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........