The game is still a week away, but the verbal sparring has begun. Plaxico Burress fired the first shot this week when he said about the Giants’ wide receivers that, "We have guys that can go out and do things just as well or maybe better than some of those guys.” The Patriots have refused to take the bait with Rodney Harrison simply talking about seeing what happens on the field while Ellis Hobbs noted......

Last week, Brett Favre was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. This week, Eli Manning graces the cover of the magazine. If you believe the S.I. cover curse/jinx, then the Giants may be in trouble. In the magazine, Peter King gives the Giants-Packers game the cover story treatment, while Dr. Z decides to pick the Giants to make up for picking against the Jets in Super Bowl III. We're not sure if Manning believes in......

Is he hurt or isn’t he? That is the question after Tom Brady was spotted walking without a boot on his foot a day after being seen with one. Sources say that Brady is suffering from a mild high ankle sprain and will not have any problem playing in the Super Bowl. It should be noted that Plaxico Burress has had the same injury all season and has managed to play through it. Perhaps the......

The Patriots and Jets didn't have the worst weather in the league Sunday, but they still had plenty to complain about. Rain and wind didn't stay the Patriots from improving to 14-0 with a 20-10 win over the Jets in Foxborough, Mass.. It did help the Jets keep the game close and easily cover the record 27-point spread, for those who care about those things. Kellen Clemens' early interception, returned for what WEPN's Bob......

The spread opened at 27 points. It's recently settled at 24 1/2 points, which, if held, would be the largest ever for an NFL game. More went into that spread than a terrible team playing an unbeaten one on the road. The Patriots have been running up the score on opponents all year, and everyone thinks they're doing it to teach the league a lesson after it was exposed -- on the word of jets......

With the Jets 3-10, the best thing that can be said about them is that they're still playing hard. They seemed insulted that people thought the Dolphins could beat them last week, and, despite playing in front of empty seats in a heavy rain Sunday, the Jets fought back before losing to the Browns, 24-18. Kellen Clemens scored the Jets' only touchdown with his quarterback sneak in the fourth quarter, but his inconsistent play and......

As the Jets look ahed to their game Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, they may be hoping that's where they are in a season or two. Cleveland, like the Jets, is coached by a former defensive protege of Patriots Coach Bill Belichick. Romeo Crennell had a rough go of it during the first few seasons, but he now has an offense filled with playmakers like Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow and run by an unheralded......

After not smiling on the Jets for the first two weeks of the season, the schedule gods dealt an easier hand for Weeks 3 and 4. First came the Dolphins at home, and the Jets cashed in for their first win of the season. Next is a game at Buffalo against the 0-3 Bills. If there is an adjective to describe this game stronger than "winnable" in NFL jargon, it should be applied. "Gimme" works.......

Blue Jays 2, Yankees 1: Ian Kennedy would have signed up for one hit allowed in seven innings. The hit was a run-scoring double -- on a ball that Melky Cabrera should have caught.Too bad A.J. Burnett looked just as sharp while holding the Yankees to only a Johnny Damon solo homer. Then Chris Britton allowed a a run-scoring single in the ninth, and a seven-game winning streak went up in smoke. With Phil Hughes......

If you're following football, you may have heard that the New England Patriots were caught cheating during Sunday's game against the Jets. They're accused of videotaping Jets coaches as they sent plays into their defense using hand signals. Maybe that's one reason the Jets got trounced, 38-14 to open the season. The use of video is against NFL league rules, and a league spokesman told ESPN, "The rule is that no video recording devices of......

Yankees 9 Toronto 2: Alex Rodriguez didn’t hit a home run, ending his streak at five-straight games. He did manage two hits, but it was some other Yankees that shouldered the offensive load for a change. Johnny Damon had a great game, going 3-for-5 and making an outstanding catch. Jason Giambi woke his slumbering bat with a grand slam and Jorge Posada added two hits and a home run. Phil Hughes did just enough and......

Not only has New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick won the Super Bowl three times, he's also smart enough to invest in some Park Slope real estate. The "Mad Genius" (okay, only when he's playing against Jets coach Eric "Man Genius" Mangini) bought a $2.2 million townhouse on Sixth Street and is allegedly renting it out to his mistress. And by rent, we mean, Sharon Shenocca says she's renting it, but it's unclear whether he's......

