The feelings around town are definitely mixed. Fire Coughlin or not, get rid of Eli or not, dump Ryan, bench Sanchez. The only things to which all agree is that the Giants and Jets may not stink, but they are surely not smelling that sweet these days either.
I’ll buy that last sentiment for sure. But guess what? It’s the players. Even though I do pin the Eagles loss squarely on Coughlin, for the most part it’s the players who are to blame for the losses. Not all the players, of course, but for the Giants it’s the linebackers and corners and for the Jets, it’s the defensive line.
Even though the Jets already clinched a playoff spot, it’s not as if they’re likely to get out of the first round, not with that defense. The Giants threw away their playoff spot in that horrible meltdown against the Eagles but, even if that hadn’t happened, the same goes for them. They’re just not that good. They would have folded in the wildcard round.
But just because neither coach is the worst in the league, that doesn’t mean they should be retained.
Ryan has become a clown and an embarrassment. How can he hold the respect of his team after committing dumb thing after dumb thing? Coughlin should be held accountable for throwing away that Eagles game. Never has a defense played so recklessly, never has a return team been so oblivious and never has a punter been so scared.
Imagine waking up some Monday morning to read that Coughlin is retiring! Oh baby! What a breath of fresh air! No canned responses at press conferences, no confused countenance on the sideline, no listening to him blame every other thing, usually turnovers, for losses rather than just actually admitting to anything.
His public chastising of that rookie punter, Matt Dodge, after the Eagles game was pure Coughlin. His only object was to make it clear to the television audience that he instructed that punter correctly. With Coughlin it’s never his fault (although he does his false humility thing taking responsibility for every damned thing under the sun when things aren’t his fault). In short, Coughlin is the biggest phony in the New York area, which is saying a lot.
As for Ryan, reading of his ousting would be a sad thing. He’s a terrific personality and great with the defensive x’s and o’s but how many times can you have your lead guy embarrass the entire organization? How can the players respect that?
I’d say dump them both…..except….
The only sobering aspect of firing each coach is that the replacement could definitely be worse. These are both “football guys”. Although it’s very unlikely that anyone could be more embarrassing than Ryan, or that anybody could be more annoying than Coughlin, it’s hard to imagine anyone being more qualified than either as a head football coach.
Of course, I’d rather have Gruden, I’d rather have Cowher, I’d rather see Tomlin jump over here from Pittsburgh, and I wouldn’t mind having Spagnola back at all. Other than that select group though, there really isn’t anyone to get excited about. (Don’t even try talking me into Billick).
So any coaching move would be fraught with peril. A lot of guys could be worse. Maybe we should forgive Coughlin for the Eagles debacle, for the boring press conferences, for the Mom and apple pie feeling he gives to everything. And maybe we could give Ryan a little time to straighten out his act and his life too.
As for the quarterbacks, all we hear about are Eli’s turnovers, never mind that half of them have bounced off some receiver’s hands or head or shoulder pads. Never mind that he almost never has any time in the pocket, he does have some great receivers, right? Oh, and never mind that he seems to have everyone’s respect in the locker room.
Is Eli fast? Well, no. Is he elusive? Um, that would be a big no too (except for one notable Super Bowl exception). Is he really accurate? Well, he’s getting better. But Unitas wasn’t any of those things (except for accurate), Starr wasn’t either (except for accurate), or Jurgensen or a lot of other signal-callers of great renown(except for accurate).
I’d hang on to Eli. I’d concentrate on getting him some time in the pocket though, on the order of the time his brother seems to get in Indianapolis.
As for Sanchez, he surely looks like a keeper to me. His football instincts aren’t always in evidence but that could be a disconnect between that wacky offensive coordinator and himself. He just needs a little more experience, not to mention some receivers who catch the ball each and every game, not only when they really try to focus.
Yeah, I’d hang on to Sanchez. I might look into getting him a new offensive coordinator though.
So I hope cooler heads prevail in both cases. The lion’s share of the problems for either team have nothing to do with coaching, at least not at the head, except for one notable game, or two if you count the Jets total meltdown in Foxboro.
