Jim Lang

Rex Ryan has guts to spare, a big reason why the Jets pulled off the biggest upset of the season.

I will say this, Jets head coach Rex Ryan has guts to spare. He also has a defence that seems to get better every week and a rookie quarterback who is coming up huge in the post-season.

Ryan's guts were on full display when he went for it on fourth and one late in the fourth quarter. Ryan could have punted and pinned the Charges deep. Instead he displayed amazing confidence in his offensive line and Thomas Jones did the rest with his first-down run.

On the flipside, Chargers head coach Norv Turner will be second guessed for years to come for his strange to decision to go for the onside kick late in the fourth quarter. The Chargers had just scored a touchdown and there was over two minutes on the clock. Instead of kicking deep and making Mark Sanchez work with a long field, Norv went for the onside kick. It failed miserably and the Jets got the ball.

Not long afterwards, Thomas Jones ran for the first down heard around Manhattan and the Jets had pulled off the biggest upset of the playoffs, so far.

This loss will haunt the Chargers players, coaches and fans for years to come. After dominating the Jets on both sides of the ball for the first two quarters, the Chargers went into half time with only a 7-0 lead. Think about this, Mark Sanchez and the Jets didn't get a first down until 8:16 of the second quarter. Thanks to the bye week, the Chargers defence looked rested and inspired.

But the Chargers made a grave tactical error when they allowed the Jets to hang around and stay in the game. Early in the fourth quarter, Sanchez hit tight end Dustin Keller on a two-yard touchdown. Then the Jets defence started to make some big plays. Safety Kerry Rhodes came untouched on a blitz and forced a fumble. The Chargers were able to recover the fumble, but they had to punt. Four plays later, Shonn Greene followed some superb blocks from his offensive line and took off on a 53-yard touchdown run.

All of a sudden Qualcomm Stadium was in a state of shock.

Two touchdowns in the fourth quarter by an offence led by a rookie quarterback? That was not supposed to happen to a heavily favoured powerhouse Chargers team riding an 11-game winning streak.

Philip Rivers made a game of it, but Turner's bizarre decision to try that onside kick and Thomas Jones' subsequent first-down run ended any hopes of a Chargers comeback.

In the end, the Chargers have no one to blame but themselves for this painful loss. They took stupid and needless penalties. They missed field goals. They didn't make plays when they had to. All of that is on them. This has to go down as the most bitter playoff loss in Chargers history.

I loved Rex Ryan's words on the podium after the game: "The NFL got the match-up probably nobody wanted, but who cares?"

Up next, the Jets return to Lucas Oil Stadium to face the Colts.

Star of the game: Like always, Darrelle Revis was amazing. But my star of the game goes out to the rookie running back Greene. For the second straight week, Greene had a big game including that back-breaking 53-yard touchdown run.

Stiff of the game: Chargers kicker Nate Kaeding. Kaeding picked a bad time to have the worst game of his life. Kaeding missed from 36, 40 and 57 yards. He can be excused for missing the 57-yarder. But there's no excuse for missing the 36- and 40-yarders.

Colts 20, Ravens 3

With all the talk leading up to this game surrounding the sound and fury of the Ravens defence, it was the Colts defence that stole the show. Gary Brackett and the Colts defence held the Ravens one sure thing, their running game, to 87 yards and zero touchdowns.

With the Colts defence doing their thing, it allowed Peyton Manning and the offence the time to find their rhythm. With two minutes to go in the second quarter, Manning hits Austin Collie with a 10-yard touchdown. The Colts defence forced the Ravens into a quick three and out. Manning went right back to work and hit Reggie Wayne with a three-yard touchdown with three seconds to go before the half.

The way the Colts defence was playing, that pretty much ended any chance of the Ravens coming back and pulling off the upset. Some bitter Ravens fans were moaning and complaining about the officiating and some of the questionable calls that went against their team. The last time I checked, the refs had nothing to do with the fact the Ravens offence was unable to do anything against the Colts defence.

Proud of his Haitian roots, wide receiver Pierre Garcon made the play of the game for the Colts. After Ed Reed had intercepted a Peyton Manning pass, Garcon kicked in the after-burners, ran him down, and knocked the ball loose. After the game, Garcon ran around the stadium waving a Haitian flag.

It was interesting to note that the Colts were 0-3 when hosting a playoff game coming off of a bye week. Head coach Jim Caldwell deserves a lot of credit for the way he prepared his team to win.

Up next, the Colts will host the Jets in the AFC Championship game. The football gods must be laughing their heads off at the irony in this game. The Colts will play the same team they faced in Week 16 when they pulled their starters to rest up for the playoffs. That win allowed the Jets to stay alive in the playoff race and is a big reason why they will be at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday.

Star of the game: Since the Colts defence played such a great game, it's only appropriate that middle linebacker Gary Brackett is my choice for the star of the game. Brackett had five tackles, one sack, one quarterback hit and he knocked down a pass.

Stiff of the game: More like, stiffs of the game. The entire Ravens offence is to blame for their brutal effort. Joe Flacco tossed two interceptions. The Ravens running game never got anything going. This was a total team collapse for the Ravens offence.

NFC Divisional playoff

Saints 45, Cardinals 14

Who Dat baby?

For a team that had won all of two playoff games in their franchise history and that had lost their last three games of the regular season, the Saints were in fine form Saturday night at the Superdome.

