After a come-from-ahead 21-20 loss to San Diego, the Giants still have only one impressive win this season. Four of their five wins have come against league doormats. Other than a Week 2 victory over Dallas, what have the Giants done to inspire confidence?
The last time the Chargers came to New York the result was the infamous “Snowball Game”. While there is no snow in the forecast, Giants fans are in an ugly mood, thanks to a three-game losing streak. In many ways this team is facing its first real crisis point since Week 15 in 2007 when they had to beat the Bills to make the playoffs.
Miami knocked the Jets from the playoffs in Week 17 last season and delivered a 31-27 defeat in South Florida earlier this season. So the Jets, who finally ended a three-game last week against the lowly Raiders, have some extra motivation against the Dolphins at the Meadowlands.
The Giants are at a big point in their season. After a 5-0 start, built mostly against inferior teams, they have lost two straight to good teams. Now, they have to head down to Philadelphia for a game with the Eagles, the team that knocked them out of the playoffs at home last year. A win would restore confidence that New York is a playoff-caliber team while a loss, and the upcoming schedule, would threaten to send the team into a spiral. So the stakes are high and when you add in the fact that the Philadelphia crowd will be in a New York-hating frenzy, this should be a very good game.
The Yankees are headed to their 40th World Series. Johnny Damon had the big hit, a two-run single that put New York up 2-1 in the fourth. A-Rod forced in a run with a walk and that gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead heading into the fifth. Andy Pettitte made that stand up, holding the Angels to one run over 6-1/3 and Joba Chamberlain closed out the seventh to keep the lead at two. Joe Girardi went for the kill, calling Mariano Rivera into the game to start the eighth, but Rivera allowed a run in that frame to put the Angels only one run behind.
The Giants will try and right the ship after last week’s humiliation at the hands of the Saints when they face the defending NFC champs, Arizona, on Sunday night. Arizona has a dangerous passing game, with three very good wide receivers in Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Bolden and Steve Breaston, but there running game has been mediocre at best. That should allow the Giants to put more defenders into coverage and hopefully, get C.C. Brown the help he needs
What has happened to the Jets? Three straight wins to open the season had them flying high, but now three consecutive losses, including one to the lowly Bills at home, has the Mark Sanchez Messiah Watch on hold. And make no mistake, Sanchez has been to blame for two of the three losses. His turnovers cost the Jets against the Saints -- they led to two return touchdowns -- and he had a five-interception meltdown in last week's 16-13 overtime loss to the Bills.
The Giants were shellacked by the New Orleans Saints, with the Saints winning 48-27, while the Jets were terrible, losing to a bad Buffalo team in overtime, final score 16-13.
The Giants have spent the last three weeks feasting on the dregs of the NFL. Sunday things will get much harder as they head to New Orleans for a battle with the undefeated Saints. The game marks a homecoming for Eli Manning, who grew up in the area, but has never played in the Superdome. It will also be the first meeting between the Giants and their former star, Jeremy Shockey. Shockey has always been an emotional player and you can expect him to be really amped up on Sunday.
This might be music to the Reverend Al Sharpton's ears: ESPN reports, "Rush Limbaugh is expected to be dropped from a group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams, according to three NFL sources."
When Rex Ryan took over as Jets coach, his first big splash came in a verbal sparring match with Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder. Entering the teams' Week 5 matchup on Monday night, the Jets (3-1) have a distinct edge over the Dolphins (1-3), who have already lost quarterback Chad Pennington for the season.
If you are looking for the classic definition of a “trap game” this is it. The 4-0 Giants return home, after three-straight road wins, to play the lowly Oakland Raiders before heading on the road to face 4-0 New Orleans.
The Giants are 3-0 and getting healthier as they head to Kansas City this week. Justin Tuck played a few snaps last week and he should be able to contribute more this week. Domenik Hixon, Hakeem Nicks and Kevin Dockery all should make it back on the field against the Chiefs and Ahmad Bradshaw seems to have overcome his foot injury.
Banking on the allure of New York City during the Holidays and forgetting the history of the Gotham Bowl, the Yankees announced a new bowl game this morning to be played at Yankee Stadium in 2010. The game, which will be named after a yet to be determined sponsor, will take place between Christmas and New Year’s Day, assuming the NCAA approves the game next April. The Big East and Big XII conferences will each send a team with the Big East sending it’s fourth-place squad and the Big XII sending it seventh-place squad. Under college football rules, teams must have six wins to be eligible to play in a bowl. If one of the conferences does not have a qualifying team, Notre Dame has agreed to play in the bowl, provided they are not eligible for a BCS game.
