1988 Week 15 - Indianapolis at N.Y. Jets

national broadcasting company presents the national football league today from giant stadium it's the indianapolis colts versus the new york jets brought to you by budweiser beechwood aged for that clean crisp taste this bud's for you five mazda cars and trucks including the all-new mazda mtv and by murata fax machines built for the most important business in the world yours the meadowlands and giant stadium the jets are out of the playoffs and a sellout of 76 000 and at the moment only about half of those fans are here to see the colts in light of the nfl live show of comedy it's very serious for the colts they still have a chance for the playoffs for the jets their season is over they'll be playing for the so-called pride this afternoon hello everyone dick hanberg with merlin olsen a couple of funny guys up here in the uh meadowlands and someone who doesn't bring a lot of smiles to the opposition wears 29 in the blue and white of the colts if ron meyer has his way today it's going to be serious business for eric dickerson dickerson and we've said it many times the finest running back in the nfl he can control a game by himself and that's exactly what meyer and the colts would like to do today and for eric dickerson he's shooting for another nfl rushing title that would make four in his six years and another interesting stat five years in the league dickerson five times has sent his team into the playoffs never missed a playoff all right let's talk about the new york jets they have a headliner as well and number 88 altoon jets offensively have been able to explode over the last couple of weeks 72 points on the board a lot of them because of the great catches made by this man and of course they're working against a depleted secondary the colts lost robinson and good two weeks ago to injury to their starting defensive backs swope went down last week with a knee injury he won't be in there except on limited occasions today the lone remaining guy in there mike pryor has been moved from free safety to strong safety so he's out of position and there should be some holes back there for the jets to look at so what you're telling me is we're going to see a high scoring game both teams should be able to score a lot i think we're going to see some scoring here today and uh gosh i hope so we're here to have some fun i think the i'm going to say the winner will have over 30 points and i think the loser might as well i think you might be right the jets gains the last two weeks 38 34 they won one and lost one so that figures for them well the weather shouldn't be a factor although it's cold there's no wind it'll be comfortable for players and it's been a comfortable week for this man joe walton his contract extended he had one more year left the word is that they've given him two more years through the 1991 season walton the only winning coach in jets history sammy baugh was the first jets titans they were called in those days coach and he was 14 and 14. he was the closest prior to walton although walton has had his december problems losing the last eight games played in december and ron meyer just the reverse his teams are seven and one in december remember when they hired him a couple of years ago he came in all losing season oh and 11 and the colts won their last three games for meyer as he solidified his position immediately as the head man in indianapolis and this opening kickoff is sponsored by budweiser the king of beers and dean villasuchi who has developed in one of the top kickers in the league will root it down field bobby humphrey a dangerous return man along with jojo townsell for the new york jets in white temperature right at freezing as this game begins 12 30 eastern time townsell at the seven the former ucla star steps out of bounds at the 46 in jets territory so new york off to a racing start thanks to town cell's return pat ryan will be the quarterback not ken o'brien who has a bad shoulder freeman mcneil has led the jets in rushing every year he's been here roger vick the big fullback al toon 82 catches leads the nfl wesley walker still has the speed to go deep and mickey schuler when they're in trouble third down look for the ball to go to schuler creswell hate sweeney alexander and mcelroy the offensive line from the jets 46. play action for ryan good protection what a catch in traffic by tune oh my that's why he's leading the league hammered as the ball arrived and tune latches onto it and a 15-yard gain this is a great athlete there's only one other receiver in the league is strong that's jerry rice out in san francisco it looked like this ball went over the arms of schuler he thought the pass was going to him but there's no question it was being thrown to tune who did a good job of lassoing it and bringing it down number 83 for al tune who had the lead by eight catches starting today ryan comes out throwing this one off walker barry krause 55. the veteran from alabama on the coverage and here is the colts defense danelle thompson the ex-jet joe kleco got a good hand as he was introduced john hand the defensive line the linebackers o'brien alston he's been a fine surprise fred young the former seahawk pro bowler barry kraus dwayne bickett who is a pro bowler willie tullis and eugene daniel in the rebuild defensive secondary mike pryor and john hold at safety nothing there on the run as freeman mcneil has stacked up might have gotten a yard center of the defense and then dwayne pickett 50 backing up dannell thompson on the stop there's bickett a southern california star you like him a lot don i really like him i think he may be the best all-around combination linebacker in the nfl and his ability to play the point of attack to rush the passer and then to get back in coverage he really does all three very well again no he was out of bounds one official looking to the other and the wave off zone did not get both feet down michael ball and mike pryor on the coverage what a fine piece of work on the sideline by michael ball there's one foot down and it's a good call by the official then there was the official on the back line i believe the back judge who had to come up and make the call so with the line of scrimmage the 38 the jets will not go for the field goal although when there's nothing to lose a team like the jets you always have to think fake in any kick formation they've always had a bag of tricks prior to return he's at the 10 joe prokop an ex-decathlete cal poly pomona it takes a bounce for the colts and won't be down until rose gets it at the 19-yard line so the coats will have it in play when we return at their 19. hamilton did not gamble at the 38 and he gets a 19-yard punt and so the colts will open in good position here is the indianapolis offense led by rookie chris chandler out of the university of washington albert bentley eric dickerson clarence verdan bill brooks is their leading receiver the tight end pad beach hinton and pro bowler dixon donaldson a pro bowler gains only a yard scott mercero backed up by 54 troy benson here are the jets defensively fraser rookie mercero and lions the veteran the linebackers alex gordon troy benson and kyle clifton they make most of the tackles those two inside men and kevin mcarthur bobby humphrey and james hastie a rookie from washington state at the corners rich miano and george ravichowski for the injured eric mcmillan mcmillan the rookie from missouri with eight interceptions will not play today and throws it away bentley was the closest cold and chandler just did get it away good pressure from scott mercero the nose tackle from southern connecticut scott mercero right in the middle of your screen and let's just watch him as we turn him loose he's going to stun out from his inside position behind the on rushing defensive lineman and he breaks clean to the outside getting away from donaldson forces the bad throw third down and eight jets were offside so it's a free play colts don't get much from bentley but they will get five yards as they were drawn off on the count by chris chandler talked to bud carson about his defense he just shook his head they have been shell-shocked these past sides 55 defense still third down no pass rush that had to be a healthy sign they did get some pressure on the young rookie on that play but they have been without a pass rush and the result is that they have had horrible coverage shattered the confidence of a young secondary and it's been a tough tough week for them this week in fact if mercero had sac chandler it would have been only the second sack in nine games by a defensive lineman they haven't had anything since marc gastino left on third down and four chandler going deep verdan he may have had his sight blurred by james hasty appeared the ball got through and bounced off the uniform of hernan they have come off the shoulder pad and it he's running right on the edge of the sunlight there which is streaming down looked to be a very catchable pass an excellent throw by chandler hasty with good position but he does not touch the football although his hand up there may have obstructed the view momentarily so back to kick ron stark with jojo townsel at the other end for the jets perfect spiral townsell at the 34. and a flag is down jojo townsell who had the fine kickoff return to start the game peels off 16 on that return let's see about the penalty i think it's new foul ola number 30 is going to be called for the foul he was in a bad position looked like he ended up trying to grab one of the defensive players on that play johnny grier illegal block number 30 receiving team on the run back first down so instead of midfield the jets will have to start at the 27. so we're in the first quarter here at the meadowlands 11 and a half minutes to go going back to that last play watch fa'aola on her rod right here the clip as they start to play townsell faked his own man out ready for the break to the outside and he made a mistake there coming in on the back of the defensive man and actually as you could see a rod would not have been a factor in the play townsell had already beaten him but the penalty flag is dropped and so the jets started the 22 instead of at the 50. ryan from tennessee the quarterback raymond mcneil mcneal has a first down at the 39 before mike pryor can secure him freeman mcneil is a most unusual halfback he does his best running up inside usually the halfbacks run outside but mcneil with great change of direction and wonderful eyes wonderful vision look how he moves in behind the block of tune there picks up some extra yardage freeman mcneal in his eighth year the previous seven he's led the jets all seven years he's always averaged over four yards per rush he's averaging 4.3 this year he's over 800 yards now in 1988. on first down ryan to walker and the flag is down walker it is a catch is out of bounds at the colts 40-yard line i think the penalty against indianapolis one of the things the jets want to do today is to get the ball downfield to walker holding call against indy's defense on the play and dick there's going to be some real problems out there for this defensive secondary with that many changes over two weeks 39 defense is decline first down mike fryer who did his holding on a baseball bat at illinois state where he was an outstanding hitter drafted by the orioles the dodgers but elected to play football 20-yard game first down at the 40. to schuler what a catch by schuler he has the hands on it eugene daniel nails him the ball pops free shielders concentration and hands in the right spot you never give up on the football if you're a good receiver schuler 82 top of your screen the ball gets away from him here now watch what happens as he hits the ground never lost his concentration you gotta love that about a guy like schuler he has one fine tight end that's his 64th catch of the year and extensions uh consecutive streak at 78. now there's another streak that we're watching today al toon and this may be even more remarkable than just a catch per game consecutively tune has two catches if he gets one more that'll be 49 games in which he started where he's caught at least three balls three he is something and he had a big game against the colts the first time around he almost made our olympic team in 84 as a triple jumper he was injured he was the big ten record holder he's right around 55 feet he uses that jumping ability on the field very effectively no score but the jets getting deeper into colts territory and a good play made by dwayne vickett 243 pounder from southern cal gets hector for little or no gain jets feel that they can run up inside on this colts defense klecko who has lost a great deal of his burst and strength in there along with barry krauss who is 30 pounds lighter than he was just a season ago or two seasons ago he's quicker now but and fred young who is not a big linebacker they acquired him of course early in the year from seattle and fred more of a trailing linebacker a stunning linebacker so they feel they can get some yardage up inside ryan incomplete it's intended for schuler broken up by pryor the fans wanted a penalty so it'll be third down and 11 for the jets mike pryor has had a fine season good anticipation he reads this play well and then is physical enough to stop the play right there with a jolting tackle good camera angle our producer larry cirillo ted nathanson our director here from the meadowlands it's a game of exercise for the jets a game for the future and a possible playoffs for the colts no score nine minutes left first quarter look at this formation and a flag goes down it didn't fool bickett as the jets did not pick up the first down and uh the jets may not have had enough men on the line of scrimmage motion against someone walker had moved but had reset look at this they've got two backs lined up one right behind the other third over third over here and of course here's the shotgun quarterback in this thing they're trying to just run a little running play back up inside handing it off to hector right there or that's mcneil 24. 