Jun 21
AndrewSports Football, Giants, Jets
I have always had a soft-spot in my football heart for my two favorite teams from New York. So I put them into a head-to-head match-up in five categories to see who has the stronger position at this point in the NFL off-season.
Category 1: Last Season (where they left off)
The New York Giants finished the 2006 season at .500 but because of the low ambitions of other NFC teams, made it into the playoffs. Though they lost to Philadelphia by only 3 points, the score doesn’t really illustrate how thoroughly the Giants were outplayed by one man: Jeff Garcia. With an efficiency that was terrifying to the Giants and McNabb fans alike, Garcia was the catalyst for the Giants dismantling.
The Jets surprised everyone with a 10 and 6 record on the season, and there was talk that former protégé Eric Mangini was planning a takedown of his mentor Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots in the wild-card game. Dream on. The Patriots may not have been last season’s dream team but they continued to play meticulous football. The Jets needed touchdowns to win the game, and they managed only one, on a 77-yard pass to Jericho Cotchery in the second quarter.
Advantage: Jets (barely)
Category 2: Quarterback
The big story for both starting quarterbacks is potential. But somehow, neither has quite achieved to their peak. For Giants quarterback Eli Manning, last season was forgettable. He was inconsistent from game to game with a quarterback rating as high was 111.7 to as low as 41.3 in a wicked loss to New Orleans where he only completed 9 passes in 25 attempts. In half the games in 2006, Manning threw as many or more interceptions than he threw touchdowns. By the end of the season, Manning looked lost and out of control.
But, he is only heading into his fourth season, and he’s a Manning. He’s got the arm, got the pedigree, and if wasn’t playing in New York, he would be given some breathing room to mature.
New York Jets quarterback Chad Pennington actually managed a decent statistical season coming off of the 2005 season where he only played 3 games because of a shoulder injury. Pennington’s strength has always been his passing accuracy, and never was that more evident than during the 2006 season. He had career highs in passing yardage (3,352) and completions (313, 64.5% of his attempts). But it’s notable that 2006 was also the first season where Pennington played all 16 regular season games.
Though Pennington is susceptible to injuries, heading into his eighth season, he should be at his peak right now.
Advantage: Jets
Category 3: Running back
Tiki Barber is gone. But the Giants have two serviceable options in Reuben Droughns and Brandon Jacobs. It’s hard not to lament the loss of Barber, who was a force of nature last season rushing for 1,662 yards, including a 50-yard run in the last game of the season against the Washington Redskins that sealed the win for the Giants.
Droughns can be effective, but he was sloppy last season in Cleveland, coughing up more fumbles than carrying touchdowns. In New York, he’ll split his carries with Jacobs, who still has yet to prove he’s a franchise running back. Between the two of them, they might be able to replace Barber’s production, but not his football acumen nor his finesse.
The Jets are expected to play without Curtis Martin who has been sidelined with a knee injury since December 2005. Martin sat out the 2006 season, and is not expected to play again after restructuring his contract for the league minimum and voiding the final two years of his contract.
But the Jets managed to pick up Thomas Jones in the off-season and that is more than enough to make up for any deficiencies at the position. Jones played for the Chicago Bears last season, rushing for 1210 yards, and he’s expected to be a stable force on the Jets team. The Jets desperately need some rushing help. Leon Washington was just okay last season, but got stuffed in the playoff game against the Patriots.
Advantage: Jets
Category 4: Coaching
Tom Coughlin received a lot of criticism for the Giants second-half collapse in 2006. Uncharacteristically for a Coughlin team, the Giants kept turning the ball over, and racked up penalties to the tune of 101 penalties for 881 yards on the season. To a lot of observers, the players’ lack of discipline on the field meant that Coughlin had lost control of the team. Ownership kept Coughlin as head coach, but high expectations from the team, and the fact that they play in New York suggests that Coughlin might be on a short leash.
Eric Mangini took over the Jets last year and made them instantly relevant, becoming one of four Jet head coaches with a winning record in his rookie season. Mangini needs a healthy quarterback to keep the Jets in the hunt for a title, but all signs from here look good for another winning season.
Advantage: Jets
Category 5: Defense
The Giants defense against the pass was weak last season, and it reflected in many of their defensive statistics. In the off-season, the Giants hired Steve Spagnuolo as defensive coordinator, and moved Mathias Kiwanuka to strongside linebacker with the hope of pairing him with Michael Strahan on the same side against the pass rush. Strahan and middle linebacker Antonio Pierce are solid veteran players but under Spagnuolo, the defense has yet to completely gel.
The Jets head coach Eric Mangini was defensive coordinator to Bill Belichick, and the team brought him in with the hopes of sparking their defense in 2006. But it took all the way beyond the bye week to see any significant defensive developments after they installed a 3-4 defense under Mangini. Their weakest point consistently all season was in tackling. While every defensive player should feel more comfortable in the scheme this season, expect linebacker Jonathan Vilma to have a standout year after his stats were down in 2006.
