The Jets are playing better football than anyone could have expected.

And the Giants are unbelievably bad. Before the season began, some people had them picked as SuperBowl contenders. Instead they are contending for the number one draft pick.

“That’s why they play the games,” Chris Berman used to say.

(And damn, do I miss Chris Berman. ESPN’s Sunday COUNTDOWN has become unwatchable without him and Tom Jackson. I’ve deleted my season pass).

Weirdest NFL season I can remember.

(Comments allowed. FOOTBALL ONLY).

Current Mood: confused

Life for a Jets fan is an unending torment.

Last week the refs gave the Pats an win over Gang Green with a bullshit reversal of a touchdown, one of the worst calls in the history of the NFL.

This weeks the Jets did it to themselves, blowing a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter to lose to the Fins. Total choke job.

Josh McCown finished the choke with a horrible INT with seconds left. He’s a decent quarterback, but he’s not the answer. He’s too old to be the future. He’s Fitzmagic the Second. The Jets need to bench him and play Petty and Hack to see if one of those might offer hope.

But they won’t. They will keep on playing McCown, and win just enough games to make sure they don’t get a good QB prospect in the draft, thereby assuring us of another decade of mediocrity.

That’s the Jet Way.

Current Mood: bitchy

Life is… messy… on this football Sunday.

The Jets won. To the astonishment of all, or at least of me. What’s more, they won in dominating fashion over the Miami Dolphins. Does this mean they are a much better team than expected, and a contender for the playoffs? Hoo hah. If you believe that, perhaps I can interest you in buying the Bayonne Bridge. What it really means is that there is no team team in the NFL so bad that Jay Cutler cannot make them look good.

So Gang Green won’t go 0 – 16 after all. Instead, hey, maybe they will make it to 4 – 12. Thing is, at 0 – 16 they would have the first overall pick in the draft and a shot at the franchise qb they have been looking for since Joe Namath. At 4- 12, all the good qbs will be gone and the Jets will be facing the future with the same cast they have now.

That being said, it is always nice to watch the Jets beat the Fins, our original rivals.

As for the Giants game… Big Blue could very well finish 4 – 12 as well. After trailing 14 – 0 and looking lifeless, they came roaring back to take the lead, but could not hold it. When the defense plays great, the offense does nothing. When the offense comes alive, the defense fails. And really Odell, the catches were great, but what the hell was with that first “celebration?” Stupid.

No, not a good Sunday in football land. A gut-wrenching loss, and a win that will hurt more than it helps. This looks like a looooooooooooooooooooooong season.

Current Mood: morose

Well, my NFL season got underway this morning pretty much as expected: with the Jets losing.

They were playing another rebuilding team from the AFC East, the Buffalo Bills. One of the weaker teams on their schedule, yeah… but they still managed to lose, and look terrible doing so. The Bills gutted Gang Green with their running game, going right through the line… where, as it happens, Sheldon Richardson used to be standing.

On the good side, our first round draft choice looked pretty good.

The rest of the team, not so much.

And instead of playing either of the young QBs, to see what they’ve got and maybe watch them develop, we played the old guy, Josh McCown, a 38 year old journeyman on his 8th team. Sorry, I just don’t see the point.

It’s going to be a long long season for fans of Gang Green.

(Comments open for discussion of football ONLY. All other comments will be deleted).

Current Mood: grumpy

The opening of the NFL season is only a few days away, and the New York Jets made headlines once again today by trading away Sheldon Richardson, one of the monsters on their defensive line, the strongest unit on the team. Gang Green’s campaign to get rid of all of their good players continues, full speed ahead.

I know the Jets claim that they are not trying to lose all their games in order to get the first pick in next spring’s draft and snag a franchise qb… but it sure as hell smells that way.

I have the feeling that I am going to be starting a lot of blog posts with “Life is miserable and full of pain” this fall, at least where the Jets are concerned.

All I can hope is that the Giants come through for me. If Eli and the offense and rise to the level of the D, Big Blue should kick some ass.