Get a couple of corners for the G-Men and maybe some help for that offensive line that only got worse when O’Hara returned. Get a couple of defensive linemen for the boys in green. Get rid of some of that high-priced help that in many cases hasn’t delivered.
Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to mimic the Belichick drafting strategy a bit, successively trading down for more lower picks, pretty much guaranteeing a whole lot of talent on the field at all times, if a little more distributed.
And, for both teams, try to decide what your team does best and then go out and do that. It seems the Ground and Pound isn’t working. And it’s hard to tell sometimes just what the Giants are trying to do.
Maybe both teams could acquire a resident shrink.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
What A Difference A Week Makes
Never in the pro football annals of New York has there ever been such a clear reversal of fortunes as there was yesterday. One week ago, the Jets were awful and the Giants were great. Prospects for the Jets to beat Pittsburgh were horrible while the Giants were picked by several NFL analysts to do away with those Eagles, no matter that they had Michael Vick and all those speedsters.
And, of course, as head coaches share their team’s failure or success, Rex Ryan looked like a complete dummy while Tom Coughlin was lauded right here in this column for his stability, especially in comparison to the nut down the road.
What a difference a week makes!
The Jets played 60 grueling minutes of what seemed to be Steeler football. The Giants played 52 minutes of great Giants football and then quit. The coaches quit, the players quit and even the fates seemed to quit. For the final 8 minutes of the game, the Giants were a who’s who of stupidity and maybe fatigue. Whatever they were, they really stunk.
As bad as the Jets have ever played, the Giants were five times as bad as the Jets ever were for those final 8 minutes. Rex Ryan had his guys ready to play for the whole game; Coughlin had his guys ready for 52 minutes. What a shame.
Just to recap, the Giants were up 21 with 8 minutes left. They then let Brent Celek, the Eagles tight end, catch a pass for about 70 yards. Immediately after that, they didn’t cover an onsides kick and watched Michael Vick work his wonders for another easy score. Then they did absolutely nothing on offense. Then they watched Vick destroy them again for the tying touchdown. Then they punted the ball on a line to the best damned punt returner in the game for the loss.
Everybody’s likening yesterday’s game to the Miracle of the Meadowlands in which the Eagles Herman Edwards grabbed a Joe Pisarcik fumble and ran for the winning TD on a play that should have been a kneel-down, a play that lives in infamy as the Giants coaching staff was summarily fired in almost that very instant.
But yesterday’s collapse, or I should say “Cough-lapse” was much worse than that game. It wasn’t just one play that killed them. It was a series of events that was caused by coaches who had stopped coaching and players who had stopped playing. And who can we blame for that?
Complacency can be a terrible thing. Or maybe it could be called “Cough-mplacency”. The Giants acted in every way as if the game was in hand. The 67-yard Celek TD because of a missed tackle wasn’t enough to rattle them. The failure of their return team to be aware of the possibility of an onsides kick is inexcusable. To this reviewer, it was the absolutely worst failure of the entire series of failures.
That their “hands” return team was not on the field was bad but not the most critical mistake. What was much worse was the up-front players’ total obliviousness to the ball. Even the “return” team’s up-front players should have been coached to first look for the ball. The Giants on that field were not prepared at all for that eventuality.
Two egregious failures in a row was, in retrospect, too much for the Giants defense to handle. From then on, they seemed to just watch as Eagles ran over, around and through them to tie the score. And of course the Giants offense did nothing but take time off the clock. As things turned out, it wasn’t enough.
Then there was the final Giants punt. The rookie punter did in fact try to kick the ball out-of-bounds but failed to do so. The replay showed that the rookie was aiming for the sidelines but the ball seemed to drop on the inside of his foot and the punt became a liner to the most dangerous man on the field. Those things happen, especially to rookies in tight spots. (Why a serious contender for the Super Bowl has a rookie in that spot has been a puzzler for me all season).
I won’t chastise Coughlin too much for berating his punter on the field after his ridiculously poor effort put the final nail into the Giants coffin, or “Cough-in”, but I thought it showed a lack of composure. For Coughlin, it was exercising restraint, or his own idea of “Cough-mposure”.
