Could Manning have unlocked the mystery behind Revis Island? We’ll never know. More to the point, we’ll never care. This was a day to acknowledge, once and for all, that the Colts have a lot more weapons than Wayne. Anyone who says otherwise — like I unfortunately did last week — is a buffoon. Garcon put up 11 catches for 151 yards and a TD. Collie worked on a mixture of Coleman and Leonhard for seven catches for 123 yards and a touchdown.
So what if Reggie Wayne was held to just three catches for 55 yards and no touchdowns? Darrelle Revis may well have won that head-to-head battle — but the Colts won the AFC championship.
And Leonhard knows where the blame lies: on the defensive backs not named Revis.
“We made so many mistakes,” Leonhard said. “We haven’t let balls go over our head all year — but we allowed that to happen, really, all day today.”
Leonhard seemed genuinely mystified, and with good reason. The Jets went into this game with a very clear game plan: Revis would take Wayne out of the game, and the Jets’ linebackers and safeties would combine to take Clark out of the game. Between them, Wayne and Clark had caught 200 passes for 20 touchdowns this season, but on Sunday — even with Sheppard and fellow Jets cornerback Donald Strickland playing very little — Wayne and Clark combined for just seven catches, 90 yards and one score.
And the Colts still won going away.
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