Another Twitter oops, this time in the world of professional sports: Jets receiver David Clowney was benched during the team's victory over Tennessee because he Tweet-complained about his playing time in the previous win over the Patriots: "1 play in the 1st Half, 4 plays in the 2nd half ... A bit disappointed about my playing time but very happy and satisfied about the win."
Canine-owning football fans need not worry about how they'll watch their precious games out-of-the-house anymore! The Daily News reports that a doggy day care center in Greenpoint has a special package this football season, allowing owners to drop off their dogs so they can watch the games gult-free. Rob Maher, the 31-year-old co-owner of Unleash Brooklyn, told the paper, "People may want to go out to a bar, but they feel like they're neglecting [their dogs]. They're happy to drop them off with us so they can play with other dogs."
Despite the rain, it was a perfect Sunday in New York- if you are a sports fan. Let’s start with the Yankees who completed their sweep of the Red Sox by winning 4-2 and clinched the AL East and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Yankees will have a week to prepare for the opening of the playoffs where they will face either Detroit or Minnesota.
The Giants are having a hard time getting healthy, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Justin Tuck, Kevin Dockery, Aaron Ross and Chris Canty are all expected to miss the game on Sunday. Kenny Phillips has been placed on Injured Reserve, which means his season is over, so the defense will be thin again, especially in the secondary.
Rex Ryan has now coached the Jets for two games and his defense has yet to give up a touchdown. Tom Brady could not find his way into the end zone this afternoon and the Jets stunned New England with a 16-9 upset at the Meadowlands, backing up their big talk all week.
The Jets finally finished with Brett Favre this week when they were assessed a fine of $75,000 for not placing him on the injury report last season as required by NFL rules. The only reason this issue ever came to light was Brett Favre decided to tell everyone he was really hurt last season and that was the reason he played so poorly down the stretch.
The Giants will head down to Dallas on Sunday to open the new home of the Cowboys with a crowd of over 100,000 expected. Between the crowd and the opponent, this was already a very tough game, but several big injuries have made it even harder. Chris Canty, the defensive lineman signed from the Cowboys this offseason, will not play. Aaron Ross will most likely join him on the sidelines and Kenny Phillips and Kevin Dockery might be there as well, creating a huge void in the secondary.
A Jets beatdown of the Texans, a Patriots escape against the Bills and Rex Ryan's new attitude have the Jets in a chipper mood as they prepare to face the Patriots at home Sunday. Kerry Rhodes, who said the Jets wanted to "embarrass," not simply beat, the Patriots, is especially excited for the game. As if this rivalry needed any more juice.
A Maspeth-based youth football organization, the Queens Falcons, is suing the Parks Dept. to let them keep playing at Juniper Valley Park in Middle Village, where the team has been playing for over 20 years. The Parks. Dept. kicked them off because they were worried the constant activity would ruin the grass, and have instead suggested that they play on an artificial football field made of rubber pellets recycled from old tires. But coach Tim Cavanaugh is willing to fight for his team. He tells the Daily News "so what if you've got some dead grass on a field. What they're doing is totally wrong. Parks are not trophies." He's also worried about the content of the artificial field, which is apparently made from the "same tires that gather petroleum, chemicals and toxins from the road." The Parks Dept., however, claims that the field was meant to be used for baseball, and the only football fields at their disposal would be artificial. Whatever the outcome, it will at least be a good civics lesson for the players. Remember, kids, football is 80% mental and 40% physical.
The NFL showed again this week that they don’t get it. In the midst of the worst recession in decades, the NFL is stubbornly sticking to its policy of blacking out home games in areas where they don’t sell all the tickets. But generously, the NFL will allow fans who have a game blacked out to watch the game online, AFTER midnight- are you excited yet?
Who has more pressure? Rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez, who is guaranteed to make $28 million, or rookie head coach Rex Ryan, who's been nothing short of outspoken since taking the job? Probably Sanchez, who has become a bit of a New York icon before playing a regular-season snap. Rookie quarterbacks can succeed in the NFL — just ask Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan — but they more often fall flat on their faces.
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
tweet this
add to facebook