Advantage: Jets
The first week of the season is still over two months away, so there is plenty of time for the balance of power between New York’s two pro football teams to shift. But from my view from the cheap seats, the Jets have the better outlook.
Apr 28
AndrewSports Draft, Football
The NFL draft is today. As a hardcore football fan, I am planning on giving the draft about an hour, or maybe through the top 10 picks as it goes -- it’s sixty degrees outside and only the second warm weekend we have had this year. There are certain immutable truths when it comes to draft day that allow me the luxury of watching the pre-draft analysis, an hour or two, and leaving the rest to the Monday papers.
For one, though the Patriots have a long wait (No. 24) for their first pick, I know whoever they choose will be an impact player. Then, there is the drama of the Detroit Lions, who are all but certain to draft Calvin Johnson at No. 2 as the best player on the board that they don’t need. I also plan to watch to see whether the Washington Redskins will pick their draft choice like a fantasy team, or like a pro football team (and maybe it doesn’t matter since they only have one pick in the first four rounds.)
And the Houston Texans fans aren’t even watching. Nothing the Texans do in the draft will lift them out of mediocrity if they can’t fix their offensive line -- no offense to Ahman Green who is still a great pick-up for the Texans even at 30-years-old and banged up.
The major storyline of this year’s draft is character issues. Roger Goodell, Commissioner of the National Football League, challenged teams to be more accountable of the off-field behavior of their players by suspending Tennessee Titans cornerback Pacman Jones for the season for a string off-field questionable behavior. He also suspended Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry for 8 games because of character issues. Goodell’s personal conduct policy, whether you agree with it or not, has had a ripple effect in how teams evaluate prospects. How do you account for a player like Eric Wright, a UNLV cornerback, who was arrested on a rape charge (the charges were later dropped)? Or DeMarcus Tyler, a North Carolina State defensive tackle, who was arrested last year for assaulting a police officer?
To a fan, the answers are pretty easy. Fans have short memories. We condemn player behavior while our team is losing, and we forgive a whole hell of a lot when our team is winning anyway. As long as a player’s off-field behavior doesn’t boil over on to the field, players get a lot of slack. But from a fan’s perspective, there is also very little gray when it comes to players’ conduct. Behavior is a black and white issue.
Teams don’t have the luxury of thinking that way. They have to evaluate on a player’s current skill level and potential, a player’s fit within the team’s system, and now more than ever, a player’s off-field conduct. There was a story going around this week that LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell, who is slated to be the top QB pick in the draft, had been followed by a private investigator hired by some NFL organization. Russell coolly shrugged off the report, saying he wasn’t worried about his behavior in the weeks leading up to the draft. He sounded really grounded in his interviews, something I really appreciate in a prospect, and teams must too.
By the time you read this article, the draft will be over and we will have a better idea of which teams managed to improve their stock and pump up their fans that maybe this is the year…
Notes from the Cheap Seats
On the top three teams in draft order
The Oakland Raiders need to gel. A new head coach, Lane Kiffen, and a grumbling and mostly ineffective Randy Moss, and no proven franchise quarterback. They ought to pick a quarterback, which means JaMarcus Russell, despite the fact that he isn’t purely the best player available. The x-factor for Raiders has always been owner Al Davis, who has tight control over his franchise and is reportedly still smarting from not taking Matt Leinart in last year’s draft.
But more than anything, the Raiders need a flashy pick, something to infuse a spark into the team and the fan base. That means a quarterback and that also means JaMarcus Russell.
What can the Detroit Lions do to turn things around? The woes of the Lions under team president Matt Millen are so numerous, and so awful, that isn’t even worth recounting. Maybe the real question is, what will the Detroit Lions do that won’t make things worse?
I jokingly said earlier that the Lions were sure to take Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson because he’s the best player on the board. But because of their past draft decisions -- three wide receivers in four years -- at what point is it really just piling on past mistakes? You could argue that Johnson is a better skill player than the three past draft choices, but at some point, doesn’t Detroit need to address a whole host of concerns at other positions?
The bottom line for Detroit is that they also need a huge confidence boost, and that means using the 2nd overall pick and not trading it, and that means Johnson since he’s the best available (and, it won’t make things worse.)
The Cleveland Browns have been virtually invisible in the league in part because of a string of losing years, and because they play in the AFC North. As an organization, they have been overshadowed by Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and last season’s division winner the Baltimore Ravens.
The Browns brought in Romeo Crennel to overhaul the organization, and he was arguably unable to do that in first two seasons as head coach. The Browns have to find a way to overhaul the perception of the team, and that is usually done with a solid first round draft pick. But for this franchise, it isn’t enough just to draft on perception because the team has so many needs that whomever they select has a real chance of being a starter in 2007. That means they would be better to draft on skill, not flash.
Dec 26
AndrewSports Dolphins, Football, Jets, Miami, MNF
Despite top billing by ESPN for the last game of the season of Monday Night Football, the New York Jets win over the Miami Dolphins was excrutiating to watch. After a sloppy first half where both teams failed to score, the offense game came alive (term used loosely) to make the game marginally competitive.
