When the final buzzer sounded, giving the Indianapolis Colts a ticket to Super Bowl XLIV and relegating the New York Jets to the offseason, Stony Brook senior Daniel Aldarondo was not surprised.
“Even when it was 17-6 late in the second quarter, I think everybody in the room knew,” said Aldarondo, a devout Jets fan and Sports Editor for the Stony Brook Independent.
Like many Stony Brook students that tuned in to the AFC championship battle on Sunday afternoon, Aldarondo watched the Colts turn an early deficit into a 30-17 comeback victory, steered by the hand and arm of their MVP Quarterback.
“It’s Peyton Manning, you’re kind of silly to think that you have the game in hand even if you’re up by 11 points,” he added.
With the win, the Colts sent rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez and the rest of the Jets packing, ending an improbable postseason run that made Gang Green fans seemingly come out of nowhere. Many students on Stony Brook’s red-hot campus bled green for the duration of the Jets’ playoff run.
“A lot of people were like ‘Jets! Jets! Jets!’ on their Facebook statuses,” said senior Kafi Charles, who watched the game in her dorm room with a couple of friends, “Definitely jumping on the bandwagon, for a lot of people,” she added with a smile.
On a campus of over 20, 000, it might be hard to decipher between the Gang Green groupies and the die-hard fans.
But the Jets frenzy that swept the university and football fans all over was expected, according to Aldarondo.
“That kind of just comes with the territory,” he said, “It’s New York, it’s exciting, and the Jets haven’t won in over 40 years.”
The one time that the Jets won the Super Bowl, 26 year-old Joe Namath was quarterback, and the 18-to-1 underdogs defeated the Baltimore Colts 16-7 for the Super Bowl III title. Since, Jets fans have endured various losing seasons and grown accustomed to the “Same Old Jets.”
But this year, sporting the best defense in the NFL, a new coach and new quarterback, the team attempted to turn things around, and their success helped old Jets fans come out of the woodwork.
“People dusted off their [Al] Toon jerseys and their [Wayne] Chrebet jerseys,” said Aldarondo with a smile, “It was fun to watch.”
However, the buzz and excitement was not enough to lift the new-look Jets to victory.
“The Colts were just the better team,” said senior Brian Morgan, who actually fell asleep midway through the fourth quarter, after the Colts had already established a comfortable lead. “Peyton Manning is just the best player in football right now, and he tore their secondary apart,” he added. Manning completed 26 of his 39 attempts, tallying 377 yards and three touchdowns.
The Jets head into the offseason a game short of potentially cementing their names in Super Bowl history. Now, they will have to watch the Colts take on the New Orleans Saints in this year’s Super Bowl, taking place on February 7th in Miami.
But the hometown team has a lot to look forward to next year. Sanchez showed promise in the postseason run, becoming the fourth rookie quarterback to win his first playoff game. “He has the arm, and it seems like he has the charisma and he can handle the New York media,” said Aldarondo.
Fans, both on-campus and off, will have to wait until the fall to see Sanchez and the Jets return to the gridiron and hopefully have a lengthier postseason run that results in a parade along the Canyon of Heroes route.
