AFC Championship, 2009: Indianapolis 30 New York Jets 17

Game information
This game was the first time in NFL history that two first-year head coaches met in any conference championship game. The Colts defeated the Jets for the first time in the postseason and advanced to their second Super Bowl in the last four seasons. Colts quarterback Peyton Manning threw for 377 yards and three touchdowns as his team recovered from an 11-point deficit by scoring 24 unanswered points.

After forcing Indianapolis to punt on their opening drive, New York drove from their own 29 to the Colts 22-yard line. But the Colts defense tightened up, tackling running back Shonn Greene twice behind the line of scrimmage and Brad Smith for a 1-yard gain, and then Jay Feely was wide right on a 44-yard field goal attempt.

In the second quarter, the Colts put together the first scoring drive of the game, with Manning completing two passes to Pierre Garçon for gains of 27 and 36 yards on the way to a 25-yard Matt Stover field goal. New York answered on the first play of their next drive with the longest play in the Jets' postseason history, as Mark Sanchez threw a pass to Braylon Edwards, who took off past Jacob Lacey and caught the ball without breaking stride for an 80-yard touchdown completion.

Manning led the Colts back on their next drive, completing a 25-yard pass to Reggie Wayne and a 22-yarder to Austin Collie at the Jets 4-yard line. But Indianapolis could not get into the end zone. Following an incomplete pass, Collie was tackled at the 1-yard line and then Manning was stuffed for no gain on a quarterback sneak, forcing them to settle for a second field goal from Stover to cut the score to 7–6. But New York struck back again. After three carries by Greene for 17 yards, Smith's 45-yard completion to Jerricho Cotchery from the Wildcat formation moved the ball to the Colts 12-yard line, setting up Sanchez's 9-yard touchdown pass to Dustin Keller with 4:53 left in the half. Three plays after the ensuing kickoff, Jets lineman Calvin Pace stormed through the line and tackled Joseph Addai as soon as he took a handoff, resulting in a fumble that safety Jim Leonhard recovered and returned to the Indianapolis 29-yard line. New York was unable to gain a first down with their drive, but Feely kicked a 48-yard field goal to increase their lead to 17–6.

However, the Colts stormed back with 24 unanswered points. Manning responded to the field goal with three completions to Collie for 80 yards, the last one a 16-yard touchdown pass to cut the score to 17–13 at the end of the half. Then after a missed 52-yard field goal on New York's opening drive of the third quarter, Manning completed 6 of 7 passes for 57 yards on the way to his second touchdown pass, this one a 4-yarder to Garçon. Manning added his third touchdown pass, a 15-yard strike to Dallas Clark, six minutes into the fourth quarter. Then after a punt, a 16-yard run by Addai and a 23-yard catch from Garçon set up Stover's third field goal to make the score 30–17. Finally, Indianapolis sealed the game when Kelvin Hayden picked off a pass from Sanchez with just over two minutes remaining.

This was the third postseason meeting between the Jets and Colts, with New York winning both meetings, including 41–0 in the 2002 AFC Wild Card playoffs.

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