Colts and Bengals Incur My Wrath

I am more than a little dismayed at how the New York Jets managed to get into the NFL playoffs this season. Not that it's any of their fault, mind you. The reason I usually root against NY is simply because they are divisional rivals of "my" team, the Miami Dolphins. Of course, if they end up playing the Dolphins' other "good" divisional rival, the New England Patriots, later in the playoffs, I'll be a big Jets fan (for the duration of that hypothetical game, that is).

No, for the last two games of the regular season, the New York Jets just went out and played some good old solid, spirited football. Their fans should be proud of them. It's just that their opponents for those two games, the Indianapolis Colts and the Cincinnati Bengals, essentially conceded victory to the Jets by resting their first stringers, and especially their star players, for the upcoming playoffs.

I am especially down on the Colts, who at 14-0, had a chance to go undefeated, but who instead chose to bench star quarterback Peyton Manning early in the third quarter of a close contest against New York. The Jets, playing against a substitute Colt lineup, took over the game and never looked back.

The following week, Cincinnati, having just clinched their division, decided to rest their starters as well. And who should they be playing, but the Jets! And those Jets coasted into the playoffs with a too-easy 37-0 win.

What is the most disturbing about all this is that there were other teams, like Houston, Pittsburgh, and Denver, who were in the thick of the playoff hunt as well. They were cheated out of an opportunity to compete on the same level as New York, which was essentially forfeited the last two games. This badly tarnishes the integrity of the sport.

I was rooting for the Miami Dolphins, which once had a 7-6 record (including two wins over those Jets) but lost their final three games of the season. So my gripe has nothing to do with them being cheated out of anything. They blew their playoff chances on their own, injury excuses notwithstanding (but forthcoming).

As long as the Colts or the Bengals have the coaches that they presently have, I will no longer root for them. Even if New England is the scheduled opponent (that's how bad I feel about them)! As a matter of fact, the Jets are scheduled to once again play against Cincinnati this weekend in the first round of the playoffs. Go Jets!