Rex Ryan has been fined $50,000 by the New York Jets, essentially a weeks worth of pay for the coach, because of a gesture he made (above) at the Strikeforce event this past Saturday in Miami. The NFL has decided they will not punish the big ol’ emotional teddy bear additionally as they feel the $50K hit was sufficient. For those that remember the “No Fun League” slapping Bud Adams with a $250,000 fine for his two-finger-salute this may seem like the league’s going soft, but Bud’s pockets are deeper and he did it towards an opposing teams sideline while in the owners box of an NFL game. Ryan’s finger came up playfully at a cage fight out of season and was aimed at only one obnoxious Dolphins fan, not an entire franchise.Ryan immediately apologized when the photo spread across the internet like wild-fire:

“I wouldn’t accept that type of behavior from one of the coaches or players and it’s unacceptable from me.”

He also referred to the gesture as, “stupid and inappropriate.”

It’s nice to see that the coach retracted the incident but I for one am hardly offended. I mean it’s not like he took a picture of his balls and forwarded it to his entire contacts list…

The Indianapolis Colts killed any shot at getting Cinderella to the ball this year as they routed the underdog fan-favorite New York Jets 30-17 at home. In his second game since winning a 4th NFL MVP Award, Peyton Manning threw for 377 yards  and scored 3 touchdowns. If he manages to to bring home another championship he could probably run for governor.

It wasn’t all peaches and cream for the men in blue and white though. Things were uneasy for the home team early as the Jets went into half with a 17-13 lead. Unfortunately for New York faithful that was all they would be able to muster offensively all day.  In the second half the Colts’ defense cinched down and goose egged Mark Sanchez and the rest of the green machine offense.

Unfortunately for fans this means the end of bat-shit-crazy press conferences with Jets head coach Rex Ryan, or at least we’ll have to wait until next season. The mans blind confidence and bold statements have enamored sports media and inspired his football team, which has surpassed any expectations they had on them at the beginning of the season. We tip our hat to you Mr. Ryan.  You may have more in common with Gary Busey than Vince Lombardi, but dammit you’re getting the job done (float some tips to your brother in Cleveland).

The Colts find out who they’ll be facing in the Super Bowl when the Saints and Vikings settle things in New Orleans tonight. The game will start at 6:40 PM E.T and will be broadcasted on FOX.

The J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS, pulled off an improbable win in San Diego that left Chargers fans in shock (haha… get it?). The Jets were supposed to be lucky just to be in the tournament (stealing Rex Ryan terminology), but they weren’t supposed to advance. Now, after a cold win in Cincinnati, and another in sunny San Diego, the New York Jets are heading to the AFC Championship game in Indianapolis to face the the heavily favored Colts.

The “other” game, a much anticipated NFC match-up between Minnesota and Dallas, was supposed to be a barn burner. It was supposed to be the red-hot Dallas defense battling against Favre & Co.’s triple-threat offense. In reality it turned out to be the Brett Favre, Sidney Rice pitch-and-catch show. And on the other side of the ball, the only thing Tony Romo accomplished during his trip to Minnesota was walking off the field under his own power. Romo spent the majority of the afternoon getting thrown around in the backfield like a WWE stage-prop.

So the stage is set and the Final Four of the NFL looks like this…

AFC Championship Game
New York Jets @ Indianapolis Colts
Sunday, January 24th, 3:00pm EST on CBS
Indianapolis favored by 7.5

NFC Championship Game
Minnesota Vikings @ New Orleans Saints
Sunday, January 24th, 6:40pm EST on FOX
New Orleans favored by 4.5

We’ll have a complete run-down and predictions this week so check back in!