(I am going to leave comments open for this one, for those who want to talk football. ANY off topic posts will be deleted. Football only, please).

Current Mood: gloomy

I am looking forward to having a great time this weekend at Stokercon… but I am a little bummed that it’s happening on the same weekend as the NFL Draft, which I usually watch gavel to gavel.

I guess the members of the HWA are not into NFL football. Feh. How can they understand the true nature of horror unless they’re fans of the New York Jets?

I guess I will need to get by this year without my annual dose of Chris Berman and Mel Kiper. I do plan to check in from time to time. Surely the Queen Mary has ESPN.

If wishes were fishes, both of my teams would land running backs. I want the Jets to draft Leonard Fournette with the sixth overall pick, and the Giants to take Christian McCaffery. I loves me a good running game. Smashmouth football rules!

Many of the mocks are projecting that both teams will get tight ends instead: OJ Howard to Gang Green, David Njoku to Big Blue. That would be good as well. A great TE can make a huge difference.

What the G-Men need most of all, of course, is a huge road-grinder of an offensive lineman.

The Jets need everything.

Jay Cutler?

Please no.

Let it be a rumor. Let it be a lie.

Not Jay Cutler.

Say it ain’t so.

Coax Brett Favre out of retirement. Bring back Mark Sanchez. Bring back Chad Pennington. Sign Fitz for another year.

Just not Jay Cutler, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

What the hell are the Jets doing?

Damned if I know. “Cleaning house,” some say. Maybe so. From where I sit, “Getting rid of all of my favorite players” would be more accurate.

Brandon Marshall. Darrell Revis. Nick Mangold. And there are rumors that Eric Decker may be next.

That’s their best two receivers and their best lineman. Yes, Nick was getting old, and he was injured last year. Yes, Darrell was not the shutdown corner he was. Yes, all of them were expensive, and old, or getting old.

Still… is there anyone on the roster to replace them? Gang Green created tons of salary cap room with these moves, but does that help anyone but Woody Johnson? Salary cap room is great if you use it to bring in blue chip free agents, but what free agent would want to come to the Jets now?

Maybe the idea is to lose ALL the games next year, to get the number one draft pick. I haven’t even paid much attention to the 2017 draft yet, the 2018 draft is completely off my radar. Is there some new John Elway/ Peyton Manning/ Andrew Luck calibre can’t-miss quarterback prospect that the Jets are looking toward a year and a half out?

I fear I am in for a lot of painful Sundays next fall.

The Giants released Victor Cruz today.

It was not unexpected. Cruz missed the last two seasons with injuries, and this season, when he finally came back, he had a subpar year. Only 35 catches, way down for him. He had a very high salary number for next year, too high for a third receiver, and by cutting him the Giants saved $7.5 million against the salary cap, money they can now use to improve elsewhere. And they really need to improve elsewhere — on the offensive line and at tight end, especially — if they hope to advance further in the playoffs than they did this season.

All the same, the release made me sad. Victor Cruz was my favorite player, and I was hoping he would retire as a Giant. I think Victor was hoping the same. He seemed not only to be a terrific player, but a terrific guy, an undrafted free agent who walked on and made it big.

If it had been up to me, I would have stayed the course and kept Cruz. Ask him to take a salary cut, sure. I think he would have done that. Next year, I would have moved him back to the slot, his best position. He was just not as effective last season playing outside the numbers. And while the rookie Sterling Shepard was a good slot receiver last season, Cruz in his prime was a GREAT slot receiver, one of the best in the league. If the Giants had kept Victor in the slot, and played Shepard outside, both of them might have had better years.

One mediocre year and two years on injured reserve can make us forget — especially since Odell Beckham Junior has been dazzling Giants fans with spectacular catches during those same three seasons — just how good Victor Cruz was before his injury. When he was good, he was very very good, as the saying goes. Here, take a look, remember:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgMh5_-hr64

We’ll miss the salsas…

Good luck, Victor. You earned it.