Few teams can shrug off a playoff loss to a bitter rival and immediately accept their season as a success. The Jets may not be able to do that in the wake of their 37-16 loss to the Patriots in an AFC wild-card playoff Sunday, but they have no reason to hang their heads. New York entered this game knowing as an overmatched squad, but it still made New England sweat before being buried......

Beneath the tired storyline of the alleged feud between coaches Eric Mangini and Bill Belichick will be a strategic matchup that will decide the Patriots-Jets wild-card playoff on Sunday. The media cannot get enough of the abbreviated handshake -- some would call it a blow by -- shared by the two men when the Jets downed the Patriots, 17-14, on Nov. 12. The Patriots won the season's first meeting when they held off the......

Patriots head coach and former Jets defensive coordinator Bill Belichick's resume has few black marks, but his five-year tenure as head coach of the Cleveland Browns is -- fair or not -- the largest one. He had only one winning season there (1994) and was let go a year later. He won't be directly involved in Sunday's game between the Jets and the Browns, but his imprint on the teams' head coaches is large. Cleveland's......

After the Jets' surprising Week 1 win over the Titans, they return home to face the rival Patriots. Only a lack of mutual success has kept this rivalry from blossoming more over the years. Each franchise has poached a coach from the other (Bill Parcells taken by the Jets; Bill Belichick taken by the Patriots), the teams are from New York and Boston, the current Jets coach, Eric Mangini, was a longtime Patriots assistant, and,......

The short answer is: not much. With a new coaching staff and an oft-injured quarterback, the Jets will keep the pain in growing pains. Their offense includes more holes than the defense, so if improvement comes under first-year head coach Eric Mangini, it will come on that side of the ball. But in a division including two playoff-caliber teams in New England and Miami, the Jets may find it hard to show progress this......

The youth movement with the Jets continued yesterday as they named the 36 year-old Mike Tannenbaum as their general manager. With head coach Eric Mangini, 35, the two will form the youngest coach/GM combination in the NFL. The Redskins and Chargers could have 10 year olds as their GMs and still be older than the Jets pair. Tannenbaum, who was the senior vice president for football operations and assistant general manager, takes over for Terry......

It's the dawn of a new era as the Jets are expected to announce the hiring of New England defensive coordinator Eric Mangini as the 15th head coach in franchise history, ESPN.com first reported last night. The first three things that standout about Mangini are: his age, (now the youngest coach in the NFL, turning 35 on Thursday), his prior tenure with the Jets (1997-99 as a defensive assistant under Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells)......

With Herman Edwards having left for Kansas City (and a substantial raise) and the Jets saying they allowed him to go, Gang Green is left looking for a new head coach. The list of names confirmed as serious candidates for the Jets position is growing: New England Patriots defensive coordinator and Bill Belichick disciple Eric Mangini, former Saints coach Jim Haslett, Rams interim head coach Joe Vitt and the Jets' own coordinators Donnie Henderson and......

When the NFL first released its 2005 schedule, someone somewhere was happy at the prospect of seeing the defending champion New England Patriots have to play the upstart Jets twice in the season's final month - both Sunday in Foxboro, Mass. (4:15, TV: WCBS - 2, Radio: 1050 AM ESPN), and in a Dec. 26 Monday night matchup in East Rutherford. At the time, it had to look good on paper. But that was long......

Our Valentine's Day gift to you is not candy or flowers, but two new blogs. Welcome Bostonist and Seattlest! While we've had our problems with Boston, we're happy to have a blog town where you can barely understand people due to their accents. Under the watch of editors Jon Petitt and Katie Getz, coverage includes the trials of the T and football's favorite Dr. Demento, Pats coach Bill Belichick. Gothamist can't wait until baseball season......

Well, it seems like the end of the NFL season is now behind us. The Super Bowl is over with a 24-21 victory for the New England Patriots over the Philadelphia Eagles. The game was a lot closer than some people predicted, but it was a great game. It was the first Super Bowl tied after one half and after three quarters. With a touchdown at the towards the end of the game for the......