| Pennington's Jets Paste Peyton's Ponies | |
Saturday, Jan. 4, 4:30 PM ET
At: Giants Stadium
Giants stadium was the setting Saturday for the first NFL playoff game featuring two black head coaches. The Colts' Tony Dungy and the Jets' Herman Edwards, Dungy's top assistant in Tampa Bay, led their teams into the first match up of the 2003 NFL Playoffs, and it was the former assistant that proved to be victorious.
After coming out on top of a dramatic finish in the AFC East race, the Jets proved their division title was no fluke by routing the Colts, 41-0, in their first postseason shutout.
Quarterback Chad Pennington continued his coming-out party with an impressive three-touchdown performance, including a 56-yard screen pass to Richie Anderson to start the scoring in the first quarter. After a 41-yard John Hall field goal stretched the lead to ten, Ray Mickens recovered a Troy Walters fumble on the ensuing kickoff, setting up the Jets offense at the Indianapolis 39-yard line.
Curtis Martin carried the ball on the next three plays, picking up a total of 15 yards before Pennington hit Laveranues Coles for nine more. LaMont Jordan ran up the middle for 12 yards on the next play, setting up a first-and-goal at the three before taking it in from the one-yard line two plays later.
Pennington's 4-yard touchdown pass to Santana Moss in the right corner of the end zone with 37 seconds remaining in the half put New York up 24-0... and the rout was on!
The Jets offense did all they needed to do in the first half, and the defense frustrated Peyton Manning and the Colts offense all afternoon. Manning, who was just 14-of-31 for 137 yards, was picked off twice and averaged just 3.9 yards per attempt. The Colts were held to just 176 total net yards and just 52 on the ground.
LaMont Jordan rushed for 102 yards, 89 of those coming in the second half, including 45 yards on 11 carries during a time-consuming drive in the fourth quarter.
The Jets will be at either Oakland or Tennessee next weekend.
In Saturday's late game, Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons marched into Green Bay for a battle with the Packers, and marched out with the first-ever playoff victory for a visitor at Lambeau Field. More...