The NFL season has begun.   The strangest NFL season of my lifetime, maybe of anyone’s lifetime.  Teams playing in empty stadiums, to the sound of piped-in crowd noise.

The empty stadiums are a necessity in the midst of our pandemic, of course.   That needs to continue to keep everyone safe.

I could live without the fake crowd sounds, however.   The whole cool thing about playing before a crowd is the reactions of the fans… the roars that greet a good play by the home team, the groans and curses that greet a bad play, or a good one by the visiting team, the boos that rain down from time to time.  Trying to replace that with some guy in a booth twisting dials just adds an element phoniness we do not need.   Let them play in the quiet.

The Jets played on Sunday… and lost to the Buffalo Bills, 27-17.

The Giants played on Monday night… and lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 26-16.

But scores can be deceptive.   The Jets game was not nearly as close as the score would indicate.   The Giants game was much closer than the score would indicate.   The Jets were never in their game, not for a second.  The Bills beat them every way a team could be beaten.   Gang Green’s offense was terrible and their defense was worse.   You kind of had to expect the D to stink, since they traded away their best player (Jamal Adams) for some magic beans.  You hoped the O would be better, since this was the third year for Sam Darnold, who was drafted third overall and thought by many to be the best QB coming out of that year’s class.   Clearly he is not.   The Bills Josh Allen outplayed him from start to finish, and down in Baltimore Lamar Jackson is setting the league on fire.   The Jets could have had either, but chose Darnold instead.  More and more, that is looking like a bad decision.   An even worse decision was hiring Adam Gase as coach.  The team was not ready to play.   You can blame the coronovirus and the lack of a pre-season, sure, except the Bills had the same handicaps, and they looked just fine.    The Jets may need to clean house AGAIN.

The Giants, on the other hand, were right in the thick of the things from opening kickoff to the moment Dan Jones threw that awful interception in the end zone.  Aside from his two INTs, however, Danny Dimes looked very good.   Way way better than Darnold, though he has been in the league only half as long.   Big Blue’s defense impressed as well.   They came hard after Big Ben all night, hit hard, hung tough.  Pittsburgh stacked the line to shut down Sasquan Barclay and New York’s run game, daring Jones to beat them… and he almost did.   That 19-play drive was a thing of beauty till the end, and the bomb to Slayton was lovely to watch as well.   This was the first outing for new head coach Joe Judge… and a definite upgrade over what we saw under Pat Shurmur.   I don’t know how many games the Giants can win this year, but I see hope.

A loss is a loss is a loss, of course… but some losses are better than others.

A few wins down the win, in these bleak and bitter times, would do wonders.

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Current Mood: gloomy

Life is hard when you’re a Jets fan.

Kermit knows the truth.

The New York Jets, having not won a SuperBowl since 1969 or been in the playoffs since 2010, often have very high draft picks.

Sometimes they select a bust.  In those cases, the players are cut.

Sometimes, however, they get a really terrific premium talent, the kind of generational player you can build a contender around.  In those cases, the Jets get a few years out of the player… and THEN trade him away.

For more draft picks.

Which they then use to select more players, who will either be busts, or terrific players.

Who will then be traded away.

For more draft picks.

Darrell Revis.   Chad Pennington.   And now Jamal Adams.

If Sam Darnold turns out to be a franchise quarterback, an All Pro player, a future Hall of Famer… one wonders where they will send him, and what draft picks we’ll get.

If he turns out to be a bust, of course, we’ll keep him… just until we draft the next franchise quarterback.

The New York Jets.   Building For The Future Since 1969.

 

Current Mood: discontent

… in the National Football League.   Even for beleaguered Giants and Jets fans, like yours truly.

The annual NFL Draft starts tomorrow, and I’ll be watching, as I do every year.   This will be a strangest draft since… well, forever.   In the past decade or so, ESPN and the NFL network have made the draft a huge televised event, with thousands of fans in attendance and top college players being flown in from all over the country to enjoy their moment of glory when their names are called.    Not this year.  Thanks to Covid-19, there will be no big party in Las Vegas, no green room crowded with hopefuls praying they won’t slide, no stars-of-tomorrow parading up on stage to get a jersey from Roger Goodell.  The teams will all be working from their own war rooms, or maybe virtually, and the players will be at home.

Considering that the draft began many decades ago with a bunch of guys sitting at card tables and shuffling index cards, maybe this is a throwback year.   When you stop to think of it, it is amazing that the NFL has made a huge televised extravaganza of a show where something significant happens every ten to fifteen minutes or so.