61 offense is declined the motion was against the left tackle jeff criswell he's quite a story out of graceland of iowa lamoni iowa graceland uh also the alma mater bruce jenner and our former colleague merle harmon criswell has really been one of the great surprises for the jets this year he was a free agent player during the strike in indianapolis and they're kind of sorry they let him go now here's a veteran pat leahy to try a 35-yard field goal and he's automatic just about inside the 40 and the jets lead three to nothing eight minutes and 41 seconds remain in the opening period here in new jersey no this is not a new foot spray commercial what size shoe do you wear this is a 15 that i have here i'm going to put that back down this is the shoe we want to show you right here this is pat leahy's kicking shoe this is the one that he used from 76 79 through 86 kicked about 700 points worth of field goals look how he scraped that shoe down you can see actually the green from the astroturf on the plastic bottom of that shoe albert bentley number 20 for the colts flags are down and so is bentley inside his 25-yard line carl howard one of the first down there leahy with his new shoe and he really protects it doesn't it he will not leave that shoe in his locker he has a new kicking shoe that he's using now he's broken in a new one but he takes it home with him at night he takes it with him on the road does not trust it to the luggage he is very superstitious we'll not let anyone else touch that right shoe number 34 receiving teams on the run illegal so the colts trailing three nothing have pushed themselves back deep in their own end inside the 10-yard line is that just because kickers live up to the reputation of being a bit different sometimes the elevator doesn't stop at every floor for some of those guys or as leahy just doesn't he just believes so much in that shoe that if he did lose it it would affect him well i think confidence is the key and he has confidence as long as he's got his gear together he doesn't want to mess with anything eric dickerson he's a threat every time he gets around that corner and he was one block away from making that one special george ratachowski and bobby humphrey finally trip him up close to a first down near the 20. kevin call they call him the creature big man right in the center of your screen number 71 he's going to lead out in front of dickerson on this play 300 pounder out there said he'd been sick earlier in the year dropped about 15 18 pounds but he's back up to speed now good news for dickerson this is a very large offensive line that the colts put out on the field they'll give dickerson 10 more yards he started with 1451 and although this is only his sixth season in the nfl look where he is already number seven all time behind the greats peyton dorsett brown franco riggins o.j and dickerson at 97.07 and not quite six full seasons dickerson again not much there no gain marty lyons number 93 in the thick of that one nothing about dickerson he's not leaving the ball on the ground this year he's only fumbled once in the last 286 carries ron meyer very proud of that fact and said we really do work on it we talked to eric about ball security and tell him look it's more important for you to hang on to that football than it is for you to get that extra yard or two and a lot of times that's when dickerson lost the ball is when he was going for that extra yardage play by troy benson shot the gap and ran right into the ball and dickerson who able able to struggle for it for a half a yard but benson who is second in force fumbles on this team almost got another look at this hole closing so very quickly benson is there yes but marty lyons there to help as well kevin mcarthur some good defense and maybe all the chewing that's taken place on this defensive team has gotten them pumped up and ready for the colts today now chris chandler in a passing situation incomplete to matt bouza number 85 well covered rich miano and george radachowski there and the colts unable to move again have to punt it away one of the things you don't want to do is underestimate your opponent it would appear to me that these colts a little bit flat may have felt that the jets were not going to show up as an emotional team today and that's a mistake you've got to be ready to play your best football and ron meyer the 47 year old head coach of the colts may be thinking the very same thing ron stark will kick it from around the 10. townsell way back at the 35 along with kurt sohn short kick townsell at the 42. look at him go jojo townsell 59 yards for a score well the colts stark only a 37-yard punt and worse than that it was low so townsell had a running start up field with no one around him and i think he went in untouched no one even got to him and i think what killed the coverage as you said there was no hang time and everything was out of tempo townsell is shown right from the opening kickoff that he was going to be a factor today and now as deliberate as leahy tries the point after that was a good hold on a bad snap by pat ryan it's ten nothing jets early now the colts hoping to keep their own chances alive have fallen behind ten nothing to the jets in this first quarter at the meadowlands short kick bentley at the 11. and he can't make it to the 20 and the jets getting an early lead and that's really firing them up as underdogs at home let's go back to townsell's return for a touchdown sound cell coming right up the middle look how he just picks it up now here's the safety man right here at stark the kicker watch what happens to him he's frozen there no chance just a finger tip on townsell as townsell catches that short short punt and then just explodes to give himself an opportunity to break it into the end zone that would have been a six point or even in touch football no one got two hands on it 59 yards he had one last year 91 against seattle chandler hit as he delivers the ball it's called a pass no fumble but chandler drilled by alex gordon number 55 the second year linebacker out of the university of cincinnati chandler heading for the sideline gary hogaboom is coming in talk to chandler just before the game he was putting on his rib pads he said gary told me to put these on he said i wasn't going to wear him you better believe he's glad he's got him on for that shot as gordon just about took his ribs right out so number seven oggaboom the nine-year veteran from central michigan who broke in with the dallas cowboys back in 1980 takes charge on second and ten incomplete intended for bill brooks and once again bobby humphrey right there for the jets so important to get off to a hot start emotionally this jets team which has been pretty badly beaten up in the press the past few weeks really feel good about themselves right now and a lot of that coming from the emotion of the special teams so many times we see big plays on special teams really change the emotion of the game establish a good temple for a team pogoboom looks at six defensive backs third and ten down the middle almost intercepted by kyle clifton and the colts three downs and punt as the defensive coordinator carson no pass rush whatsoever absolutely none he said last week were not an nfl caliber defense but he's found a way today at least here in this first quarter to harris the quarterback well and they're happy about that i want to tell you the happiest guys on the field right now the defensive secondary good defense for the pass is rush plus coverage you've got to have both the jets finally getting some rush here today stark again punting and jojo townsel has been barely able to swallow the smile from his last experience gets another chance another dying kick but it goes to kurt sohn and sone is at the indy 47. 35 yards for stark on that punt and a five yard return orlando lowry made the tackle five minutes 48 seconds left in the first quarter jets 10 colts nothing of course just as we mentioned earlier the colts need new england to lose one game to keep any hopes alive for a playoff those fans watching up in new england know that the jets victory over the colts would be the one loss the colts would have to get for new england to entertain hopes as they look ahead these final two weeks mcneal caught in the backfield shooting the gap was big john hand from alabama number one draft pick a couple of years ago for the colts a four-yard loss and may have gotten a little bit of read off of criswell the left tackle who may have tipped the fact that he was going to be pulling across in front of that play very often a good defensive lineman can get a read and a little bit of an extra jump hand was flying on that play favorite athlete was bubba smith it's cold but he can't stay in bounds eugene daniel read that one perfectly and but for the sidelines daniel had a sure touchdown his momentum carrying a foot out of bounds right in front of joe walton on the jets bench daniel's second interception this year back in 85 he led the club with eight that gives him 20 for a career and almost a touchdown to go with it daniel who is a solid defensive back and just really anticipated that pass he was off well before the throw got a great jump on it and ryan obviously as you saw the grimace on his coach's face we'll have to explain that one hoga boom throwing for bill brooks almost intercepted by james hasty the rookie from washington state it's a real washington state flavor in this game hasty for the jets pat beats the tight end for indianapolis played there and then the man who will quarterback the wishbone if meyer goes to it ricky turner also played with the cougars in the palouse country well they like to use that wishbone when they get up by about 14 points so far in this ball game they'd like to get a first down dick el daniel has given them their best field position at their own 46. hoga bones kevin mcarthur went right out of the hands of matt bouza and fell into the lap of macarthur the man they call pop gator has his first interception of the year i really believe that there should be a way of showing statistically that this is not the quarterback's fault it is an interception but it's one that should have been caught there and bounces right into the hands of kevin macarthur that's not gary hoganboom's fault that's matt bouza he had in his hands and let it get away macarthur happy about it all is these two teams have traded interceptions and the jets from the 50. ryan incomplete joe kleco was the man applying pressure on the quarterback there he is they say the man when he was playing for the jets he's wide as park avenue klecko with a smile you see that big smile i said it has to be special to come back here he said it is but it's awfully strange pleco is not the factor in the games that he used to be he's lost some of the great quickness some of the recovery ability some of the incredible strength that allowed him to go to the pro bowl at three different positions i don't think we'll ever see that equal but he's lost none of the heart no he's still there he's still got a big smile in there on second and long it's johnny hector to the indianapolis 41-yard line willie tullis on the corner makes the tackle that'll be close to a first down so the jets enjoying outstanding field position plus a putt return by jojo townsell for a touchdown of 59 yards leading 10-0 with four minutes left first quarter ryan on the keeper and it's a first down for the jets at the 36-yard line first down new york 36. ryan looking long for tune hold on who's got it reception the colts have picked it up will he tell us took it right off the back of tune when till went down the ball fell right in the crowd never hit the ground the ball just got trapped in there on top of the bodies tullos able to scoop it up before it touches the ground and a big break and a big turnaround and a second interception fall against the quarterback today but this one watch it thrown right into traffic two defenders right on top of tune now watch the football bouncing off tunes leg and ending up right there on the back of holt and scooped up by tullis hey with the right kind of music and commentary that makes the pre-game show fit right in with the pre-game here's dickerson colts trail 10-0 alex gordon once dickerson stopped it looked as if he had thoughts of reversing his field and gordon there to hit him for a loss jets had talked earlier in the season about the fact that they knew they were a young defensive team they were going to make mistakes they took the gloves off this week and both carson and a number of his assistants very critical of the way they played defensively they have come out with a vengeance here today you would expect that kind of emotional play from the men in blue not a team that well we saw him yesterday at practice it was solemn at best the jets out of the picture but certainly making it miserable on the colts early is dickerson unable to find that little flat pass again gordon trailing him two minutes and 16 seconds remaining first quarter and the colts trail the jets 10-0 jets are not a come-from-behind team so a quick start very important to them the colts like to control the football as well they've been able to do it with dickerson in the past but they have just one first down so far in this ball game zero for nine passing as a team and hokeboom looks at six defensive backs we're waiting for word on chandler's injury what a catch by brooks bill brooks who leads indianapolis with 47 and that was a sensational fingertip snare considering the weather that is a superb play one of the things you ask about these receivers do they have the courage to go inside and catch the ball in a crowd let billy brooks show you the answer to that question oh that's a terrific angle to appreciate his role in giving the colts a first down at their 35-yard line brooks who played at boston university dickerson to brooks the reverse and they have blockers 50 40. and clifton finally makes the tackle down inside the 30-yard line of the jets but carson's shaking his head if you can't attack a team's weakness you can attack their strength right now the colts know that the jets defense very emotional really trying to over pursue on that play and they use that emotion against them as they come back with a reverse look how many blockers brooks had out in front of him hoga boom's even blocking number seven gets a shot there donaldson getting a shot kyle clifton number 59 getting over to make the stop 38-yard