”
General manager Mike Tannenbaum traded up last April for Sanchez. Then he traded up for Shonn Greene. Anybody want Tannenbaum fired now?
Someone asked Tony Richardson whether the country had just witnessed Greene’s coming-out party. “I think it’s just kinda like a Jets coming-out party,” Richardson said.
Hosted by Fatman and Robin.
Herm’s guys put OT hurt on SD
The last time the Jets and Chargers met in the playoffs was five years ago at Qualcomm Stadium, a dramatic 20-17 overtime upset victory by Gang Green.
The Jets’ Doug Brien kicked a 28-yard field goal to win it with five seconds left in overtime. That came after linebacker Eric Barton was flagged for a personal foul for hitting then-Chargers quarterback Drew Brees on the helmet with his right forearm at the end of regulation — as a failed fourth-and-goal prayer was batted down in the end zone. Brees then passed to tight end Antonio Gates for the 1-yard touchdown with 11 seconds left to force overtime.
Herman Edwards’ Jets dodged a bullet when Nate Kaeding missed a 40-yard field goal with 4:19 left in OT.
“That has to be one of the most dramatic games I’ve been a part of,” Jets running back Curtis Martin said.
Chad Pennington, playing with what was later revealed as a torn right rotator cuff, was 23-of-33 for 319 yards and two TDs. After throwing a 47-yard TD bomb to Santana Moss early in the third quarter to give the Jets the lead, Pennington looked over at his bench as he glided downfield and flexed his left bicep.
Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer was flagged for a huge unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for running onto the field in the second quarter, reminding the national media of his past playoff failures.
The Jets went to Pittsburgh the following week and lost in overtime after Brien missed a 43-yard field goal at the end of regulation.
Rhodes to victory goes through Kerry
Kerry Rhodes will play a vital role for the Jets on Sunday against the Chargers.
The 6-foot-4 safety, who has barged out of Rex Ryan’s doghouse, is the Jets defensive back who best matches up with 6-foot-5 San Diego tight end Antonio Gates, who caught six passes for 89 yards and a touchdown in the Jets’ 20-17 playoff victory over the Chargers five years ago at Qualcomm Stadium.
Darrelle Revis, meanwhile, will have a tall task of his own: covering 6-foot-5 wideout Vincent Jackson, who enjoyed a breakout season. My money’s on Revis.
The most problematic Charger won’t be LaDainian Tomlinson, who remains dangerous but has lost some of his explosiveness, but 5-foot-6 dynamo Darren Sproles, who hides behind his offensive line and can take it to the house at any given moment.
There isn’t a Jets linebacker who can cover Sproles in the open field, so safety Eric Smith and cornerback Dwight Lowery could have a bigger role.