The Giants, courtesy of the truly dismal season they had last year, get to pick fourth.   If their season had only been a little MORE wretched, they might get to draft Chase Young out of Ohio State, who is widely regarded as the best player in the draft.  Alas, he will probably be snapped up by the Redskins, who pick second.   There is a lot of buzz about this year’s quarterbacks, but the G-Men got their new young signal caller last year when they picked Daniel Jones, so they won’t be playing that game… though their GM has stated that he is open to trading down if someone really wants to jump up to grab Tua or Herbert (Burrows will probably be gone with the first pick, to the Bengals).  If Big Blue stays put, Mel Kiper and Todd McShay both have them drafting the linebacker out of Clemson, Isaiah Simmons, a defensive stud.   Other mocks show them taking an offensive tackle instead, to protect Daniel Jones.   There are four good ones in this draft, it seems.   The ideal outcome, for me, would be for the Giants to grab Simmons with the fourth pick, and get one of those big tackles at the top of the second round… assuming one drops that far.   That may be too much to hope for, however.  And knowing the Giants, they are just as likely to go a different way entirely and surprise everyone, as they did last year.

The Jets pick eleventh, since they had a somewhat better (losing) season.   The mock drafts are all over the place for them.  Then again, by the time you reach eleven, all the mocks are worthless anyway.   All it takes is one team zigging when the “experts” have them zagging, and everything below that is up for grabs.   Myself, I think Gang Green should grab a wideout.   There a bunch of good ones coming out this year, and the Jets lost Robby Anderson, their best receiver, in free agency.  Sam Darnold needs someone to throw to.

Beyond the draft, though, the real question is whether or not we are going to have an NFL season at all in 2020.   Yes, training camp is months away, and the season openers even further out… but if the coronavirus is still raging unchecked by then, packing tens of thousands of fans into a stadium is a recipe for disaster.   As much as I love my NFL Sundays, I hope the NFL will do the prudent thing if the virus has not abated by then.   Life may be meaningless and full of pain for Jets and Giants fans, as I have asserted many a week these past few seasons after watching my teams lose and lose and lose… but it is still life.   And as Tyrion Lannister once said, life is full of possibilities.

((I am going to turn comments on for this one, but only for talk about the draft and the NFL season.   Off comment posts will be deleted)).

Current Mood: hopeful

Watching Adam Gase coach the New York Jets makes me wonder where Rich Kotite is, now that we really need him.

There is no future for Gang Green with Gase coaching.

Lure Bill Parcells out of retirement.   Bring back Rex Ryan.   Get Jim Harbaugh out of Michigan.   Make a play for Lincoln Riley.  Please, please, please.   Anything, anyone.   I cannot bear the shame.

 

This weekend’s NFL games were more agony.

The Jets are down to their third string quarterback.

And the Giants, as of this morning, are benching Eli Manning.

I hope the new kid quarterback does well.   But I must confess, it looks premature to me.   I would rather Daniel Jones sat on the bench for a year to learn, as Patrick Mahomes did in KC.

Yes, the G-men are 0-2 so far… but let me point out that they were also 0-2 in 2007, the year they upset the undefeated Patriots to win the SuperBowl.

But the die is cast now.

((Comments allowed, but ONLY on NFL)).

Current Mood: sad

A new season of NFL football has begun, and…

Life is meaningless and full of pain.

The Giants game went more or less as expected.   Saquon was incredible as ever, Eli played well, but OBJ was sorely missed and there was no defense.   Kid QB looked sharp when the game was over, but not sharp enough to be thrown to the wolves next week.   Eli should play.

The Jets collapse was inexcusable.   How the hell could management have let our Pro Bowl kicker walk?  If Sam Darnold is the new Namath, he sure didn’t look like it.

I think another long dark season looms ahead.

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Current Mood: sad

Okay, the first day of the NFL Draft is in the books.   The Jets had one pick, the Giants had three.

Gang Green took Quinnen Williams, the monster Alabama defensive tackle, with the third pick overall.  Lots of analysts had ranked him as the best player in the entire draft, so he seems a good get.   Still… if it had been me, I would have taken Josh Allen, the edge rusher.   The Jets have not had an edge rusher worth his salt since… could the last one have been Mark Gastineau?  Surely not.  Maybe John Abraham.   The thing is, they need sacks and QB pressures.   And they already had a monster defensive tackle named Williams (Leonard).   Now they have two.   I hope it works out.   The main thing is to give Tom Brady nightmares, though, and I am not sure Quinnen will do that.   Time will tell.   Overall, though, a very solid pick.

The Giants, on the other hand…

Daniel Jones from Duke at number six?   Yes, they need a young quarterback to groom as Eli’s successor.   But Dwayne Haskins was right there.   Why not him?  I don’t follow college ball, but by every measurable Haskins is way better than Jones.   Jones threw 52 TDs in three years at Duke, Haskins threw 50 in one year at Ohio State.  Within fewer interceptions.   Against much tougher opposition.   Dave Gettleman must have seen something in Jones that no one else could see.   But even if you accept that, taking him at six seems insane.   He would have been there at 17.   Why not take Josh Allen or one of the other defensive studs at 6, and Jones at 17?   Makes much more sense.   Who else was going to nab him?  The Skins?   The Skins preferred Haskins, that was common knowledge.   Everyone in the world except the G-Men preferred Haskins, so far as I can see.