play and now dickerson slams into the 25 miano and plenty of help to make the stop first time indianapolis has been on the jets half of the field dickerson had 58 yards against the jets in the earlier game that the jets lost but he's a kind of back that you can hold down you may be holding down for a quarter maybe holding down for a half if they keep giving him the football at some point he is going to break away and hurt you minute first quarter pogo boom over the middle to his tight end boyer and he's inside the teddy bubbles the jets have recovered now was he down benson falls on the ball and hogaboom and the colts are arguing that boyer was already down but is he down from contact i think we ought to look and see i think he was in fact on the ground but did he go down from contact or from his own momentum he's pushed right there let's see now he goes down from contact is that knee down maybe we got another angle hard to tell from that angle very close it's a sign of the times 1988 eight different cults pointing at the scoreboard saying instant replay in charades and i'm sure they are reviewing it they are looking at it maybe we can see it again and again replay must show irrefutably that he is down before that ball breaks loose see nothing from that angle maybe we can go back to our previous look miana was the man who makes the tackle there is contact there's the contact that initiates the tackle now is his knee down when the ball comes through watch his right arm here's the stripping action right here from the back coming across well if i had to make a choice i'd say his knee was down i don't think you can reverse it on the basis of what we see from that the goalpost actually hides the that angle and hogeboom right away thought that the ground had created the fumble and goes to argue those kids from central michigan are good debaters i want to tell you that let's see whether he won the argument i think he may have won his argument there say they are going to reverse the play at boyer review the runners ruled down by contact first down that boyer's knee was on the ground and i think that's actually the way it was although that takes some good eyes to see it from our angle here it is from behind again the knee is down at that point and his elbow about well quite a distance off the ground and here we go with the wishbone and here's ricky turner what a story he was out of football for three years has a construction company up in seattle working and now he comes back out and hogelboon's going to go in well they're not going to go to the wishbone although hoga boom has run it as well well and you see that the jets had put in two four five substitutions anticipating the wishbone first and goal from the nine yard line the ball rolled dead where the knee went down not where the fumble of course was recovered eric dickerson for the touchdown oh did he take a shot as he crossed the goal line might have relaxed just a little bit and that really angers the colts and we have a mild uh skirmish alex gordon almost decapitated dickerson and the colts very quickly out there to show that they were unhappy with that hit dickerson with his 14th touchdown run of the year and after crossing the goal line he really took a pop you don't need to tackle a man when he's in the end zone as soon as that ball goes into the end zone it's all over and let's see what happens at the end of this play remember it's 55 alex gordon piano misses the tackle here dickerson runs through he's in the end zone you saw dickerson let up and gordon just ambushed him and took him to the ground that hurt all the way up here dickerson who has taken his share of blows for the course of his career as any great runner will has been able to really fight off any serious injuries that may ignite that cult team too that's right that could really work emotionally in reverse and spark the colts who now have it at 10-6 via suchi's try for point is not there as the colts have trouble and that could be a point that comes back to haunt them ron stark is an excellent holder he was finally able to get that ball down but biasy had already lost his rhythm on the play and he goes back and gets a foot on it watch the ball get away from start there he gets it down and biasy gets a foot on it but could not quite pop it with enough authority to get it up over the wire al dickerson came off under his own powers you saw so he is not injured although this is the kind of blow that can end a game or a season for some players i don't think he expected gordon to level up he is up you saw dickerson just ease up as he's in the end zone and then boy i tell you you never want to anticipate that someone else on the other side is is going to let you go through there without getting a shot on you that was really a unique drive by the colts as you see uh dickerson who every time he carries a ball every time he scores is uh is parading with the giants of yesteryear of this game on that drive you had a third and 12 when brooks made that sensational catch in traffic for 17 in the first time and then you had the reverse 38 yards by brooks then you had boyers catch fumble no fumble they ruled in favor of the colts and dickerson scoring from nine out and really crushed in the end zone and then via sochi with a rare time in the nfl you see a missed extra point it's 10-6 and we haven't even gotten out of the first quarter as yet final seconds and jojo on the run run to the 29-yard line this time jeff ferrard makes the tackle and that's the end of the first quarter at the meadowlands with a score the jets 10 the cold 6. i'm looking forward to going to the talent search and uh trying to teach these people what singing is all about it's been a dream of mine for a very long time and a lot of my teammates think i can do it pretty well so i'm looking forward to it give us a little sample well i don't know a whole lot of songs but uh that's gonna hurt your chances i guess i'm like uh drifting on a memory ain't no place i'd rather be than with you yeah loving you that's about it for right now i'm a little horse today hey that's terrific you're in the finals in my book i appreciate it that's reggie mcelroy number 68 the right tackle for the jets he's their nominee in the super bowl preview talent contest freeman mcneil to the 36-yard line of course there is worlds of talent and who knows what might be found by our executive producer michael weissman and that'll be part of our coverage from miami on super bowl sunday searching for the best talent and this is serious and i know the players who are involved are serious about it singers dancers magic read poetry write poetry hey you were on a talented team look at this fred dreyer made it hey merlin olson made it rosie greer hollywood man hollywood that was hollywood but this is the jets mcelroy for the jets mcneal to the 40 that's close to a first down a flag down good block in there by mike hate the left guard and hate who's had a chance to play because of injuries to ted banker has really made progress here face mask call against the defense this jets line improving creswell is starting to play well first down and of course dave cadogan finally getting healthy again but probably will not see any action until next training camp but of course they become a much better line when they put him back into the mix as well that's right cadigan the number one draft pick this year the jets and uh criswell has done so well at tackler talking now about moving cadigan back inside at guard he played both guard and tackle with the trojans you saw that big smile on kleco's face he likes what's happening out there so far territory about eight more before pickett can drag him down it was bud carson who brought the classic side saddle approach for the nose tackle here's klecko and you see him lined up across the grain but watch the way they drive klecko out of this play he really has lost a lot of the strength that made him such an outstanding defensive lineman the jets just pushing him out of the way good job by sweeney and alexander on that play double teaming pleco now klecko lined up pointing in the other direction on second and and roger vick slams for a first down in the old days um remember a comment made by blair bush the seattle seahawks center he used to call klecko's block the kleco skate he said he hit you so hard you looked like you were rolling back on skates he doesn't quite have that pop anymore can you see the double team beginning to push klecko off the line and jets using a good mix of plays one of the things joel walton has always done there we go there's carson talking about last year's freeman mcneil on first down to the short side of the field where fred young who was a very expensive acquisition of the colts a couple of number one draft picks to get him from seattle the old days as we take an nbc flashback to joe klecko and the green and white of the jets sack exchange ian gastineau in their prime or they really did create havoc for the quarterbacks party lion salam we saw him play one of the greatest games ever and then the start of the injuries the knee injuries that really slowed him down well of course those braces on the knees now continue to be a reminder of all of those injuries that he suffered and they do take their toll play action on second down ryan going for walker intercepted willie tellis has his second and tullus tackled from behind by hector at the 23-yard line so indianapolis has its third interception of this first half and the jets have been very good about protecting the ball on the pass but the colts have the hat trick early ryan able to look the safety off and i think figured if he got the safety off he could make the completion to walker but walker does not get away from willie tullis you see they had the safety beaten he was late arriving but that was just great anticipation and a great job of coverage by number 42 willie tellis so daniel with an interception tell us with a pair and now eric dickerson goes to work rolls out of bounds at the 31-yard line ratachowski made the tackle and now we see ken o'brien there without the helmet talking with pat ryan we'll see if he starts tuning up they say he's feeling better he's had the bad shoulder he came in a couple of weeks ago in relief and helped the jets to an important uh comeback win 38-34 against miami second and short you know that thing about dickerson that run didn't seem like much all of a sudden you look he gains nine yards again and a good play by a kevin macarthur now the jets appear to be gambling merlin they're just daring chandler and hokeboom to throw they're going to stack it up against dickerson well everyone has been doing that they're putting eight people up on the line and of course the way to the way to give dickerson trouble is to force him to run laterally that's exactly what they were able to do stopped up things inside dickerson turns to the sideline and is tackled for no gain yeah when you think back of dickerson and his really long runs they're usually those ones where he's at full speed going up the middle all of a sudden he's by the linebackers and those safeties don't have a lot of luck one-on-one against it on third down and five it's to bentley and he has a first down to the 41. albert bentley from miami of florida and what a terrific player he is i i think of the guys that really live in shadows of outstanding stars bentley may be one of the best he's a relative unknown but before dickerson arrived he he had gained 631 yards last year we've got the wishbone on the field ricky turner streams on first down he gives to wandsley the fullback and he's out to the 44. i'll tell you the story about turner number 12. he's out of football for three years he played in washington state not there he is he's not as big as the they say six feet and 190. he said he gets a phone call from pat beach he played with the tight end beach at washington state beach says i just recommended you to coach ron meyer to come back in the nfl and play as a wishbone quarterback he says how long is this joke going to go on come on he said no we're serious i think you could do it and turner said all right and now he's got himself a chance to make some money and maybe stay with this club pogba boom back in after just one draw wow dickerson hammered by paul frays and kyle clifton it's almost as if someone said here's the open door go get him when you don't have anything to lose you can just go ahead and attack and that's exactly what this jets defense has done today they've turned people loose chance to watch paul frase here he is right here middle of your screen with turning loose 91 right there just ducks inside his man and going around the block like that will often get you in trouble in this situation it got crazy a big play third down 11. that's intercepted by hasty james hasty has his fourth of the year and it's first down jets at the 32. this is a new saturday afternoon game show can you intercept this 9 39 left in the first half the jets 10 the colt 6. look at the meadowlands giant stadium we'll have action for you again tomorrow from the stadium on nbc as ancilly and the giants involved roger vick on the swing is out to the 35-yard line let's go back to that last interception boy that was an easy one yeah something wrong with your microphone there merlin try it again so the goblins are here today i think dick did you know that he almost had a fair catch that way all right second down and seven it's vic again shy of the 40 and that'll bring up 33 ken o'brien is in at quarterback as you can see number seven from cal davis as joe walton making a change at that critical position o'brien on the year hitting about 55 percent rich coach on the bench the uh offensive coordinator they're communicating writing down the plays as they're called so they can keep track of what theirs go tight so they can keep track of what they are doing in this ball game teams scout themselves even during the game these days walker right tune left third and along two tight end billy griggs and he has the first bubbles of ball was it after the whistle yes the whistle had sounded they marketed first down at the 47 and a first down for the jets in their own half of the field young and tulas with a tackle and drake's heard that