Gee, I hope I’m being fair to Coughlin. He did after all coach one hell of a game for 52 minutes. And it’s a damned shame that the game goes for 60. And I should say that it’s not typical of a Coughlin-coached team to quit in the final minutes. Maybe he’s just getting a little old for this game.
The bright side of yesterday’s action was that the Giants are still in the hunt, the Jets were terrific and my fantasy team won again, this despite Knowshon Moreno hurting his side, Austin Collie suffering another concussion and Vernon Davis having the misfortune to be coached by Mike Singletary, who has become the new Herman Edwards. (Not in the sense of the Meadowlands Miracle but in the sense of the player who went on to coach 10-6 teams into 6-10 teams).
Okay, enough Giants-bashing. The Jets were terrific from the opening kickoff to the final gun, much to the credit of Rex and the entire Jets team. Brad Smith’s taking of the opening kickoff for a touchdown set the tone for the game while the secondary’s sticky coverage of every Steeler receiver down-field in the closing seconds sealed the victory and staved off what could easily have been a dual New York disaster yesterday.
And, between those remarkable opening and closing plays, the play-calling was brilliant, Sanchez executed those plays to perfection and still another Edwards, one Braylon, made brilliant catches all day.
What a difference a week makes.
And, of course, as head coaches share their team’s failure or success, Rex Ryan looked like a complete dummy while Tom Coughlin was lauded right here in this column for his stability, especially in comparison to the nut down the road.
What a difference a week makes!
The Jets played 60 grueling minutes of what seemed to be Steeler football. The Giants played 52 minutes of great Giants football and then quit. The coaches quit, the players quit and even the fates seemed to quit. For the final 8 minutes of the game, the Giants were a who’s who of stupidity and maybe fatigue. Whatever they were, they really stunk.
As bad as the Jets have ever played, the Giants were five times as bad as the Jets ever were for those final 8 minutes. Rex Ryan had his guys ready to play for the whole game; Coughlin had his guys ready for 52 minutes. What a shame.
Just to recap, the Giants were up 21 with 8 minutes left. They then let Brent Celek, the Eagles tight end, catch a pass for about 70 yards. Immediately after that, they didn’t cover an onsides kick and watched Michael Vick work his wonders for another easy score. Then they did absolutely nothing on offense. Then they watched Vick destroy them again for the tying touchdown. Then they punted the ball on a line to the best damned punt returner in the game for the loss.
Everybody’s likening yesterday’s game to the Miracle of the Meadowlands in which the Eagles Herman Edwards grabbed a Joe Pisarcik fumble and ran for the winning TD on a play that should have been a kneel-down, a play that lives in infamy as the Giants coaching staff was summarily fired in almost that very instant.
But yesterday’s collapse, or I should say “Cough-lapse” was much worse than that game. It wasn’t just one play that killed them. It was a series of events that was caused by coaches who had stopped coaching and players who had stopped playing. And who can we blame for that?
Complacency can be a terrible thing. Or maybe it could be called “Cough-mplacency”. The Giants acted in every way as if the game was in hand. The 67-yard Celek TD because of a missed tackle wasn’t enough to rattle them. The failure of their return team to be aware of the possibility of an onsides kick is inexcusable. To this reviewer, it was the absolutely worst failure of the entire series of failures.
That their “hands” return team was not on the field was bad but not the most critical mistake. What was much worse was the up-front players’ total obliviousness to the ball. Even the “return” team’s up-front players should have been coached to first look for the ball. The Giants on that field were not prepared at all for that eventuality.
Two egregious failures in a row was, in retrospect, too much for the Giants defense to handle. From then on, they seemed to just watch as Eagles ran over, around and through them to tie the score. And of course the Giants offense did nothing but take time off the clock. As things turned out, it wasn’t enough.
Then there was the final Giants punt. The rookie punter did in fact try to kick the ball out-of-bounds but failed to do so. The replay showed that the rookie was aiming for the sidelines but the ball seemed to drop on the inside of his foot and the punt became a liner to the most dangerous man on the field. Those things happen, especially to rookies in tight spots. (Why a serious contender for the Super Bowl has a rookie in that spot has been a puzzler for me all season).