Yes, it was raining. And yes, the Dolphins had already been eliminated from playoff contention and could only play the role of spoiler for the Jets, who needed a win tonight plus a win on Sunday to get a playoff spot. And yes, Dolphins head coach Nick Saban has been steadfastly denying for weeks that he is jumping ship to coach at the college level.
But 18 punts, and the first field goal was not until 12:35 in the third quarter -- and neither team scored again until the fourth quarter -- there was nothing to cheer for.
Things livened up with a Randy McMichael touchdown reception from Dolphins third string quarterback Cleo Lemon (did his parents write commercials for Palmolive?) and the Jets made it game with touchdown of their own with 6:56 left in the game.
In one single play, the game was decided in favor the Jets. Jets quarterback Chad Pennington tossed a short pass to running back Leon Washington, who streaked down the field for 64 yards, setting up a Mike Nugent 30-yard field goal that snapped the stalemate and put the Jets one win away from the playoffs.
New York Jets 13, Miami 10 (Final)
Dec 11
AndrewHumor, Politics and Nation, Sports Barack Obama, Football, MNF
Illinois Senator Barack Obama pulled a spoof on Monday Night Football, pretending to announce his candidacy for President when in fact, he was simply "ready for the Bears to make it all the way to the Super Bowl."
Obama appeared at the start of the MNF broadcast in an office and claimed to be ready to settle a weighty national matter right then. He put on the team cap for the Chicago Bears and gave his own twist on the Monday Night Football popular phrase, "Are You Ready for Some Football?"
The Bears enter the game with a 10 -- 2 record and have clinched the NFC North division title. However, their quarterback Rex Grossman has been under fire in recent games for his sloppy play and poor decision-making. In the last seven games, Grossman has turned over the ball 18 times and in one game recorded a 1.3 quarterback rating.
Oct 24
AndrewBusiness, Sports Football, NFL
The National Football League has approved one or two regular seasons games to be played outside the United States each season beginning next year.
The NFL offered a trial game in Mexico City during the 2005 season, a game that featured the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers. In part because both teams were facing losing seasons, staging the game out of the country was seen to have minimal impact on the teams’ standings.
The concern has always been the possible disadvantage to the team who has to give up a regular season home game. The hometown crowd is considered a distinct advantage for most teams in terms of emotional support and certainly in terms of overall revenue for the season.
The current proposal calls for each team in the league to play outside the country twice in a 16 year period, once as the home team and once as the visiting team. Additionally, the NFL will continue to schedule pre-season games overseas.
Oct 17
AndrewSports Bears, Cardinals, Football, NFL
The Chicago Bears were undefeated going into tonight’s Monday Night Football game. The Arizona Cardinals marched into the game with a record of 1 and 4, and promptly marched right over the Chicago Bears in the first half. It was stunning, unexpected and unpredictable. Arizona had hoped for a turn around of fortunes and installed rookie Matt Leinart (Heisman Trophy Winner, played for USC during their record 19-game winning streak) as their starting quarterback last week.
There were moments where the game could go either way. The Cardinals had three Bears’ turnovers to capitalize on in the first half, and only managed two field goals. They could easily have made it a four-possession game before the Bears even scored, and probably could have used every point to secure their confidence. To put it mildly, this was not a team with a history of success.
The second half was a better story for Chicago. Tackle Mark Anderson knocked the ball from Leinart’s hands with :08 seconds left on the third quarter, and Mike Brown picked it up for the touchdown. Chicago got possession of the ball with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, needing two touchdowns to steal the game back from the Cardinals.
The Chicago Bears came into the game undefeated this season. They flirted with respectability last season, but emerged this year as solid team on both sides of the ball under coach Lovie Smith. Quarterback Rex Grossman came back from successive injuries to lead the offense with solid play and a rocket throwing arm.
In the fourth quarter, unbelievably, Bears quarterback Rex Grossman gave up the ball again. His third interception of the game. And then, unbelievably, Bears quarterback Rex Grossman gave up the ball again. His fourth interception of the game. Bad decisions, turnovers, and lack of composure killed the Bears. But still not out of the game with five minutes to go as the Bears scored another defensive touchdown.
The Cardinals sole goal with three and a half minutes left was to extend the drive long enough to kill the clock. That didn’t work, spectacularly, as Bears punt returner Devin Hester carried the punt back for another touchdown, tying the score before the extra point. The Bears launched an unbelievable comeback down from twenty points, and now the Cards had a little less than three minutes to drive down the field and score, hopefully without leaving any time on the clock to give the Bears hope.
It looked good on the last drive. The Cardinals’ game hinged on Matt Leinart’s composure from start to finish. He came through, but his kicker shanked the field goal with one minute to go, giving the ball back to the Bears to run out the clock. A completely devasting ending for Arizona.
Bears 24, Cardinals 23 (Final)
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