Colts-Jets: Talk Proves to be Cheap vs Manning

Smoke and Mirrors Show Falls To Real Thing

Rex Ryan created a stir with all of his brash predictions and the inflated swagger he spread throughout Florham Park.

In Indianapolis this afternoon, the Colts were having none of it. They preached patience and professionalism and never allowed the Jets to drag them into the gutter.

In the end, Ryan's bravado wasn't enough to overcome a real football team that flew almost stealth-like under the radar all week.  The Jets pandered to the media while the Colts prepared to waylay them when the got to town.

Ryan knew he faced a juggernaut in Indianapolis and ran interference with his mouth.

The Jets came out swinging as predicted and took control of the tempo and the scoreboard, but like any puncher who doesn't get the early KO, they ended up fading and hanging on the ropes, a bloody mess.

They fell into the trap of many overconfident teams. They forgot that football is a 60-minute affair and that other teams—talented ones such as Indianapolis—possess pride, too, and were not about to surrender at halftime.

Peyton Manning is a four-time regular season MVP who has also won that distinction in the Super Bowl. He bided his time, took his first-half licks, and then ravaged the Jets in the second half.

The Jets are a team on the rise, but they are not there at this juncture. They do not have that championship mettle as of yet. Mark Sanchez is still learning. One day he will be in Manning's shoes and today will be remembered as a mere stepping stone.

Ryan's braggadocio muddled the fact that Peyton Manning and his Colts are the real thing. Manning is like Larry Bird or Wayne Gretzky at the peak of their games. He is on another level. 

The Jets hit Manning many times, but unless you put him in the locker room (something that has not been done in a dozen years) you will be subject to his brilliance.

I am most upset for the fans that were duped into believing well before they should have.  Ryan sold the starving throngs a bill of goods—ripe goods, at that.  Soon they will be ready. Soon. There is hope.

Even though the result is like many that has come before, do not say "same old Jets" tonight, Jet fans. You lost to the best that's ever played.  Your time will come.