I won’t chastise Coughlin too much for berating his punter on the field after his ridiculously poor effort put the final nail into the Giants coffin, or “Cough-in”, but I thought it showed a lack of composure. For Coughlin, it was exercising restraint, or his own idea of “Cough-mposure”.
Gee, I hope I’m being fair to Coughlin. He did after all coach one hell of a game for 52 minutes. And it’s a damned shame that the game goes for 60. And I should say that it’s not typical of a Coughlin-coached team to quit in the final minutes. Maybe he’s just getting a little old for this game.
The bright side of yesterday’s action was that the Giants are still in the hunt, the Jets were terrific and my fantasy team won again, this despite Knowshon Moreno hurting his side, Austin Collie suffering another concussion and Vernon Davis having the misfortune to be coached by Mike Singletary, who has become the new Herman Edwards. (Not in the sense of the Meadowlands Miracle but in the sense of the player who went on to coach 10-6 teams into 6-10 teams).
Okay, enough Giants-bashing. The Jets were terrific from the opening kickoff to the final gun, much to the credit of Rex and the entire Jets team. Brad Smith’s taking of the opening kickoff for a touchdown set the tone for the game while the secondary’s sticky coverage of every Steeler receiver down-field in the closing seconds sealed the victory and staved off what could easily have been a dual New York disaster yesterday.
And, between those remarkable opening and closing plays, the play-calling was brilliant, Sanchez executed those plays to perfection and still another Edwards, one Braylon, made brilliant catches all day.
What a difference a week makes.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
On Football and Stability
There’s so much to say since last week that I can’t quite focus on any one thing. There’s the ascendancy of the Giants, the bumbling of the Jets in just about every way, the end of Brett Favre’s starting streak and, for many of us, there are the fantasy football playoffs.
I should first say that I’m not a Jets fan anymore. Everybody seems to think I am. It bugs me. Brett Favre and Eric Mangini pretty much killed any feeling I may have had for them. When they rid themselves of those two clowns, they still had Tannenbaum running things and Woody Johnson at the helm so the Jets are just a team that I can’t root for.
I do like Rex Ryan, of course, and how could I not like Mark Sanchez and LaDainian Tomlinson and even Santonio Holmes? The rest of that bunch you can have, from Braylon Edwards and Jason Taylor to Shonn Greene and Jericho Cotchery.
Contrast them with the Giants. They’re a lot easier on my psyche. I mean, what’s not to like about the Maras? They’ve owned the team forever, they treat everybody with respect and they didn’t even make the taxpayers fund their new stadium.
Of course, sometimes I take issue with how slow they are to react to obvious bad things. That horrible defensive coordinator of last year, for example, should have been dumped around the middle of the season along with some of the horrible non-coverage people in their secondary.
But giving people an entire year to prove or disprove their competence is all wrapped up with showing consideration and respect. You have to take the good with the bad. It’s part and parcel of stability.
I hate to say it but stability is exactly what the Jets seem to be missing right now. It was understandable that they would lose to the Patriots, especially playing without their defensive stalwart Leonhard, but one could have expected them to bounce back against the Dolphins, even a Dolphins team playing for their playoffs lives.
They did not come remotely close to bouncing back, not unless you take only the narrowest possible definition of bouncing back. Their defense wasn’t bad at all. It was just everything else about their game that was lacking. Their running game was non-existent, that ballyhooed offensive line seemed lacking, their receivers stunk out the joint and the game plan in general seemed discordant. I defy anyone to tell me what their plan was.
Then there are the other disturbing signs, the behavioral issues of not just their players but the management as well. More and more it seems that, as a head coach, Rex makes one hell of a defensive coordinator. He still seems to accept overall responsibility for the whole team only grudgingly.
Don’t expect the Jets to beat the Steelers this Sunday. I certainly don’t. I’ll bet the Steelers don’t either, which, come to think of it, might be the only thing working in the Jets favor. The Steelers aren’t impervious to problems either. They have their own offensive problems. The Jets chances will hinge on their ability to run the ball and Santonio Holmes, the discarded Steeler who may just love to stick it to his old team.