whistle just in time with that fred young he's forced five fumbles this year freddie coming from the inside with an uncanny neck for positioning on the tackle the thing he does best is to pursue to flow he is not strong enough at 225 pounds to really stand up to the hammering inside and is best used when you can kind of hide him behind the line well brian tosses to mcneil and mcneil unable to hit the corner is o'brien alston a 10th round traffic from maryland made the stop pleco going after mickey schuler and i think mickey may have hit him in a way that klecko's saying you're after my knees man there's no way joe is still furious with schuler and i'm sure mickey's saying look joe i'm not trying to cut you there he's pointing the finger at him here let's see if we can see what happens to klecko right hand side here screen and there's schuler sure enough schuler just trying to cut him down and really backed off on the play but when you've had as many knee problems as joe klecko you're more than a little bit sensitive about your knees there's nothing uh evil or of a nasty design on the part of schuler flecko knows that there isn't much left down there on second and long hector met by holt and the fans saw it there was a little extra activity out of bounds no flag gain of a couple the colts trailed 10 nothing before dickerson ran nine yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter here's what the crowd was lying about and i think it was actually hector who created the momentum there as he just released his feet went to the ground got to be very careful when you're handling somebody out of bounds like that you don't have to do too much to get a yellow flag walker split left because of his one good eye and one legally blind in the left eye so he usually lines up to the left because he can look back with the good eye the right eye and the jets will spend a time out 6 31 remaining first half word from the jets bench billy griggs with a separated shoulder will not return and the chris chandler with a bruised shoulder for the colts injured early in the first quarter jets lead 10-6 kenny o'brien's first pass incomplete to tune that would have been his third to keep that streak alive mike pryor made the hit we've seen prior time two hits today on sure receptions and ends up knocking the ball away look at that timing it just at the moment when tune is trying to put that football away boy that is excellent defensive play not much you can do when a defensive back hits you with that kind of timing joe prokop the left-footed kicker for the jets bill brooks inside the 15. and down at the 21-yard line john galvin 51 got an early piece of him 36-yard kick and an eight-yard return you can see six minutes 16 seconds left in this first half stay tuned for nfl live at halftime and the colts who must do the job themselves they must win their final two games to have any hope of the playoffs a little more trouble than they thought early and if the winner is going to get to 30 points we both felt it would be a high scoring game they better get on their horses here dick here's the big horse for the colts eric dickerson and kevin mcarthur makes the tackle after a four-yard game you talked to the jet defenders about eric dickerson they said very often the blocking patterns for dickerson don't make any sense one of the reasons they don't is because dickerson will run anywhere they try to set up a blocking pattern but if he sees something he likes on the other side of the line that's where he goes so very often a play designed to go around the left end they end up going off the right tackle who's he reminds you of in your playing days jimmy brown the great ones have their own set of rules they don't have to say run the hole's going to be between guard and tackle you run there scott mercero makes that last tackle dickerson 1450 yards and 14 touchdowns now with one today and the rest of the colts about a third of that total i guess he defines workhorse i asked him before the game i said you want 31 today he had 31 last week he said yeah he said that's my kind of day third down and four underneath the brooks who has the first down at the 34-yard line dick we haven't seen dickerson catch a pass so far in this game but if you broke down the work responsibility of a running back into three categories purely as a runner dickerson is the best in football as a pass receiver i would put him in the top 10. yes among running backs he has developed excellent hands good instincts run good patterns the place that he does not match up well is as a blocker he's probably among the bottom 10 there he does not pick up well on the blitz and he does not like to block reverse again and brooks is able to fall on it at the 25-yard line mcarthur again messed up the play he's had a fine first half for the jets well that's the same play that worked for 38 yards on the colts touchdown march but this time macarthur spoiled the fun penetration is the key here mcarthur's so deep that he gets a piece of brooks's hands before brooks can put the football away that's good linebacking play and they're trying to get penetration to shut down the running game here it works to their advantage as they try to come back with a reverse no second down and long about 18 and a half pogo boom out to the 44-yard line to matt bouza and booza is right at the yardsticks there was the ugly head of no pressure on a quarterback you watch the jets defense floundering on the line on that play they went seven games and only were able to get a sack in two of those ball games they've had pressure here in this ball game but and there we go with the once again we're gonna get a wishbone on the field there you look at the drop-off and the pressure on the quarterbacks here dickerson to the 49-yard line and there was only one white jersey left when he hit the turf that wishbone with dickerson of course he's very familiar schooled for the four years at smu in that position that really wasn't much of the wishbone no option that was just a turn and toss student body right see how many people we can get out in front of dickerson turner actually will try and get a block here himself watch him number 12. he gets up there and throws his body in there an ambitious scheme but ron meyer said he told him you're indispensable that's it open up another can of quarterbacks what's happening here george wansley shaking his head he didn't know where to go on that one and that is the two minute timeout two minutes left first half had a chance to hear reggie mcelroy singing a little earlier now dick on the sideline before the game i saw you over there with gary hogaboom and i am sure that i heard strains of the chippewa fight sale to the chip away failed to the chippewas now uh were you warming up for something in particular that would have been good in those rookie camps well i'm not going to be a part of the talent challenge unless there's a no talent contest but we're going to hear clarence verdan he's the colts representative in the second half unable to hit and connect with albert bentley has macarthur and benson there to break up the play with 155 left in this first half the jets still lead 10-6 the ball just shy of the 50-yard line and it's third down colts colts have used all three of their quarterbacks under one third completions and the jet six for 14. no touchdown passes we've had five interceptions when was the last time you saw no tds and five interceptions pogba boom changing the play and then throws to dickerson wide open one man to beat for a touchdown and eric dickerson is galloping for the score now that was a call at the lion of scrimmage and when you go back to it you could see dickerson come up when pogba boom audibled he came up and patted hoka boom on the back is it to say this is the hot play there's no one to cover dickerson as he went through the line and an easy 50-yard score what a nice touch pass by hoga boom had to hang it out there just like he hung it out there on the rafter so dickerson could wait run underneath it so the colts for the first time in the game take the lead at 12 to 10. there'll be plenty of time for the jets 146 left as biosociety who missed on the last extra point as the exchange was botched no trouble this time although he does just get it through on the right side it's 13 to 10. indianapolis leads 146 left in the half nine year what is it when they call to play hoga boom here's dickerson he's going to go through here after he makes the tap but these are the two guys that are taking themselves out of the play with the blitz now watch dickerson just check through the ball hanging up there's no one home defensively and then dickerson puts a fine move on booty john booty number 42 the only man he had to beat to get into the end zone let's go back see dickerson this is after he'd come up to tap hoga boom and he just slips through that is obviously a play that they've set up they've looked at films they know the jets in a certain defensive alignment are going to do that and if dickerson can free himself there's no one to stop him very often on the blitz it's an all or nothing situation if you don't get to that quarterback you're leaving yourself vulnerable to that kind of play interestingly uh dickerson that's his first touchdown reception in five years now you're going to ask me why i think he's a great receiver i really think he is a tough receiver and when he came to the rams he was not a great pass receiver basically a runner but he he worked very hard to develop his hands and he has excellent hands and he's a good pass catcher he's the second receiver on the colts squad brooks had 47 coming in and dickerson second with 28. so in four and a half minutes the colts take the lead on a 79-yard drive and dickerson has his second touchdown of the day a nine-yard run a 50-yard catch now jojo townsell part of this first half has been his in terms of the spotlight and it's not this time out to the 24-yard line michael ball number 31 made the tackle well at halftime what's ahead frank deford's essay well it's a big frank to four to halftime fd mayor of buffalo street after him yeah and gail oh what a game tomorrow how important is that game houston and cincinnati for both of those especially the oilers as they fight for the playoffs so stay with us at halftime johnny hector is a very dependable back in a situation where he can get out into space where he has a little room to operate that instance wanted to do things too quickly first things first catch the football put it away and then run 13-10 the colts lead it same play and hector tackled from behind but not until he had the first down at the 42-yard line pick it again i wonder if hector will go back to huddle and say i yeah i did it right that time i got one chance to do it wrong and one chance to do it right o'brien both men wide open and they knew it as a matter of trying to look up field before they'd really tucked the ball away donnell thompson may have touched that football a little as he got good pressure from his left end position now the jets would like to get the lead by halftime they have not been in fact they've been notoriously bad at coming from behind in fact they've lost their last 21 games when they trailed at halftime and they're two and 34 under walton when they trail at the half another one goes through fingertips k.d dunn is the villain this time that ball was certainly catchable as well a flag is down it wouldn't have counted anyway because the jets were holding don who is in that game because of the injury to billy griggs does not get a lot of playing time bottom of your screen number 80. that's about as easy a pass as you can handle right straight into the hands and then onto the ground that was a hard one to explain i think he's glad that there was a penalty on the play holding 79 offense still second down why kate guard from iowa ball marked back to the 32-yard line second down and 20 for the jets in case you're just joining us jets had a 35-yard field goal from leahy in a 59-yard punt return by jojo townsel to take an early ten nothing lead then a nine yard run by dickerson and a 50-yard pass completion touchdown dickerson 13-10 o'brien going long for tune almost stole it away from prior but again a pass in the first half where we've had five interceptions three by indianapolis two by the jets that was up for grabs trying to take advantage of the great leaping ability tune has about a 42-inch vertical leap but that's prior again and how many times today have we seen mike pryor timing his play perfectly we mentioned at the start of the show he's moved from free safety to strong safety he is out of position today and yet he has just come through with some outstanding plays here in the first half of this game told you about his baseball talent he was a center fielder in baseball at illinois state o'brien to the sidelines has town cell but the pass isn't there so this time it was o'brien who didn't quite make connections and townsel would have had first down yardage was wide open on the sideline so that was a miserable sequence for the jets as receivers were open throughout either they couldn't catch it or in the last instance o'brien could not quite get the ball to his receiver bill brooks back at the indy 30. and brooks has it at the 34-yard line well let's look at the lineup tomorrow on nbc cincinnati at houston a huge game kansas city will be right here at the meadowlands against the giants and the raiders at buffalo carries some interesting consequences as well then pittsburgh a spoiler at houston last week goes to san diego be with us at 12 30 eastern time for nfl live the oilers and the bengals the big game coming into this ball game and a reminder that we'll be down in miami in late january for super bowl xxiii yes well at least the colts still alive for that although they do need a lot of assistance pogba boom inside handoff to bentley and he's out to the 47-yard line with 41 seconds left and now 40 the colts will spend a timeout they lead 13-10 they have good field position apparently they're going to go for more as he gets in on penetration and it's chris hinton that's merceru number 94. look at hinton right there with the blasting trap as they opened up inside but of course the jets playing pass with only 