LT brings playoff experience to equation

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - They cannot forget the game that slipped away - the fast start, the burgeoning confidence, all taken away by Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in last year's AFC Championship Game.

LaDainian Tomlinson, who was acquired from San Diego a month and a half after the Jets' deflating 30-17 loss, wasn't in the visitors' locker room at Lucas Oil Stadium that day. But his postseason experience has prepared him well for this moment: a rematch of the AFC title game.

The Jets will return to the scene of the crime Saturday, the field where Manning and the Colts swiped what the Jets believe should have been theirs: a ticket to the Super Bowl.

That's why Tomlinson understands this game is personal - not just for coach Rex Ryan and his teammates, but for him, as well.

"I think any time the team that last beat you in a playoff situation and you have them first, it is personal," he said Monday. "And I can understand that, and so, obviously, it's personal for a lot of us and for a lot of different reasons."

Tomlinson, who was inactive Sunday and finished the regular season 86 yards shy of his ninth 1,000-yard rushing season, already has put individual milestones out of his mind. His goal all along, he said, was to win a championship. And his personal quest for the Lombardi Trophy begins this weekend.

"It's an organization that I have a lot of respect for, for things they've done over the years - obviously with Peyton Manning," he said of the Colts. "I've had a lot of battles with them guys. I've been on both sides of the coin - win some against them and also lose some. I've beaten them out there in a playoff situation and so I think that helps to understand what it takes to get the job done going into their place."

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During Tomlinson's nine seasons with San Diego, the Chargers defeated the Colts twice in the postseason - in the AFC divisional playoffs in January 2008 and in the AFC wild-card round in January 2009. But even though Tomlinson hasn't lost in the playoffs to Manning, he's suffered his fair share of postseason disappointment. He made the playoffs with the Chargers in five of his nine seasons, but the closest he came to reaching the Super Bowl was in January 2008, when San Diego lost to New England in the AFC Championship Game. Last season, his Chargers team lost to the Jets in the divisional round.

Even with all that playoff experience to draw from, Tomlinson said he won't go out of his way to be more of a vocal leader in the locker room this week. He doesn't need to. The Jets already know what's on the line, he said.

"I don't think it'll be any different at all," he said. "I think just making sure the focus is there and the preparation that we need for this week is critical. Everybody needs to be into it and really understand what we're trying to accomplish, because this is the most important part of the season for us."