SportsFullCircle

Indianapolis Colts 30 New York Jets 17

The Colts weren’t going to let the Jets beat them in their own house. Nuh-uh. Not when it has already happened in Week 16 of the regular season.

It did seem like that was going to happen when the Jets jumped out to a 17-6 lead late in the first half. However, Austin Collie reeled in a 16-yard touchdown pass from Peyton Manning to cut the New York lead to four at halftime. Seventeen unanswered second half points later, Indianapolis said hello to another Super Bowl in Miami.

Peyton Manning continued his MVP-style performance, completing 26 of 39 passes for 377 yards, throwing three touchdown strikes: one to Austin Collie, one to Pierre Garcon, and the other to Dallas Clark. Garcon caught 11 passes for 151 yards, both career-highs. The 11 catches were an AFC championship game record while the 151 receiving yards were the third most in Colts’ playoff history.

Matt Stover converted on all three of his field goal attempts for the Indianapolis Colts; all kicks were from no greater than 25 yards out.

Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez went 17-of-30 passing for 257 yards, throwing two touchdown passes to Braylon Edwards and Dustin Keller.

Peyton Manning broke the NFL postseason record, accumulating 300+ passing yards for the seventh time in a playoff game.

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New Orleans Saints 31 Minnesota Vikings 28

Oh when the Saints go marching in, they’ll be marching right into the Big Game, and they do it in dramatic fashion.

Garrett Hartley kicked a 40-yard field goal in overtime to send the New Orleans Saints to their first Super Bowl. Prior to this game, only Rich Karlis, Morten Andersen, and Lawrence Tynes kicked a conference championship-winning field goal in overtime.

Drew Brees went 17-of-31 passing for 197 yards, throwing three touchdown strikes to Pierre Thomas, Devery Henderson, and Reggie Bush. Thomas also scored a touchdown on the ground.

Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre completed 28 of 46 passes for 310 yards, throwing one touchdown pass to Sidney Rice. Adrian Peterson ran the ball 25 times for 122 yards, scoring three touchdowns for the Vikings.

Similar to the NFC Championship Game two years ago when the Green Bay Packers hosted the New York Giants, Favre’s last pass of the game was an interception. In this year’s conference title game, Favre’s last pass of the game was also an interception. The Vikings were within Ryan Longwell’s field goal range, but a 12 men on the field penalty brought the Vikings back 5 yards to the Saints’ 38-yard line. On the ensuing play, Favre threw a pass to New Orleans’ Tracy Porter, who returned the ball to the Saints’ 48-yard line. The game went to overtime, where New Orleans won the coin toss and, eventually, the football game.

Favre actually injured his left ankle in the third quarter, but stayed in the game.

The New Orleans Saints became the first home team to win a conference championship game in overtime.