45 seconds on the clock hit with a nice gain on the run the colts are very good at scoring in the final two minutes of the first half and when they do they win the game and oops the dropsies have hit the colt says this time it's bentley who has the ball right in his midst coming into this game if you look at the way these two teams have played over the past few weeks you would have expected a lot of big scoring plays via the pass and we have not had that many long passes dickerson scoring on a pass but it was a short pass and a long run although the ball has been in the air a great deal but we mentioned this jet defensive secondary mauled over the past few weeks and of course the rebuilt colts secondary bentley on an inside handoff from hoga boom some nice running and he pays the price at the 46 of the jets shy of the first down and timeout colts with 29 seconds left interestingly a very important number in this game 29. eric dickerson and we might just expect to see him get the call from ron meyer when you play let's go back to you know with the trap play and the fascination of uh play calling and when you were in the middle of the line what were the tips to you when you thought a trap was coming i mean they tried to trap you a lot i know well very often you have a sense of over dramatic linemen who are trying to show you that they're doing something you say no no not gonna buy that one over sell sometimes it's overselling and other times just by the way they walked to the line i knew what the play was and sometimes i knew what the play was when they broke the huddle it's funny but you just knew what the play was before it was ever run college basketball right after our coverage of the jets and colts the temple owls and one of the great collegians mark macon the freshman of the year temple number one team at the end of the regular season last year against the team that won it all the kansas jayhawks that'll follow us immediately following this game marv albert and al mcguire bogaboom tried to get the rid of the ball but ken rose will be credited with the sack back at the 45 of indianapolis you bet he's happy they haven't had many sacks to celebrate on look at that rose a 205 pound linebacker and they've tried every combination five linebackers two linemen four linemen five linemen rose finally who slips through to make the stop now final seconds tick away you know gas now had seven sacks in seven games and then retired and that was a different year they haven't been able to muster much since when you lose a man like gastineau who was guaranteed the double team and he was averaging about a sack a game you had to go after him gaston there are the numbers right there lions had his had four and a half of those sacks while gastineau was still there so gastineau was drawing heavy coverage alex gordon was playing well putting a lot of pressure on and very often on the same side with gastineau there's there's gordon on the bottom right there and you'll see rose coming through the gap right there just sprinting through pokemon trying to dump that pass but he was already in the grasp and control of the linebacker now wait a minute marilyn we've got this thing all set up here we better alert all our cameramen only eight seconds left in the half is this the time for the jets to call upon that uh go to the wishing well play and start tossing it around and see on this return well he did it last week not afraid to throw all the stops out how about you guys 11 guys 11 different guys touching the ball i guess the colts are just going aren't going to kick it here oh no the colts are going to try a little razzle down that might have been interesting had dickerson got gotten the ball because the field was really spread out for him paul fraze getting in on the action here that was just a third down so now the fourth down and with four seconds left the punting team comes on frey's power rushing but that was the fourth down and that was the sack of the season craze was just a rookie 6'5 and 273 pushing on a 300 pounder at six foot seven to get that sack what an interesting call by meyer he gives the jets a chance to score on this play and they do not but with a 13-10 lead the gamble in his own end of the field gave the jets a position where that ball is caught and the jets take the lead a lot cincinnati and san francisco a year ago so the end of at times most unusual first half and the indianapolis colts who must win their final two to entertain hopes of a playoff bid have a three-point advantage nfl live we'll follow in a moment first these words from your local stations meadowlands the colts leading the jets at the intermission 13 to 10. dick for defensive backs that figured it'd be a day when they would be the victims well they have made the quarterbacks the victims today and have been some of the strangest interceptions we've seen all year boy almost as if the quarterbacks throwing at the wrong man here starter ryan and eugene daniel almost went the distance on that ran out of sidelines the next one through the hands of matt bouza goes right into the hands of kevin macarthur and that one not that unusual but this one you won't see very often in the end zone you pick it off your uh partner's back it rolls around and says oh that one the old off the back trick it's getting to look a lot like christmas but that was fine in the easter egg here comes another into double coverage and tell us with one of his two interceptions and then the final interception uh almost it looked as if uh hasty was the intended receiver of the jets well you almost have to fair catch a ball that hangs up that long you're afraid that somebody's gonna clock you while you're looking up at the air and we'll be back as the new york jets uh putting a little drama into the colts hopes for the playoffs it's 13 10 at the halfway mark we'll get the ball first in the second half and this kickoff to open the second half is sponsored by budweiser the king of beers half leahy looking as if he was a man left out in the cold now ready to go and that well-worn shoe sends it end over end down to bentley at the six runs into a pile no whistle and second effort gets him another yard maybe to the 23 yard line starter was chris chandler for the indianapolis colts the rookie quarterback has done a fine job eight and three as a starter but injured early and pogba boom takes over as we look at the first half statistics passing yardage not impressive for either side look at the rushing yardage 87 as you might expect for the colts the jets have done a good job of running the ball themselves of course those turnovers the five interceptions that we had a chance to show you just moments ago you understand chandler is still in the colts locker room he probably won't play the second half dickerson will and takes a handoff in a short yardage dickerson maybe a yard on that play had 35 yards in the first half paul freys made the tackle we talked about how important it is to the jets to play well in these last two games i really feel dick that they have better overall talent than the colts dude and say that again i think that the jets have more talent on their team than the colts dude they need to get a few more key people they obviously are minus some key people but they have a lot of young talented players on a defensive blitz comes in cleanly and assisted by marty lyons hoga boom is sacked for the third time so the missing element in the defensive game of the jets a pass rush or even pass pressure has come to life today but carson's come up with a good scheme well i think maybe bud carson shook the tree he and mike faulconer the defensive backfield coach who came down so hard on this defense last week talking about the fact that they simply were not of nfl caliber and the defense i think stung and embarrassed by that has responded here today and they have put some real heat on the quarterback colts with four wide receivers six defensive backs hoguebomb one hops it to bentley incomplete and again good pressure scott mercero was on top of hoga boom and the colts as they started the game three downs in a punt as happy as the jets are to see some pressure on the quarterback you better believe that on draft day when their turn rolls around if there's anyone there who can rush the passer that name would be called ron stark who did not have a good first half hunting the ball in fact one of those punts returned for a touchdown by that man jojo townsell who went 59 yards in the opening quarter in fact the jets and colts are both high in the nfl standings in punt returns with the clock operator please reset the game clock to 13.35 the jets came into the game fourth in the league the colts third the new orleans saints number one and the 49ers second but that return by townsell for the moment would probably put the jets in first place in the league in fund returns average yards per return kurt sohn will join townsell 33.35 a bit too much on this day of humor of the nfl they'll get that down to 13.35 hold that plane at jfk hold that plane bad news for the colts one of their replacements in the secondary where they're very thin due to injuries john holt has been injured and he may not return we understand fred young also injured may not come back well here's chandler out of the locker room and warming up trying that injured shoulder they've got a revolving door on that locker room they're moving them in and out and of course the most dangerous part of that is an already thin secondary cannot deal with many more injuries nine-man rush by the jets and starks kick a floater townsell at the 45 and jojo with an 11-yard return to the 44 the colts orlando lowry 59 one of the tacklers that's what's townsell is he well that's got to be a moment you're trying to catch a difficult ball and knowing that the pressure's coming doing that dance getting those feet ready before you move up field 37-yard punt 11 yards on the return and the jets trailing only 13 to 10. begin on their first series of the second half in colts territory with ken o'brien at quarterback freeman mcneil ducking under john hands high tackle he picks up a few here's the note we gave you earlier that when the jets are behind at halftime at sayonara 21 straight times they've lost when they trailed at the half and they've won only twice when behind at half in walton's career at head coach is that like flipping a coin do your odds improve each time i think not that's not the kind of stat that you like if you happen to be joe walton and there's another factor merlin as toon makes his third catch of the day so that extends his streak tune 49 consecutive starts he's caught at least three right side of your screen number 88 well which direction did he want to go i guess really protecting his legs so important to have awareness to know when you're in a bad position and a player who is not capable of protecting his legs and protecting himself does not survive many nfl seasons first down at the 34. freeman mcneal who equaled eric dickerson's rushing yardage they each had 35 yards in the first half picks up about six on that play before danelle thompson can make the stop both these teams with some bright young talent and one of the people that you have to look at and say now this guy is going to be a player o'brien alston a 10th round pick i think the steal of last year's draft especially difficult to block on the running game when he learns how to play against the pass he's going to be something special 6-6 and 2-46 and out-of-bounds with a jets first down at the 23. a reminder our viewers will be selecting our budweiser most valuable player at the conclusion of today's game let's look at o'brien alston one of the things he has to be able to do is to avoid the block you see him right there that was tune number 88 trying to get a block on him and he was able to skirt off of that block and break to the outside get a piece of that tackle reminds you a little bit physically of teddy hendricks the stork that long body johnny hector inside the 20 written down by keith taylor and o'brien alston here's alston again he was the 270th player selected in this year's draft he gets hector after about a six yard gain and craig swope who was injured number 26 is in the game for the colts that's an indication of how thin they are they didn't want to play swole that's a bad knee yeah they didn't want to have to put him in the game second and four up the middle roger vic to the five yard line first and goal jets krauss and pryor finally make the stop on the 230 pound fullback the jets able to run in behind dan alexander and reggie mcelroy on the right side that's an excellent block by mcelray on donnell thompson able to shut him off and turn him inside and open a large hole they have made some big yardage on the right side of that colt defense today actually the left side of the defense the right side of the offense roger vick gets three more it'll be second and goal at about the two sea of blue tacklers the smother vic and we're talking about the fact that the jets have not been able to win merlin coming from behind in the second half and there's another thing working against him today when you know there's no future in the playoffs there's no emotional support to help you to say okay hey once we get behind we got to come back and as long as they stay ahead they're going to be troublesome they really are the jets the jets have lost so many close games of late they really don't feel like they're they don't feel like a team that's been bounced out of it they feel that they've had some bad luck and they here's have nose is down to the one-yard line third and goal swope and daniel two defensive backs to pinch him down again running to the right side and they feel that they can move janelle thompson number 99 out of there we mentioned that they are confident of being able to control on the inside they'll go to the four-man line here and try and get into the gaps shore things up out of the eye with mcneil as the tailback mcneil touchdown a flag is down in the end zone let's see how they sorted out the jets are indicating it's against the colds tell ken o'brien to put his hands down his arms are going to get tired johnny greer the referee illegal hands 97 defense is declined o'brien olston the