As for the G-Men, they really have their work cut out for them with Mike Vick and the high-flying Eagles on tap. It wasn’t a good sign that the Cowboys couldn’t run against what had been a suspect run defense before their game. If the Giants can’t get impressive numbers from the Bradshaw-Jacobs duo, it could be all over but the shouting. But if they can run, they’ll keep Vick off the field, not to mention DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy.
It always comes down to those two things, running and stopping the run, especially in December. Not even the great ones at quarterback can overcome those deficiencies consistently. And the fact that the G-Men just shut down Adrian Peterson bodes well for their chances on Sunday. But the Eagles have an offensive line that the Vikings did not.
But, and this is significant, one can expect the Giants to overcome their problems, whatever they may be. They have already dealt with the secondary, the pass rush, defending the run, and changed their offensive tactics to incorporate more running and the heavy use of the tight end.
But their resiliency has never included coaches tripping up opponents on the sidelines. You get the feeling they are rock solid in every way.
Of course, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. And Ryan may be able to salvage his situation, much as he did last year when he used red and green colors to easily direct his rookie QB in avoiding turnovers. I’m rooting for him to do it too.
But there may be only so many rabbits in his hat. And his other problem players may not be as responsive as was Mark Sanchez. You get the feeling they’ll break if you press them.
I might be firmly in the Giants corner but my heart lies with my fantasy team this weekend. My Crabs have an up-hill battle too as Drew Brees will be facing the tough Ravens, Ahmad Bradshaw has a hurt wrist, Knowshon Moreno has a new coach and Miles Austin can’t seem to get on Jon Kitna’s good side. Vernon Davis, my tight end, should continue getting good numbers. Those are my definite starters. It gets tougher after that.
Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin are really talented receivers but, with Tarvaris Jackson on the other end, things are really iffy. But Austin Collie may not play, Jahvid Best seems to never get the ball, and Tashard Choice may still be starry-eyed over Michael Vick. The usually reliable Brandon Lloyd has been decidedly less so as defenses have adapted to the Broncos long passing game.
Things will clear up by Sunday morning though. They always do. As a team, these Crabs are solid.
I should first say that I’m not a Jets fan anymore. Everybody seems to think I am. It bugs me. Brett Favre and Eric Mangini pretty much killed any feeling I may have had for them. When they rid themselves of those two clowns, they still had Tannenbaum running things and Woody Johnson at the helm so the Jets are just a team that I can’t root for.
I do like Rex Ryan, of course, and how could I not like Mark Sanchez and LaDainian Tomlinson and even Santonio Holmes? The rest of that bunch you can have, from Braylon Edwards and Jason Taylor to Shonn Greene and Jericho Cotchery.
Contrast them with the Giants. They’re a lot easier on my psyche. I mean, what’s not to like about the Maras? They’ve owned the team forever, they treat everybody with respect and they didn’t even make the taxpayers fund their new stadium.
Of course, sometimes I take issue with how slow they are to react to obvious bad things. That horrible defensive coordinator of last year, for example, should have been dumped around the middle of the season along with some of the horrible non-coverage people in their secondary.
But giving people an entire year to prove or disprove their competence is all wrapped up with showing consideration and respect. You have to take the good with the bad. It’s part and parcel of stability.
I hate to say it but stability is exactly what the Jets seem to be missing right now. It was understandable that they would lose to the Patriots, especially playing without their defensive stalwart Leonhard, but one could have expected them to bounce back against the Dolphins, even a Dolphins team playing for their playoffs lives.
They did not come remotely close to bouncing back, not unless you take only the narrowest possible definition of bouncing back. Their defense wasn’t bad at all. It was just everything else about their game that was lacking. Their running game was non-existent, that ballyhooed offensive line seemed lacking, their receivers stunk out the joint and the game plan in general seemed discordant. I defy anyone to tell me what their plan was.
Then there are the other disturbing signs, the behavioral issues of not just their players but the management as well. More and more it seems that, as a head coach, Rex makes one hell of a defensive coordinator. He still seems to accept overall responsibility for the whole team only grudgingly.
