The Giants win another one… but just barely, by the skin of their teeth, and against the lowly winless Dolphins (sorry, Janice, but your new owner was a fool to let the Tuna go).

Winning these close games certainly beats losing these close games, but just once I’d like to see the G-Men blow out one of these supposedly “weaker” teams, so I don’t have to gnaw my knuckles in the final minute of the game, as the clock winds down. Parris keeps threatening to buy one of those home defibrollators. Maybe she should. One of these weeks the Giants or Jets are going to kill me, I swear.

Anyway, Eli looked great this week, as did his WRs. Good games from Manningham and Nicks, and this new tight end, Ballard, is making me forget all about Kevin Boss. And Victor Cruz… that kid’s a keeper. Great catch and run today for the winning score.

On the other hand, the running game looked awful, especially when Ahmed Bradshaw went out. I know Brandon Jacobs is just coming off an injury, but boy, did he look bad out there today. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when Ahmed came back in. The defense sputtered badly in the first half, letting the Fins convert one third and long after another, but they stepped it up second half, shutting down the Miami O. And once the G-Men finally took the lead they turned into the Big Blue defense I remember. Great play by Corey Webster as CB, and of course the pass rush remains outstanding.

So now the Giants are 5-2, solidly in the lead in the NFC East. I wish I could say I feel optimistic about their chances going forward, but I don’t. They’ve been winning, but not nearly as convincingly as I’d like, just barely squeaking by against one weak team after another (and LOSING to the Seahawks!) And Miami was the last soft spot on their schedule. Next week they enter their midseason meatgrinder. If they want to keep winning, they are really going to need to step it up… not just one notch, but three or four.

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Now THOSE were the Jets I’ve been looking for all season.

Good solid win over a strong San Diego team today. The Chargers won the first half and enjoyed a halftime lead, but in the second half the Jets D stepped up, shut down the San Diego offense, and intercepted Philip Rivers twice in the 4th quarter to seal the win. (And what the hell was Rivers thinking with the fourth down throw with eleven second left? Game’s over if he throws it out of bounds. So he throws it out of bounds. Hokay. Rivers has a great arm, but sometimes you have to wonder about his head).

Another great game by Darrell Revis, and the Jets O finally got in gear as well. Plax! Plax!! Plax!!!

The Jets finally got their running game going, but I’ve got to worry about their RBs going forward. Shonn Greene had his best game of the season, but then got hurt, though he did return to the action. Tomlinson did not. After starting against his former team, he finished on the bench. If we’re down to Joe McKnight the rest of the way, well… McKnight has flashed some moves this year on kickoffs and punts, but I’m not sold on him as an every down back.

WAY too many penalties in this game. By both teams. And some of those flags were very dubious. (On both teams). I much prefer officiating crews like the one in last week’s Jets game, refs who will let the players play. This week’s crew seemed intent on stopping the action on the slightest pretext. Yeah, I know, some crews are hardline, some are loose, but this was ridiculous.

As for this week’s other NFL action… I canNOT believe the Dolphins blew a 15-0 fourth quarter lead to Tebow and Broncos. Maybe they really are sucking for Luck. How the hell could they let that one get away? Awful, just awful.

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Both of my football teams won this weekend.

New York Jets 24
Miami Dolphins 6

New York Giants 27
Buffalo Bills 24

A victory is a victory, and two victories is nice… but these two did not leave me wanting to post “life is magical and full of joy.” I still have hopes, but I have fears as well.

The final score of the Jets game on Monday Night Football looks convincing, but that’s misleading. It was a pretty shaky win over an awful opponent, a winless team starting a backup quarterback. And even so, it was far from convincing. The Jets O began the game with four three-and-outs and did not get a first down until midway through the second quarter. The only Jet who truly impressed was Darrell Revis. Revis is the best cornerback in the NFL, almost everyone agrees, and yet the Dolphins came out throwing at him and kept it up all game. Miami squandered at least three TD chances in the first half, and their star receiver dropped balls, ran out of bounds on what might have been a long TD, and gave up a pick-six. I really don’t know if the Jets won the game so much as the Dolphins lost it.

(FWIW, I think Miami may be a top contender in the Andrew Luck sweepstakes. I just hope they don’t win it. I suffered through a couple decades as a Jets fan, having to face Dan Marino twice a year. I don’t want to go through that again, should the Fish get this kid who is supposed to be the best QB prospect since Elway. So please, win a few games, Miami. Just so long as one of them is not against the Giants two weeks from now, or the Jets in the rematch. You can beat anyone else you please. Starting with the Pats and Bills).

The real test for the Jets will be next week, when they face the Chargers. San Diego is not Miami. If Gang Green can take them down, maybe they are for real. If not… well, it could be a long season. The schedule from here on is a meatgrinder.

As for the Giants… they defeated a much stronger team in the up and coming Buffalo Bills. Corey Webster had a Revis-like afternoon, the pass rush looked fierce (and will get fiercer when Justin Tuck returns), Ahmed Bradshaw came alive and ran the ball well, and Eli was sharp. Even so, it was a near thing. With the score tied, the Bills were driving deep in Giants territory and were already in range for a go-ahead field goal when Ryan Fitzpatrick threw his second INT to Webster. Great play, Corey. The G-Men are now 4-2 and leading the NFC East, which is pretty good for a team that many people said would finish at the bottom of the division. So they’re in it. But I’d be lying if I said I was confident in their prospects going forward. That lost to Seattle leaves lingering doubts, and they have some tough tough games coming up.

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