And then we got to number 17, the pick the Giants got for Odell.   What did they pick there?  A huge 342 pound defensive tackle out of Clemson.  Very very strong, they say.   Not going to get a lot of sacks, but terrific against the run.   Who does that sound like?   It sounds like Snacks Harrison to me.  Who the Giants cut in mid-season because… ahem… “all he did” was stop the run, he didn’t get sacks.   After his release, Big Blue spent the rest of the season getting gashed by runs right up the gut.   Had to fix that.   So to fill the Snacks hole, we draft Young Snacks.   All it cost us was a Hall of Fame receiver.

The Giants did trade up late in the round to get a third pick, which we used on a cornerback.   Supposedly the best CB prospect in the draft.   That was good.  They need good cornerbacks in the worst way.   Maybe this kid will help.

Neither the Giants nor  the Jets have a second round pick today.

Big Blue has a couple in the third round, and more later in the draft.   I hope Gettleman can find some gems.   Because right now, the team looks a lot weaker than the one that entered the 2018 season, and that squad finished 5-11.

((Comments permitted, but ONLY on NFL football and the draft))

Current Mood: depressed

Last year’s regular season was a nightmare for both the Giants and Jets, and thus a double nightmare for yours truly, who suffered through twice as many defeats every Sunday.   But November’s woes are April’s thrills, since that means both New York teams are picking high in this year’s NFL draft.  Gang Green has the third overall pick, behind the Cardinals and the Niners.   Big Blue picks sixth… and also 17th, thanks to trading away Odell Beckham Junior.  That was still a terrible trade imo, the Giants did not get nearly enough for a player of Odell’s calibre… but at least they got something, and now at least we get to find out what.

First round is Thursday night, and I’ll be watching, as I always do.   I’ll be watching the whole thing, actually, but by the time we get down to the fifth and sixth and seventh rounds it is just a bunch of names I have never heard of flashing by, so it’s round one where all the excitement is.

The Jets got their quarterback of the future last year in Sam Darnold so the thought is that they go defense this year.   The key to that is the Arizona Cardinals, picking first.   Almost all the mocks have them taking quarterback Kyler Murray, a small, swift, scrambling signal caller who has been compared to Michael Vick and Baker Mayfield.   Mel Kiper says it is 99.99% certain the Cards take Murray, even though they still have Josh Rosen, the qb they traded up for in the first round last year.   If he’s right, that means the Jets at three will have their pick of the top-rated defensive talents. Nick Bosa, Josh Allen, Quinnen Williams are the names you hear most often.  If the Cards take Murray and the Niners take one of those three, the Jets will have their choice between the other two.   I just hope, if it comes to that, that they pick the right one.   We need the next Lawrence Taylor or the next Reggie White.  The danger is that instead you find yourself with the next Vernon Gholston.

The Jets could also trade down with some qb-hungry team, and regain some of the picks they had to give up last year to snag Darnold.   I wouldn’t mind that… so long as they don’t go TOO far down, and get a good package of picks for moving, not just something lame like a fifth rounder.   But all in all, I think I’d prefer that they stay at #3 and take Josh Allen.   If for no other reason than they are in the same division as the Buffalo Bills, who drafted a quarterback named Josh Allen last year.   We could have years of Josh Allen sacking Josh Allen to look forward to.

There’s even more suspense swirling around the New York Giants with their two first-round picks (and a high second, never forget).   The vast majority of talking heads out there have seemingly given up on Eli Manning (though the Giants themselves clearly haven’t), and are insisting that the G-Men draft a young quarterback as his successor.   The most likely choice is Dwayne Haskins out of Ohio State, who grew up a Giants fan.   I will freely admit I do not follow college ball as I do the NFL. so I can’t claim any expertise… but Haskins does look mighty impressive from what I’ve seen of him leading up to the draft.   He is likely to be there at #6 — unless the Raiders, who are lurking in the weeds at #4, surprise everyone and grab him — but everything we are hearing out of Jersey suggests the Giants are going to go defense with that pick.   Haskins is not likely to last until #17, not with so many other quarterback hungry teams in between (the Dolphins, the Redskins, the Bengals)… but it could be that Dave Gettleman the Giants GM prefers one of the other quarterback prospects, and it is possible that either Drew Locke or Daniel Jones or both will still be there, and Gettleman could snag one of them.   Hell, it could even be that one of them will still be there at the top of round two, for the Giants to draft then.

If Big Blue does not take a quarterback at #6 OR #17, though, prepare for a bloodbath.

Only time will tell who is right.   The thing about the draft is, you never know.   The legendary 1983 draft, when six QBs were taken in round one, is proof of that.   Three of those players turned out to be Hall of Famers.   A couple were solid NFL starters with long careers, though they always labored in the shadow of the three guys who were better.   One was an out-and-out bust.   And then there was the year that Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf went one-two.  Some people insisted that Leaf was better.   Boy, were they wrong.

But that’s the fun of it.   You never know.

Myself, I am hoping that whoever the Giants draft, he spends the year on the bench.  Eli Manning is a class guy, and I’d love nothing better than for him to have a great season and lead the Giants to another SuperBowl, making all his detractors eat a big crow pie along the way.

((Comments permitted, but ONLY on the NFL and the draft.  Off topic comments will be deleted))

 

 

Current Mood: hopeful