Don’t expect the Jets to beat the Steelers this Sunday. I certainly don’t. I’ll bet the Steelers don’t either, which, come to think of it, might be the only thing working in the Jets favor. The Steelers aren’t impervious to problems either. They have their own offensive problems. The Jets chances will hinge on their ability to run the ball and Santonio Holmes, the discarded Steeler who may just love to stick it to his old team.
As for the G-Men, they really have their work cut out for them with Mike Vick and the high-flying Eagles on tap. It wasn’t a good sign that the Cowboys couldn’t run against what had been a suspect run defense before their game. If the Giants can’t get impressive numbers from the Bradshaw-Jacobs duo, it could be all over but the shouting. But if they can run, they’ll keep Vick off the field, not to mention DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy.
It always comes down to those two things, running and stopping the run, especially in December. Not even the great ones at quarterback can overcome those deficiencies consistently. And the fact that the G-Men just shut down Adrian Peterson bodes well for their chances on Sunday. But the Eagles have an offensive line that the Vikings did not.
But, and this is significant, one can expect the Giants to overcome their problems, whatever they may be. They have already dealt with the secondary, the pass rush, defending the run, and changed their offensive tactics to incorporate more running and the heavy use of the tight end.
But their resiliency has never included coaches tripping up opponents on the sidelines. You get the feeling they are rock solid in every way.
Of course, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. And Ryan may be able to salvage his situation, much as he did last year when he used red and green colors to easily direct his rookie QB in avoiding turnovers. I’m rooting for him to do it too.
But there may be only so many rabbits in his hat. And his other problem players may not be as responsive as was Mark Sanchez. You get the feeling they’ll break if you press them.
I might be firmly in the Giants corner but my heart lies with my fantasy team this weekend. My Crabs have an up-hill battle too as Drew Brees will be facing the tough Ravens, Ahmad Bradshaw has a hurt wrist, Knowshon Moreno has a new coach and Miles Austin can’t seem to get on Jon Kitna’s good side. Vernon Davis, my tight end, should continue getting good numbers. Those are my definite starters. It gets tougher after that.
Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin are really talented receivers but, with Tarvaris Jackson on the other end, things are really iffy. But Austin Collie may not play, Jahvid Best seems to never get the ball, and Tashard Choice may still be starry-eyed over Michael Vick. The usually reliable Brandon Lloyd has been decidedly less so as defenses have adapted to the Broncos long passing game.
Things will clear up by Sunday morning though. They always do. As a team, these Crabs are solid.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Getting What You Deserve
How often have you said to yourself, “he (or she) needs to have his ass kicked” when confronted with an arrogant, stupid person on the street, or in a car, or just about anywhere. You know, one of those unruly pampered brats who says and does whatever he wants with no thought given to how it might affect somebody else, good or bad but especially bad.
That’s pretty much the way I felt about the Jets drubbing by the Pats Monday night. They’re a hard bunch to feel sorry for. No team in any sport I can think of has ever deserved a sorry beating more than these 2010-2011 Jets.
So they got what they deserved. And Tom Brady seemed to think so too. In fact, that whole Boston team seemed to buy in. Whether it was their offensive line, or their little Jets-rejected running back, Danny Woodhead, either of their two tight ends, the fast one and the really fast one, or heck, just about everybody on that team.
They turned the tables on the Jets. They did what they wanted whenever they wanted. They kicked the Jets ass….in every way you could ever think of.
It was totally predictable too. Even though the Pats were only 3 ½ point favorites going into the game, any informed observer would or should have taken note of the fact that the Jets had just lost their defensive captain and leader, safety Jim Leonhard, and remember what happened to our Giants when Antonio Pierce went down?
Sometimes, it’s always the least likely guys who really make all the difference. Only a couple of analysts even took note of Leonhard’s absence. After all, he’s not that talented, right?
The Jets were flustered clearly, starting with QB Mark Sanchez. On at least one pass, he didn’t even bother to check the coverage. Braylon Edwards dropped his first two passes, not that he needs to be flustered to do that. Then it just seemed that all the guys in the red and blue had super powers.