man we had focused on on that drive the rookie defensive end pat leahy comes in to try the point after is the jets have the lead 16-13. leahy was the ncaa most valuable defensive player as a soccer star at st louis university back in 1969 that's the extra point and the colts uh concerns continue they trail by four early in the second half jets regaining the lead at 17-13 ticket off to bentley and bentley has stopped at the 23-yard line let's go back to the touchdown by freeman mcneil for o'brien alston it's a learning process watch katie dunn drive into him and take him off the ball takes him into the end zone and watch what alston does at the end of this play in frustration he grabs the face mask right there and that's the penalty that was called against him olson watching now is the colts offense on the field at the 23-yard line jerry hogan for the injured chris chandler at quarterback and the throw for buza intercepted by hasty james hastings that's a half dozen in the game three aside this last week had to be one of the longest weeks of james hastie's life beaten by stephon page of the kansas city chiefs for two touchdowns last week he has come up with some big plays and a couple of big interceptions here today and the fragile confidence of a cornerback a rookie quarterback restored here to some degree today second interception for hasty is fifth of the year for crackerjacks as they call him and the jets now in a position of putting some distance between themselves and the colts and it's freeman mcneil bucking his way down to the 17-yard line well they're a long way from the record going back to the old afl days glad i didn't do that i can remember a game early in my ram career when our quarterbacks were intercepted four times in one quarter though so we were not a very good team in that year i might have it on second and six dick has running room and uh mike pryor again who seems to be in the thick of everything came up to cut off the corner close to a first down at the 11-yard line very important to get good backside pursuit o'brien alston coming from the backside with good speed but he cannot catch up well yes he can not until roger vick is slowed up anyway and vic i talked about freeman mcneil being an unusual halfback liking to run inside vick's an unusual pullback runs very well outside do you think it'd be the other way around first down from mcneil slithers down to the seven cliff odom number 93 was playing for the injured fred young one of the inside linebacker positions made the tackle odom in 85 and 86 was the colts leading tackler and then the versa acquired wayne pickett and now fred young and odom on the bench a lot of people that feel that he should be on the field but some that feel that he is the better of those inside linebackers and should have an opportunity to play more jets can make a first down at the one without a touchdown so on second down it's hector up ended at the five and there he is cliff odom along with o'brien alston and joe klecko hurt on that last play down on the ground he really took a shot from ray donaldson to center i believe collapsed right to the ground and has not moved and a timeout jets leading and looking for more kleco is okay left under his own power it's third down four for the first down five for a touchdown mcneal he's short of the first down well read by the colts defense from jeff ferrard a rookie linebacker from mississippi and on the tackle they've continued to pound on the right side jets are going to go for it really we wondered earlier in the game why they weren't taking more risks and i think joe walton in the spirit of things said what do we have to lose here fourth in a yard can pick up the first down without getting the touchdown and they'll give it a try so they forsake a certain field goal fourth and one same play better results hector for the touchdown johnny hector the touchdown maker his tenth of the season he was tied last year for the nfl lead with charles white in rushing touchdowns with 11 and he's got 10 here in 1988. defense stacked inside defensive coordinator george hill i'm sure trying to guess with joe walton on the other side of the field and they stacked it up inside only to see hector with all kinds of room to the outside leahy adds the extra point and the indianapolis colts are down by 10. with that extra point it goes 24-13 an 11-point deficit staring the playoff hopeful colts with his 10th touchdown and a 24-13 jets lead the kickoff to bentley oh albert bentley solid hit by 51 john galvin the rookie from boston college well for the colts it's getting serious for them and their fans back in the midwest this was the situation coming in today they must win the first two games they lose today they join the jets on the sidelines you must win today and must beat buffalo next week and hope new england loses a game and houston or cleveland loses the last two it's important to look at that if you're a new england fan as well because you could just reverse that the same situation basically for new england they need the colts to lose the one and the other situations to develop turner and the wispon and turner the quarterback gets a couple paul frays 91 made the hit got to wonder that meyer's reasoning for putting this on the field except that perhaps his his confidence in his quarterbacks disappearing thinking that perhaps a changeup go to the shotgun and see if you can't shake it up a little bit get things moving but he's not afraid to move quarterbacks in and out like most other people put in a running back feel the temperature dropping it was around 30 degrees at kickoff the pass to brooks and he's out of bounds at the jets 37 and the flag goes down may have been a face mask so the jets predictably figuring wishbone they're going to run the ball and ricky turner not a strong arm but certainly an accurate one as he finds bill brooks what a great job of conning the receiver bobby humphries right there he just waits playing man a man the ball taken right off the top of his shoulder beautiful beautiful job by brooks a very veteran kind of play by the receiver and radachowsky with the piling on personal foul unnecessary roughness number 25 defense first down so there was method to ron meyer's madness as he got the jets to concentrate on the running game and then went over the top for the big first down and the bonus comes on the benefit of a very silly defensive foul becomes a 47-yard play 32 on the pass and 15 on the penalty still in the wishbone and it's turner and a flag goes down as he's tackled at the 15. scott mercero and it'll be called back on the illegal procedure the colts have not used all of the possibilities out of that option and there are a great many of them illegal formation defense the tackle was on the end of the line still first down coming into this game they used the shotgun 64 times for 329 yards and eight touchdowns two of those tds in short yardage last week by turner by turner but rarely had they used it in the middle of the game unless they were ahead trying to eat the clock this is kind of out of character but so far it has been effective he's got bentley and dickerson as the halfbacks and a play in a different form that worked well for a long gainer 38 yards in the first half short yardage this time bobby humphrey on the corner for the jets four yards on the pickup it's second and 11. well the first reverse of the day was a very profitable one the next two have been much less profitable fool me once what's the old saying ricky turner he's fooled some people played a couple of years at toronto in the canadian football league out of washington state as we said three years in construction in seattle and now he's really trying to build something important a comeback for the colts who trailed by 11. going to pass again and has to eat battle it a sack troy benson 54 knocks him out of bounds and george wansley is slow getting up look at all this pressure on the quarterbacks from the jets today we mentioned they had had five of the last seven games without a sack now they have gotten pumped up here today defensively well the colts in jets territory but moving in the wrong direction timeout 332 left in the third as kevin call will push paul fraze into the back of his legs watch the play here there's freeze and purely an accidental kind of play but that sends one of only three knocks to the sideline that means hogable is in and he's throwing incomplete for brooks as hasty had good inside coverage denied him the corner and here comes biasoci to try a field goal let's underline that point the colts have only three running backs eric dickerson albert bentley and george wansley plus their quarterback so without wansley you don't have a wishbone don't have the wish he's the fullback he's the guy who instigates the activity there so we may have seen the last of of the wishbone for the day i don't know a two-back wish bone is there such a thing 45-yard attempt by biasoci who's had another outstanding year and he's a good long-range kicker it is good 45 yards via sochi but because of the extra point instead of being within a touchdown the colts need more than a touchdown 24-16 jets three minutes and a half to go dean biasochi was bent his face mask down so when he looks down at the ball it's not obstructed kicks it off line drive bobby humphrey and humphrey is tackled at the 30. via sochi you like him i really like him he had the best year of any kicker in the league last year and even though scott norwood has gotten a lot of publicity this year i think it's a close race for the two of them and he's not afraid he's a good athlete he's not afraid to come down here watch him coming down he's a safety remember but he's a he's sticking his nose in there i'll tell you it is his nose with that mask bent down he doesn't have the protection of an ordinary mask will able to get a knee in there or anything else good athlete the boys looking biosociety from western carolina really handles the pressure well the jets lead by 8 24 16 late in the third quarter and freeman mcneal dances out to the 37. jeff herrod makes the tackle he's seeing a lot of duty with the injury to fred young look at that stat 14 rushes and a single pass the jets really controlling the line of scrimmage with that big offensive line we talked about the improvements that they have made that was one that joe walton was very quick to point out to us he feels that this offensive line coming together late in the season only the second pass of the second half and hector drops another twice today that hector has taken his eyes off the football to look downfield and drop the pumpkin so it'll be third down and three a short three hector who has 25 catches on the year tune in motion and o'brien in search and find schuler his key third down target prior with yet another tackle a busy man in the deep defense of the colts but schuler has the first down at midfield we saw mickey schuler in miami earlier in the season he was coming off a severe neck burner a nerve situation that had taken a lot of the strength out of his arm he's still battling with that you sense the pain here coming all the way across whether you look at his numbers over the last five seasons but no one in the nfl has a tight end who has done a better job of corralling that football noah close 319 catches in the last five years mcneal fumbles but it goes right back to schuler schuler on cue there to fall on the ball to gain more jets yardage down to the 42. just a final note on schuler's problems with his neck he said that his strength is still about 80 percent of normal but the pain is a lot of it is diminished let's watch the ball squirt here 39 mike pryor who's made so many big plays on the day but very alert defense very alert play by peggy schuler down to the 37-yard line first down jets with a minute left in the third quarter so the jets spent one of their three second half timeouts joe walton who calls the place and sends in the place with his running backs boy that reminds us of the game we had last week in los angeles when on that sideline stan reeve was furious about a timeout called by the broncos that he didn't feel should have been called and it wound up being a major factor late in the game as the broncos lost 21-20 really and walton angry about something that was taking place on the defensive side of the line pointing out to the defense and really going after the official joe walton who has 190 pound tight end broke in in 1957 in the nfl out of pittsburgh university of pittsburgh played defensive back early in his pro career don shula and joe walton were the cornerbacks with washington not for long o'brien fumble fumble oh what a lucky play for the jets that ball bounced right back to jeff criswell but it may well the flag goes down right where o'brien threw the ball let's see what the call is jeff criswell was there a lineman cannot touch it i think it was a fumble not a pass illegal touch number 61 offense behind the line there's a loss of the hell that's true i don't think criswell was beyond the line he was in the backfield but uh i also think that this was a fumble rather than a pass let's see if o'brien's hand comes forward looked to me like it was a fumble i think that i think the ball was going back when it was knocked loose and it should have been called a fumble i agree byron darby hit the ball as he had the ball back well i won't replay that one it's too too quickly done by the jets the pass is to mcneil in trying to cut loses his balance at the 33-yard line and that'll bring up third down let's go back to the previous play watch darby 72 o'brien has his hand back and it goes right into the arms of criswell goes to his side i don't think criswell was beyond the line of scrimmage it doesn't matter at this point the jets have the football a third and six and an opportunity if they get it in the end zone to really put this cold team in a deep hole here's that formation we saw in the first half with two receivers lined up in tandem to the right of o'brien and one of them is walker said he goes down field to tune al toon plays touchdown music one of the things that has to frighten you when you have put together a secondary that has been patched up as this colt secondary has been patched up an unusual formation