With Brad Pitt standing on the sidelines soaking it all in, the deafening crowd at the Superdome just added to the party atmosphere for the Saints.

Forget about the team that ended the season losing three straight; coming off the bye week, Drew Brees and the Saints offence looked like the same team that started the season with a 13-0 record.

Feeding off of that amazing crowd at the Superdome, Drew Brees had three touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 125.4. Just as impressive was the fact the Saints went 7-13 on third-down conversions.

On the flip side, Kurt Warner and the Cardinals were a dismal one of eight on third-down conversions. In fact, the Cardinals offence didn't look anything like the team that hung 51 points on the Packers the week before. Warner took a beating and the Cards' much vaunted passing game never looked in sync.

Warner watched his career flash before his eyes after he threw an interception to defensive end Will Smith. While trying to make a tackle, Warner was taken out on a brutal, but clean, blindside block by Bobby McCray.

As Warner was laid out and starting at the roof of the Superdome, Ken Whisenhunt knew deep down inside that this game was over.

While Whisenhunt struggled with his game plan, Saints head coach Sean Payton was totally dialed in. Witness his call on the flea flicker on which Brees hit Devery Henderson for that 44-yard touchdown. Payton was able to get his players to ignore the season-ending three-game losing streak and focus on being the team that was the class of the NFC for most of the season.

Since the day the Saints selected Reggie Bush with the second overall pick in the 2006 draft, they've been waiting for him to play a game worthy of his star status at USC. Saturday night at the Superdome in New Orleans, Bush broke out with his best game as a pro. Yet another dangerous weapon for the Saints league-leading offence.

For a city that was on the brink of total collapse after Hurricane Katrina, the football gods have rewarded them with the NFC Championship game next week. Sometimes there is a little justice in the world.

Star of the game: The star of the game goes out to Bush. With his girlfriend Kim Kardashian watching from a private suite, Bush did it all for the Saints. Near the end of the first half, Bush put on a wonderful display of power, balance and vision on his highlight reel 46-yard touchdown run. Then in the fourth quarter, Bush put the exclamation point on the Saints win with an electrifying 83-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Stiff of the game: Cardinals defensive coordinator Billy Davis. Under his tutelage, the Cardinals gave up 45 points for the second week in a row. That's 90 points allowed in two playoff games. As they like to say down in the bayou, "that dog don't hunt."

Vikings 34, Cowboys 3

For the Dallas Cowboys, this was a complete and utter disaster from the very start of the game to the final whistle. Missed tackles, missed field goals, bad pass protection and on and on it goes. For a team that came into the game with all the momentum and confidence in the world, they got taken out behind the proverbial woodshed and received a good old-fashioned beating.

Tony Romo spent the entire game running for his life as the Cowboys offensive line was utterly helpless to keep the Vikings front seven at bay. Romo was sacked six times and took another 10 hits. As a result of all that physical pounding, Romo fumbled the ball three times and threw a careless interception.

To give you an idea of just how dominating the Vikings front seven were, that was the most times Romo has ever been sacked in a single game.

With Jared Allen, Ray Edwards and the rest of the Vikings front seven dominating the line of scrimmage, Romo and the Cowboys offence was in total disarray. That's why the Cowboys were held to three points and measly 248 yards of total offence.

The Vikings defence did such a good job that it overshadowing the offensive heroics of Brett Favre and Sidney Rice. Of Favre's four touchdowns passes, none was prettier than the 47-yard bomb he threw to Sidney Rice in the first quarter. Favre spotted Rice in one-on-one coverage with safety Gerald Sensabaugh down the right sideline and the old guy threw a perfect pass in a tight spot to Rice to make the play happen.

Rice ended up with three touchdown catches and the legend of Favre in Minnesota is reaching biblical proportions. Favre displays so much confidence in Rice and Percy Harvin that I truly believe he has played a big role in their breakout seasons.

The 40-year-old Favre threw four touchdowns and had a quarterback rating of 134.4. All of this against a Cowboys defence that came into this one having only given up 14 points in their last three games. It's not like Favre had all day to do his thing. Even with the loss, the Cowboys still sacked Favre three times and hit him another seven times.

This is the big reason that Brad Childress and the Vikings pulled out all the stops to get Favre in the off-season. When he's on his game, Favre has a unique ability to not only make big plays, but elevate the level of play of those men around him.

Up next, Favre and the Vikings will take on Brees and the Saints in the Superdome on Sunday in the NFC Championship game. Favre is back in the bayou leading the Vikings into enemy territory against everyone's emotional favourites, the Saints.

Star of the game: Vikings defensive end Ray Edwards. While the Cowboys were concerned with Allen, and rightly so, Edwards had three sacks and six quarterback hits. Edwards, along with Allen and the Vikings defensive line, assaulted Romo all day long. The final tally was six sacks and 10 quarterback hits. All of it spearheaded by Edwards.

Stiff of the game: Wade Phillips. I still can't believe after Flozell Adams left the game with an injury, that Phillips asked tight end Jason Witten to try and block Jared Allen one-on-one. Allen blew by Witten, sacked Romo and forced a fumble. A confident Cowboys team looked ill-prepared for what the Vikings threw at them. That's on Phillips and it might cost him his job.

Just an FYI -- On Friday, I will have a complete preview of the AFC and NFC Championship games.