Brady, Welker, Woodhead, Aaron Hernandez, Gronkowski, oh hell, just everybody from Boston was kickin’ Jet butt. It must’ve been so much fun.
It’s just one game though, no matter how bad the Jets stunk it up. It’s an emotional game and the Jets were beaten soundly last night even before the opening coin flip.
How many teams from week to week have been proclaimed the best team in the NFL? I know the Giants were. So were the Jets. But that also goes for Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Baltimore and…well, you get the idea. The Chargers looked great there for a while too before absolutely smelling up the airwaves versus the Raiders.
So the Jets will live to see another day. But their defense especially must improve. They need desperately to figure out their coverage, without Jim Leonhard being on the field. Sanchez needs to settle down and his receivers need to catch the ball. Their kicking game needs to improve dramatically. And they must run the ball.
If they can’t recover immediately against Miami, their wildcard spot will be in jeopardy as, after the Fish, it’ll be Pittsburgh at their place and the Bears in Chicago. If their record is only 9-6 going into Buffalo for the final regular-season game, it could be all over but the shouting. They need to finish 10-6 to my mind to secure the final wildcard. Either Pittsburgh or Baltimore, Jacksonville or Indianapolis will be right up there with them at 10-6.
A 180 degree different team than the brash Jets are the Giants. They have exceeded my expectations in the last couple of weeks particularly, defeating Jacksonville and then Washington handily, despite the loss of their top two receivers and all kinds of people on the offensive line. They too have gotten what they deserved but in a totally different way than the Jets.
And they absolutely needed those victories too. The Giants must face the Vikings, the Eagles and the Packers before once again facing Washington in the final game. Any of those first three teams is capable of beating the Giants, especially the Eagles and Vick and Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers.
There are at least eight teams vying for the 6-team playoff spots in the NFC and all of them might in truth be better than the Giants, especially in their injury-riddled configuration. For now, this tight-end and running back oriented offense seems to be working, especially since their defense has dominated when it has had to.
But all you can ask as a sports fan is that your team will be competitive deep into the season. Both our local football teams have certainly been that, and, barring a total collapse, an unlikely event even for the Jets coming off the worst beating of their lives, they should keep us interested until well into the New Year.
For Mets fans, who have had their post-season hopes dashed right around the middle of July the last few years, the “hot stove” portion of our baseball year has been a vacuum, which is almost a blessing for fans who have been mostly disappointed by the free-agent acquisitions of our past.
Sometimes doing nothing looks pretty good, although I wouldn’t at all mind trading some high-end butts right outta here, beginning with Jason Bay and Carlos Beltran. But if the 2011 season started with the same butts in the dugout as in 2010, it wouldn’t be too terrible. An outfield of Bay, a healthy Beltran and Pagan, and an infield of Wright, Reyes, and the two rookies on the right hand side could be very interesting.
Of course the Yankees are a different story. Their fans’ expectations never end. The Yanks relative inactivity thus far, except for the re-signings of Jeter and Mariano, has got to be disappointing. Cliff Lee is the foremost target and the Yanks are just biding their time, awaiting Lee’s other offers to come in before putting their money on the table, a really clever thing, although I hate to give them the credit.
For the most part, all these sports teams get what they deserve in the end, except in cases of a ridiculous number of injuries, something the Giants seem to have overcome for now.
Let’s hope the Jets can learn to deserve something other than an ass-kicking.
And rest in peace, Dandy Don........
That’s pretty much the way I felt about the Jets drubbing by the Pats Monday night. They’re a hard bunch to feel sorry for. No team in any sport I can think of has ever deserved a sorry beating more than these 2010-2011 Jets.
So they got what they deserved. And Tom Brady seemed to think so too. In fact, that whole Boston team seemed to buy in. Whether it was their offensive line, or their little Jets-rejected running back, Danny Woodhead, either of their two tight ends, the fast one and the really fast one, or heck, just about everybody on that team.
They turned the tables on the Jets. They did what they wanted whenever they wanted. They kicked the Jets ass….in every way you could ever think of.
