Life is magical and full of joy.

Somehow both of my teams won today. The Giants defeated the Detroit Lions in the morning… just barely, admittedly, but a win is a win, and I’ll take it. And then somehow the Jets won as well, against a very good Pittsburgh Steeler team. That one shocked even me. I have never believed that the Jets were as bad as their record suggested and I figured they’d pull out of the tailspin and win one sooner or later, but I never expected it to be against the Steelers, supposedly the third best team in the AFC. I’ll take that one too, however. The Jets D stepped up big, and Mangini took advantage of the bye week to install a number of nice new wrinkles and schemes.

Of course, the hated Cowboys and despised Patriots both won huge, so the day wasn’t perfect.

The G-Men look to be in pretty good position for a wild card, though they had several costly injuries today. For four years in a row the Giants have been crippled by injuries in the second half of the season, one of the big factors in their late season collapses. This year they have been relatively injury-free, so seeing Kiwi and Brandon go down produced deep forebodings. I fear Kiwi is lost for the year, though I hope Jacobs can return soon. If not, I hope Coughlin gives this kid Bradshaw some carries to spell Reuben Droughns. He showed a lot of flashes in pre-season, and could have the makings of another Tiki Barber, if he can only learn to hold on to the ball. I also wish Coughlin would sit down Plaxico Burress for a couple of games. It’s plain that his ankle is getting worse. He’s playing with pain and without practice. Let him sit on the bench for two or three weeks and heal. Go with Amani Toomer and Sinorice Moss, Steve Smith if he’s healthy, and bring back that kid Anthony Mix. Mix is raw, but has the size, and pretty good hands too.

As for the Jets… well, I don’t expect they’ll be able to stay with the hated Cowboys on Turkey Day, or with the despised Patriots later on, but they will probably win a few more before the season is done… just enough to make sure they don’t get a top five draft pick. Sigh. Kellen Clemens showed promise today, Thomas Jones finally looked like the runner he was supposed to be, the O-line and D-line both played well… but Leon Washington won the game. Amazing how the Steelers schemed to avoid kicking to Leon all game long, only to punt it straight at him in overtime, with the game on the line. He made them pay. Let’s send Leon to the Pro Bowl…

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