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Number 6
had a rough day but didn't prepare any notes....
While Eli had a field day against the Falcons sieve
Photo by Elsa - Getty Images
Photo
by Jim McIsaac - Getty Images |
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You can’t say it
hasn’t been entertaining. The Jets are a bad soap
opera. The Giants are just, well, I don’t really know what they are.
They beat the Falcons. That’s definitely a good thing. But, beyond
that, it’s really hard to say anything more.
But you know I will.
Even
a casual observer would have to agree that, at the very least, the Jets
are a very entertaining team. The quarterback is a nut job, the head
coach is even funnier and everybody else just tries to keep their heads
up. And that’s okay. Anybody who really expected playoffs this year was
just dreaming.
The Giants’ defense stinks. That’s really all you
can say. But, with Eli firing bullets and lobs and showing a
magnificent touch, and with his bevy of receivers seemingly open all
the time, we could really see some shootouts in our future, and that’s
not a bad thing either.
I guess that’s the biggest difference
between these two teams. The Giants play a great football game, on one
side of the ball at least, but they’re a bore off the field. The Jets
turn in stinker after stinker on the field, but they’re a barrel of
laughs off of it.
Did anybody expect the Jets to beat the
Patriots again? I know I didn’t. I did think they’d beat the spread,
which was 10 ½, a ridiculous spread, given that the Jets beat
them the
first time they played.
My mistake was that I thought they’d
attempt to cover Wes Welker. At the very least, I figured they’d harass
him coming off the line, or knock the bejeezus out of him when he
caught the ball, thus discouraging him from perpetrating any further
aerial offenses against them.
But that didn’t happen. Welker ran
here and there unmolested. When he caught the ball, which was quite
often, he either ran for big yardage or hit the ground before he could
be pummeled.
And, last but certainly not least, the rookie quarterback started bad,
came back a little, and then totally came undone.
But
that’s what Bill Belichick teams do to rookie quarterbacks. That
Sanchez somehow escaped that fate in the season’s first matchup with
New England was nothing short of miraculous. Sanchez tried to win the
game, though, and along the way, he threw a perfect long pass to
Cotchery in the end zone that brought the Jets back to within 10.
But
he started the game very badly by throwing that INT that went for a
touchdown. That’s a killer for a team to start the game in a 7-point
hole right off the bat. But he brought the team back before imploding
and, all in all, I’d rather watch him than his backup. The kid still
shows a lot of promise. He reminds me of Joe Montana in a lot of ways,
the scrambling, the arm, the demeanor….he just needs the same head, and
that will come.
Rex has promised to address his young QB’s
turnover problem personally. That’s what makes you love him. It may not
be the right thing to do but ya gotta love the attitude. Rex has taken
as many shots as has Sanchez, and he’s apparently taken them to heart.
So the Jets are a riot, if not a successful one.
The
G-Men are a playoff contender but a boring one. I still don’t think
they’ll make it to the playoffs though. Their defense won’t allow it.
When their opponent has needed to score, they have scored. That’s not a
good sign. And, while Eli was able to take advantage of the sieve of a
Falcons pass defense, I can’t imagine he’ll be able to do the same this
Thanksgiving against the Broncos.
Philip Rivers and his Chargers
did though. But they have a strong defense and a better running game.
They have LaDainian, we have Twinkletoes. They have Sproles, we have
Bradshaw. Their offensive line blocks for the run as well as the pass.
Ours blocks quite well for the passing game but the holes just aren’t
there in the running game, and even the powerful Bradshaw can’t run
through a wall.
Regular readers may wonder why I keep picking
on Jacobs. Well, aside from picking up that 4th and 1 against the Pats
in that wonder-filled Super Bowl, he’s done nothing up the middle. He
has no explosiveness whatsoever, runs high and doesn’t have that much
leg strength. What he can do is build up a head of steam and really
roll, once he gets an opening.
That’d be great if they used him
a little differently, I guess, but the Giants don’t. And they usually
have better options in Smith and Manningham, Nicks and Boss and, well,
just about anybody else….Hedgecock?
So I can’t be bullish on
this Broncos game. We won’t be seeing Simms, we’ll get their first
string of Kyle Orton, and the Broncs do have some receivers who can
hurt us, Marshall and Gaffney and Royal and a nice tight end who can
catch. The Broncs will be able to pass and they may even be able to
run. They also have some nice defenders against the passing game, aka
Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins. Hell, Ty Law is their second-string
corner.
Can our G-Men win in a shootout? I don’t think so. The
only way they win this game is if they’re able to run the ball and stop
the passing game. I don’t think they can do either. (I just deleted a
whole passage ripping Sheridan, the defensive coordinator in name only,
a new butt-hole). But who’s to blame when the defense has no clue?
Almost
everything else NFL-wise went my way though this past weekend so I’m
not complaining. My picks against the spread went 9-6, and, better yet,
my best bets were flawless and I finally won my imaginary ten bucks. I
won in both my fantasy leagues and still have a shot at the playoffs.
Not the Giants.
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