We’re down to the final four teams bidding for Super Bowl glory in the NFL and the combatants for the 6 February title showdown in Dallas will be decided this weekend.
On what is always one of the best days in the American football calendar, the NFC Championship Game will feature one of the most storied rivalries in the NFL as the Green Bay Packers visit the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field (what a fitting name for a venue given the magnitude of this game).
Later on Sunday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers welcome the New York Jets to Pennsylvania for what is sure to be a hard-hitting AFC Championship Game. It is fitting in this wildest of NFL seasons that the top seeds in each conference (the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots) are no longer in the playoffs.
Despite some shocks along the way, there is so much tradition and NFL pedigree on display this weekend. The Bears-Packers rivalry dates back to 1921 and they boast 21 NFL titles between them. And no team has won more Super Bowls than the Steelers, who have a record of six wins and one loss in the greatest show on earth.
Yet as we approach the weekend’s action, America’s attention is firmly focused on the New York Jets – whose only Super Bowl success came in 1968 – and much of that is down to their larger-than-life head coach, Rex Ryan.
After guiding the Jets to the AFC Championship Game for the second year in a row, Ryan is within 60 minutes of everything he ever dreamed of – a personal appearance at Super Bowl Media Day.
Ahead of last week’s defeat of New England, Ryan stoked up a war of words that ended up featuring players from both clubs. And while he supported his own men for speaking out, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick benched star wide receiver Wes Welker for the opening drive of the game for poking fun at Ryan.
Ryan is clearly a players’ coach. He loves to goof around on the sidelines with his players and I get the impression he operates an open-door policy in New York. He doesn’t quite let the lunatics run the asylum, but he does grant his players a fair amount of freedom to express themselves – both physically and vocally.
But do not be fooled into thinking this is a man only capable of demanding a response from his players on an emotional level.
Ryan is a defensive genius when it comes to the tactical side of the game. Putting together a dominant defence is in his blood. His father, Buddy, was a head coach at various clubs but he really made his name as defensive coordinator of the 1985 Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears. Anyone with even a passing interest in the NFL will remember how physically dominant that unit – which featured the likes of Richard Dent, Mike Singletary and William “Refrigerator” Perry – was.
Rex learned strong defence from his father. But he also learned that, so long as you can walk the walk on Sundays, it’s OK to talk the talk the rest of the week. Buddy was never short of a colourful and controversial quote and the only time he ever shut up was when he famously almost choked to death on a pork chop.
In advancing to the AFC Championship Game, Rex’s defence has confused, pressured and bullied two of the game’s greatest quarterbacks in Peyton Manning, of the Indianapolis Colts, and New England’s Tom Brady.
Away from the X’s and O’s of the game, Ryan has a firm finger on the pulse of his team. He knows what makes his guys tick.
On the eve of that famous win in New England, Ryan invited former defensive end Dennis Byrd to address the team. Byrd was a promising young defensive end for the Jets before his career came to a shuddering halt in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs in November 1992.
Byrd was attempting to sack Chiefs’ quarterback Dave Krieg when he smashed into team-mate Scott Mersereau. The play ended the careers of both men. Byrd broke his neck and was left paralysed. After months of extensive physical therapy, he was able to walk again but could not even begin to contemplate a return to the gridiron.
Knowing how sorely Byrd missed the game, Ryan invited him to Boston, where he told Jets players to make sure they enjoyed every play because they would never know when it might be their last.
Byrd delivered a stirring speech that led to a standing ovation led by wide receiver Santonio Holmes, who later Tweeted: “I have just heard the most inspirational speech of my life. I have never been more ready to perform in my life.”
As Ryan hoped, his Jets were truly inspired and played like men possessed the very next day. That shows this is a head coach who knows how to push all the right buttons.
The Jets face a stiff challenge in Pittsburgh on Sunday night and they are playing in a game that could genuinely go either way. But this is a team packed with talent on both sides of the ball.
Quarterback Mark Sanchez is only in his second season in the NFL yet he already has an incredible four road wins in the playoffs to his name, running back LaDainian Tomlinson has found fresh legs in the Big Apple after looking stale with the San Diego Chargers and the receiving duo of Holmes and Braylon Edwards can be among the best in the league when on form.
Defensively, Shaun Ellis is applying plenty of pressure from the defensive end position, linebacker Bart Scott is about as fired up as any player in the playoffs and Darrelle Revis remains the best cornerback in the NFL by a country mile.
There are two things I know for sure: Ryan will motivate them into a pre-game frenzy and, once the opening kickoff sails into the frigid Pittsburgh air, he will create schemes that give his players the very best chance to succeed.
Of course, whether that will be enough remains to be seen. And that uncertainty is the beauty of these NFL playoffs.