It was totally predictable too. Even though the Pats were only 3 ½ point favorites going into the game, any informed observer would or should have taken note of the fact that the Jets had just lost their defensive captain and leader, safety Jim Leonhard, and remember what happened to our Giants when Antonio Pierce went down?
Sometimes, it’s always the least likely guys who really make all the difference. Only a couple of analysts even took note of Leonhard’s absence. After all, he’s not that talented, right?
The Jets were flustered clearly, starting with QB Mark Sanchez. On at least one pass, he didn’t even bother to check the coverage. Braylon Edwards dropped his first two passes, not that he needs to be flustered to do that. Then it just seemed that all the guys in the red and blue had super powers.
Brady, Welker, Woodhead, Aaron Hernandez, Gronkowski, oh hell, just everybody from Boston was kickin’ Jet butt. It must’ve been so much fun.
It’s just one game though, no matter how bad the Jets stunk it up. It’s an emotional game and the Jets were beaten soundly last night even before the opening coin flip.
How many teams from week to week have been proclaimed the best team in the NFL? I know the Giants were. So were the Jets. But that also goes for Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Baltimore and…well, you get the idea. The Chargers looked great there for a while too before absolutely smelling up the airwaves versus the Raiders.
So the Jets will live to see another day. But their defense especially must improve. They need desperately to figure out their coverage, without Jim Leonhard being on the field. Sanchez needs to settle down and his receivers need to catch the ball. Their kicking game needs to improve dramatically. And they must run the ball.
If they can’t recover immediately against Miami, their wildcard spot will be in jeopardy as, after the Fish, it’ll be Pittsburgh at their place and the Bears in Chicago. If their record is only 9-6 going into Buffalo for the final regular-season game, it could be all over but the shouting. They need to finish 10-6 to my mind to secure the final wildcard. Either Pittsburgh or Baltimore, Jacksonville or Indianapolis will be right up there with them at 10-6.
A 180 degree different team than the brash Jets are the Giants. They have exceeded my expectations in the last couple of weeks particularly, defeating Jacksonville and then Washington handily, despite the loss of their top two receivers and all kinds of people on the offensive line. They too have gotten what they deserved but in a totally different way than the Jets.
And they absolutely needed those victories too. The Giants must face the Vikings, the Eagles and the Packers before once again facing Washington in the final game. Any of those first three teams is capable of beating the Giants, especially the Eagles and Vick and Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers.
There are at least eight teams vying for the 6-team playoff spots in the NFC and all of them might in truth be better than the Giants, especially in their injury-riddled configuration. For now, this tight-end and running back oriented offense seems to be working, especially since their defense has dominated when it has had to.
But all you can ask as a sports fan is that your team will be competitive deep into the season. Both our local football teams have certainly been that, and, barring a total collapse, an unlikely event even for the Jets coming off the worst beating of their lives, they should keep us interested until well into the New Year.
For Mets fans, who have had their post-season hopes dashed right around the middle of July the last few years, the “hot stove” portion of our baseball year has been a vacuum, which is almost a blessing for fans who have been mostly disappointed by the free-agent acquisitions of our past.
Sometimes doing nothing looks pretty good, although I wouldn’t at all mind trading some high-end butts right outta here, beginning with Jason Bay and Carlos Beltran. But if the 2011 season started with the same butts in the dugout as in 2010, it wouldn’t be too terrible. An outfield of Bay, a healthy Beltran and Pagan, and an infield of Wright, Reyes, and the two rookies on the right hand side could be very interesting.
Of course the Yankees are a different story. Their fans’ expectations never end. The Yanks relative inactivity thus far, except for the re-signings of Jeter and Mariano, has got to be disappointing. Cliff Lee is the foremost target and the Yanks are just biding their time, awaiting Lee’s other offers to come in before putting their money on the table, a really clever thing, although I hate to give them the credit.
For the most part, all these sports teams get what they deserve in the end, except in cases of a ridiculous number of injuries, something the Giants seem to have overcome for now.
Let’s hope the Jets can learn to deserve something other than an ass-kicking.
And rest in peace, Dandy Don........
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