that requires adjustments on the field and if you don't get them you may well get that kind of big play 33 yards for the score and a new jets record for tune leahey adds the extra point altoon with four catches today now has 86 for the year an all-time new york jets record and he's in position now to become the first jet ever to win the national football league reception record most receptions in a year he had a sizable lead coming in to today's game an eight catch lead bottom of your screen number 88 and no one there to help that's such a tough play anyway chucky miller no 38 eugene daniel the corner with the safeties drawn up inside and eugene daniel all by himself no one there to help him and i've got to say that somebody blew the assignment on that play in an unusual formation very often puts you in an awkward situation the jets have their third touchdown of this third quarter and now own a 31-16 lead they were trailing 13-10 at the half what about those 21 straight maybe you're right maybe the numbers come up and you're due to break that string so joe walton's certainly a happy head man as that player i guess it's like in baseball when you hit the ball in the sweet spot there's no feeling like it for a coach who was devised to play and walden is an offensive mastermind to devise a play and then see it work so perfectly it has to be a delight leahy kicks it off right down albert bentley out across the 35-yard line marion barber who leads the team and tackles on special teams he's their captain on special teams made the stop jets were a little too quick out of the blocks you talk about joel walton being excited about that play larry sorello ted nathanson had a shot of him throwing his arm in the air from the sideline this has been a a much different year in relationships joe walton's relationship with his players he really lost his team many felt last year as a result of his attitude during the strike and shortly afterward and a very negative attack on the team when they lost this year he has been very very positive and i think it's paying dividends for him late in the season end of the third quarter we'll be back after these messages from your local station to go here at giant stadium and that may be just 15 minutes for the indianapolis colts in this season unless they have their best rally of the year we talked about the jets not being a come from behind team neither is indianapolis especially with a couple of quarterbacks who've not had a good day they've gone to the shotgun they or they're not the shotgun the wishbone can't run that anymore they lost one of their backs been a tough day for ron meyer who's got to be wondering and we are wondering too why his troops are not better motivated or that how the jets can get themselves up we kind of figured they'd be the team that is flat watson they say is back in the ball game and so is turner so the wishbone is going to survive and james hasty had his mitts on his third interception it was right there for the rookie corner couldn't tuck it away eric mcmillan another rookie had three interceptions in a game earlier this season against miami total yards through three quarters very close but time of possession and the jets what would be the key the fact that they got the early lead i think emotionally they had to get off to a fast start today that ten point lead early on the big difference for them you look at what's happened here in the second half a lot of that yardage tough grinded out yardage for the jets and they have established control with that running game here in the second half yeah when you got that ace in the deck eric dickerson you better start drawing to it and dickerson eases his way for about eight or nine the problem with the running game and with the wishbone is time really you've got a 15 point lead you've got to have two touchdowns and then a field goal to go ahead in this ball game and even though we're looking at 14 49 on the clock the jets i'm sure are willing to trade some yardage for time at this point in the game 50 yards on the one catch for a touchdown that gave the colts the lead just before the half of 13 to 10. and here comes bentley and well defensed by rich miano miano coming up from the safety spot to make the tackle i'm really surprised to see wansley back in that ball game they were looking at his knee on the sideline and he's back in there excuse me are going to have to go for it down by 15 ron meyer on his own 45-yard line fourth down and two says we're not going to get too many more chances we got to go for the first down here dickerson who else can't make it bobby humphrey and the jets take over on download well we saw joe walton celebrate on the touchdown to tune and ron meyer on fourth and two sees this day growing even darker it's been that kind of day for meyer and the colts winner else for meyer and just as that has to throw a poll around the emotions of colts fans everywhere the folks up in new england this is one of the elements that they needed even a smile from bud carson on the sideline o'brien who has engineered three touchdown drives gives the freeman mcneil down to the 36 yard line before cliff odom can make the hit well you look ahead a little bit optimistically for the jets their first come from behind victory when they were behind at the half in 22 games their first win they were 0 for eight in december in december a chance to to write that record i'm sure there's a lot at stake a lot more than just a single ball game at stake for this man yeah some of the press here in new york were critical of walton being rehired a mix up there well down to the 33 but the fact that leon hess and the jets management were saying hey this is our coach he's going to be here three more years so if any of you have any grumbles speaking of the players within the organization you're going to have to deal with this man he's going to be the boss and that really gave him a stroke of power these last two games where the athletes in this squad know well he continues to evaluate and the player's future is on the line in these last two games some of them indeed you also hear from these players how much better as i mentioned earlier the relationship is between the players and i think that's what's paying dividends here today o'brien looking for a big one to schuler and who breaks it up again mike pryor i don't think i've ever seen a game where one man after a man's caught the ball has been able to jar it free that's the fourth time today pryor's pulled that trick timing it's the essence for those defensive backs you get there a little early you draw the yellow flag if you get there as the ball arrives you often can shake it loose perfect play by pryor well he was a hitter 388 in baseball i asked him why he didn't go the dodgers drafted him in the fourth round and baltimore liked him as well he said well he said frankly it was because of family i wanted to have a family i didn't want to be traveling seven months a year and i was only traveling six months a year but sold during the week that's right go brian and on fourth down the jets convert as al tune has his fifth catch of the day man who studied ballet and modern dance one of his teachers and colleagues thought he was crazy to play football that he had a career in theater he's in theater he's big time he's got those dancers legs so on fourth down the jets have converted to tune and they've threatened to blow this one open o'brien lots of time even more that almost took as long as the final play for the jets in last week's game one of the weaknesses that o'brien has always had is he is slow a foot took him a long time to learn how to sift in the pocket it's still a major flaw in the arsenal that he brings to his quarterbacking responsibilities but one that uh walton said will be uh covered well if the master plan works as you see o'brien on the scramble and that is the fact that walton feels that offensive line is young and improving and bigger and that o'brien won't have to scramble much in the future they're going to have the guys up there that can protect me meanwhile johnny hector all the way to the 11-yard line to bring up third down and about four a flag is down and i believe ted banker is going to be ticketed banker got in for alexander and he's angry he's stating his case 63 often that'll bring it back to the 31 yard line and it'll be second down and about 25. the defensive man i didn't hold you donnell thompson i think the man that he was blocking on tuned to the left walker split right and o'brien eats it as cliff odom finally filters through the blocks and records the sack and that displeases walton because that pushes the jets for the moment out of field goal range you gotta pull the trigger if you can't get the pass off get rid of the football you take the big loss like that you push yourself right out of field goal range that's one of the reasons why he's banged up and not totally healthy he does take a lot of licks he is always looking at last second for a man to break open sometimes uh wisdom is to throw it away imagine how many hits he's taken on top of those sacks underneath the tune and he's tackled at the 30-yard line and coming in late to try to help him out was ted banker some of the colts didn't quite appreciate it and kurt sohn and craig swope get into it and swope records the fall and here comes banker again i think it's marty lyons over there and this is you gotta believe that perhaps the most important thing that will come out of this game is the way the jets feel about themselves now you're seeing something right there an exhibit of well and there goes the flag and i think someone said said the wrong thing to an official you probably could have thrown four flags by now if you really wanted to the other part of this merlin is as you know as a player you light the fuse in august with all those hard rigorous days sweating and toiling trying to make a team and you you have the promise of the playoffs out there hanging in front throughout a season and then now you get down to the quarter where that may all be disappearing and all of those emotions are going to be fueled and explode we have offsetting personal fouls 79 blue 93 white still offset party lions out of all that gets the marty lyons all the way off the sideline it was banker who started it he came piling in oh that's that's what made swope angry and i don't blame him i don't blame him for being angry he's saying hey that's they should throw a flag on that they should that's no different than a defensive player diving in on a five it's easy to get somebody hurt that way swope and that's marty lyons coming after swope there's lions that's the flag on lions there and apparently it was something that was done after the fact by harvey armstrong that got him a foul the game nevertheless so leahy tries a 46-yarder and the jets have three more 9 49 remaining and still some emotions left on the field as the jets are doing an 18-point lead mark demas in the middle saying hey knock it off in there the biggest comeback for the colts all year seven behind and the kickoff goes to albert bentley out to the 22-yard line carl howard made the tackle and again the push and shove continues gary hokeboom comes back in at quarterback all your years merlin in the nfl and i saw most of your games i don't remember you ever being in a fight i got a couple uh we got a real good one against the san francisco 49ers where both benches emptied onto the field and in fact i had inadvertently started it i jumped over dave parks who was laying on the ground as he started to get up my knee hit him in the head i was just trying to get downfield on an interception he thought i kicked him in the head well the next thing i know the whole 49er bench emptied i'm on the ground there are three guys kicking me and the guy the guy pulls me out of it monty stickles who's the worst cheap shot artist in the league pulled me out of this thing dickerson on the screen and the colts need something big and in a hurry and they look to the right man dickerson he gives them a first down also gets out of bounds with nine and a half minutes left it's not over for the colts they have time but they need three scores three big ones the second half belonging to the jets who were behind 13 10 at the half and you would have thought the colts with that playoff pickle out in front of them and then taking the lead just before intermission would have come back red hot in the second half and it's been just the reverse they have not done it and one of their weakness is very obvious here their inability to pick up large chunks of yardage with the passing game i should boom was say the grass and that's another sack ken rose gets it and a five-sack day for the jets defense in the last seven eight weeks have just not been able to produce anything at all like this they're most in six games well we mentioned that they have been in five of the last seven games they failed to report a sack so this is indeed a major turnaround freeman mcneil getting some help over there from bob reese second and eleven pogba boom underneath the dickerson miano with one hand gets a ride out of bounds at the 41 yard line clock stops with 901 left in its third down for indianapolis 34-16 the jets with a big second half scoring 24 points it's got to be a desperate time all that you've worked for all season long now squeezed into a nine minute period for the colts and dickerson dropped a pass he's had plenty of company in this game and on fourth down the colts who went for it on fourth and two will go for it again well maybe the jets responded to the lash a little bit this week dick and uh we talked about and they were horrible last week they played a very very sloppy football game carson was angry and he'd been cuddling them a little bit been saying we're young we're making mistakes he stopped last week and a little different feeling out there today and they lost in the final seconds to kansas city chiefs being eliminated and on fourth down boza gives the colts extended life first down at the 40 and understanding that there isn't much time left pogba boom in indianapolis will use the no huddle probably from now on whenever they can the tight end who had to look around the umpire demons that ball went right over