AFC Championship: Jets @ Colts, Preview & Prediction

The AFC Championship game this Sunday between the New York Jets and Indianpolis Colts is a battle of contrasting styles. The Jets rely heavily on their hard nose defense and dominant running game. The Colts rely on their air attack behind their star quarterback and their speed defense. It is a very intriguing battle. Lets take a look at the matchups:

When the Jets have the ball:

The Jets will once again attempt to pound the Colts with their rushing attack. The duo of Thomas Jones and rookie Shonn Greene have been unable to stop this postseason. Controlling the game with the running game means the Jets will not need rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez to do to much. That would be a good thing for New York as Sanchez has had a tendency to throw into traffic and make mistakes.

The Colts defense is generally on the smaller side and they rely on speed. Defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis will attempt to consistently put pressure on Sanchez. They are both very quick off the line of scrimmage and the Jets offensive line will have their hands full. The Jets line has been very good this year and have mostly kept Sanchez standing. Freeney and Mathis have combined for 23 sacks this season and in Week 16 when these two teams played, Freeney sacked Sanchez twice and he only played 2^1/2 quarters.

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