the official shoulder he was actually screening him out great one-handed grab no huddle second in inches 8 15 left the jets lead 34-16 dickerson no it's bentley this time down to the 19-yard line where half the jets team make the stop and there was nickel 77 bobby howard gets another piece of a tackle again no huddle first down under eight minutes to go most of the crowd is on its way home content the jets will win this one bentley oh what a tackle by bobby humphrey now here's a guy humphrey who is a wide receiver converted into a defensive back and is really developing into a prized player for the jets they're going to build part of their defensive secondary future around him very unusual for a pass receiver to have that kind of aggressiveness and that's what brought their attention to him as special teams play and later an opportunity to play on defense pogba over the heads of everyone as he was under pressure from lions back to bobby humphrey you know you got to respect the guy who who listens his hoppies karate and tennis i mean there's the kind of doubles partner i want a guy that plays tennis and loves karate boy is he tough at the net and that chop shot ball at the 21 7 minutes and 14 seconds to go the colts almost have to score and get the ball right back and score and get the ball right back at you field goal won't do it now third and 11th to bentley boy did he fight off the tackle of radachowsky bentley and timeout is called by the colts with fourth down and there's a wise time out there to use because at fourth and about five they dare not make a mistake here whoa that was a great stiff arm on radakowski to spring loose for a few more yards seven minutes and a second left reality is simple here the colts need a first down or they're out of the playoffs bill brooks unable to hang on the defensive secondary rich miano made the hit and the jets take over on downs and with less than seven minutes to go and the jets with a sizable lead this is quite an upset so very often the difference in games not physical emotional and it's an emotional jet defense that has really stepped forward to take charge and an emotional jet offensive step forward in the second half to run the football and take charge miano who's had an excellent season there to make that very very big play well it really is fascinating human emotions and how it is that here's a team the colts you figured would have all the emotions on their side and how a team can fire itself up but you know if people say well pride is almost a cliche but it's there that's that's the guts of this thing freeman mcneal through a disheartened defense out to the 28-yard line and stay with us temple and kansas in an early season battle that'll come to you from atlantic city here on nbc the home of great college basketball and of course tomorrow nbc football and we've got a dandy down in the astrodome cincinnati and the oilers freeman mcneil in a quiet efficient manner has 90 yards rushing today he's out rush dickerson and now johnny hector on first down all right let's take a look at the playoffs as they stand now and assuming that the colts are not going to be able to whip up some incredible miracle buffalo is in they clinch their division and new england now becomes much more alive because one of their factors has worked the colts have lost or will lose cincinnati and then cleveland and houston for in new england to get in cleveland or houston would have to lose both the remaining games that's the only way the patriots can get in and out in the west who wants it teams back it up out there hector again stacked up at the 35-yard line meanwhile in the nfc it's the east that still is confusing although the giants step up on everyone else they'll play here tomorrow you'll see that game kansas city and the chiefs have shown they can rise and beat the good ones the bears and uh brian meyer says minnesota's the best team he's seen all year he thinks that's the super bowl winner the colts coach really impressed with the bikes and the west still in doubt as well in the nfc boy that wild card really was a great concept in terms of maintaining interest in a lot of cities freeman mcneil going to be close i believe a yard shy of a first down down on the tunnel elevators heading up to the press box bill parcells there with ron earhart his offensive coordinator said wait a minute coach's mistake you don't play until tomorrow but of course they finish their season with the jets and doing a little scouting here today that's right the battle of the big apple is next week the jets and the giants but right now it's the jets day 88 running into pro cop the official right on the spot saying nobody pushed you in there and that'll turn the ball back over will it no it's yes it will enough for the first down here no longer carries the automatic penalty unless it's a mike pryor okay brandon's also there number 88 but prior the man that bumped him well and prior after so many big plays on the day one that was not so 39 defensive first down on fourth and one that's a first down it's desperation time though and that's all too often those things fall right back on top of you what does al mcguire say if life were fair we'd have no war or surgery the for the men in blue who have been the best record team in football the last two months but they couldn't overcome the one and five start this telecast presented by authority of the national football league is intended for the private use of our audience any rebroadcast or other use of this telecast without the express written consent of the new york jets and the national football league is prohibited the game is the property of the national football league indianapolis gold's new york jets all rights reserved dick you make a very good point you go back to the early part of this season that overtime tough overtime loss to houston lost to chicago cleveland the quality of those teams no question about that came back lost to miami for the first five tough way to start johnny at the hector line it'll be third down and a short two for a first down eugene daniel made the tackle attendance 47 000 here in person 29 000 people with tickets uh hope you enjoyed our telecast here on nbc sports the faithful yeah we'll have more than that here tomorrow the giants their season's still very much alive out of bounds with a first down at the 44-yard line and for al toon that is his seventh catch today so that streak will come to an end jets are going to win in december for the first time in a while tune with seven catches 103 yards 25 year old university of wisconsin graduate he was the 10th player picked in 1985 and has lived up to that high rating 245 left season grinding down for the colts they'll not be in the playoffs and uh hector having trouble was really shaken up on that play and they're going to assist him off be very careful with them yeah that's the kind of thing they used to do in your day they just come out and haul you off by your right off the field but that's not always wise let the people who are medically trained uh deal with the injured player as we were looking at that indianapolis sideline i was thinking who would have thought early in the season when their record was one and five that they would still have been in the hunt with two games left to go in this season so in many ways what they have been able to do since that time rather miraculous they have played some of the best football in the nfl during that sprint that they put on during the middle of the season later part of the season but it appears to have ended with a thump here in new york well you look at the six defeats and who beat them houston the bears the browns the bills the vikings new england and all of those teams in new england the longest shot but all of them potential playoff teams and then the jets were eliminated last week you still can't help me out though on how this i i'm going to be very honest i came to this game today thinking that ron myers colts would just steamroll the jets that way just the emotions alone and all going for the colts trying to get in the playoffs and the jet season ending last weekend what at practice yesterday just the the solemn nature of the jets they seem so down and the hey it's all over dick my 15 years in the trenches of the nfl taught me one thing you can't guess at the emotional level of a team by watching them practice on saturday i've come out of those practices knowing that we were ready knowing that my team was emotionally and physically and mentally ready to play and then have watched us go out on the field and stink the place out and exactly the opposite at a time when the emotion should have been at its peak at a time when well the other side when we should have been down and bingo suddenly you you come out and do the opposite thing so there is no explanation players don't know the players don't know in fact the players probably know the least of anyone that's why you don't want to be a head coach because they they don't know and if the players don't know so the it's another example just another example of what we may see in these last two weeks of the season the teams that are out of it shouldn't play well and that's why bill parcells and the giants have to have their eyes on this one i mean the kansas city chiefs come in the same situation as the jets they've nothing to lose tomorrow and i think that nothing to lose thing does make a difference because it takes all the pressure off so with the injured hector taking off now the timeout the two-minute timeout two minutes left well two men that uh certainly have uh different emotional bases you're so solid you hide yours you're steady as a rock and and i wear it all out on here and we're trying to deal with how it all works out and i guess that's what makes it all so fascinating you can't predict and that is the difference there's no question in my mind the biggest difference in the games of the nfl not physical emotional the amount of emotion in and there's there is no rhyme or reason to it so very often what is so dead obvious just does not happen and we've seen that here today yeah they get a play underway quickly and and now it's just a matter of riding out the clock and the colts are saying to themselves hey we did the best we could we came we were beaten by good teams we rallied gave ourselves a chance but fell short now it's time for the most valuable player award sponsored by budweiser but carson's entire jet defense much maligned really playing well today and that was the difference but wise will make a contribution to the united way on behalf of all the mvps selected during this weekend's games and if you had suggested to bud carson before this game that at the end of this day his defense would have been nominated in mass for players and players of the game what would bug cars run here right out of the office probably peter thought it was some kind of cruel joke but they have played inspired football here today freeman mcneil down to the 39-yard line that'll make up fourth down in about five let's check their report cards today ryan started but it was ken o'brien off the bench in the second half who engineered three touchdown drives in the third quarter and freeman mcneil that last run has just gone to 100 yards rushing so he has outrushed dickerson and al toon the sensational wide receiver going for the nfl receiving title now as 89 on the year with seven catches today chandler injured after an over four start hoga boom threw three interceptions turner and the wishbone really not a factor dickerson scored both colts touchdowns one on a nine yard run one on a 50 50-yard catch-and-run i don't see dick we don't see the five sacks by the jet defense they should be on there and the fact that they were able to contain dickerson so well they got 58 yards in the earlier game against them 42 as you saw today and for eric dickerson that is an awful day delay well that gives us a chance to acknowledge these folks our executive producer of nbc sports michael weissman coordinating producer of nbc's football coverage director of today's telecast ted nathanson today's telecast produced by larry cirillo our replay producer terry ewart our coordinating producer for nfl live john j phillippelli nfl live produced by tom roy and ricky diamond nfl live directed by bucky guns technical directors lenny stucker and richard sanzevir joe propoff fair catch by brooks and it'll bounce out of bounds we also want to thank joe costanza statistician superb and for helping the booth mike albert frank cerkowski jim ron zipkowsky and our director of choreography and christmas sales in new york susan she's olsen some damage i can tell you that they say something somebody stole her credit card yesterday he gave it back to the thief he was spending less than she was down 25 seconds clock running colts have used their timeouts indianapolis colts the afc eastern champions of last year just could not fight off that very difficult start of one and five although they won eight of their last nine before today and with one second to go out of bounds is dickerson and we will now have the final play of this day joe walton as you said earlier merlin walton with the extension of his contract and he's already paid the first dividend he's he's helped his team to win today they have a chance for a winning record they go in against the crosstown rivals the giants next sunday with a chance to really close out this year on a high emotional note very important to them what they have been able to do here today they need to acquire a couple of more good players in particular some pass rush without that they're going to be pretty defenseless next year but they have proved today that they know how to play this game and they know how to get themselves ready emotionally so the colts are beating 34-16 they're out of the playoffs but when they host buffalo next week the fans there on the hoosier dome can salute a team that certainly fought back gallantly from a tough start and a team of quality and youth that is back on the winning side and the team the of the future for ron meyer we'll be back at

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Id: LCCvC_Ff3tY

Length: 154min 11sec (9251 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 24 2021