I'm Not Going to Say the Knicks are Back
Yet...They're 16-10 and a good possession away from being 17-9 and having a win over the best team in the Eastern Conference. I mean seriously, who are these guys? You couldn't expect them to really have much chemistry through the first ten games of the season, but for them to be clicking and playing as well as they are at this point is the most pleasant surprise I've had in sports since the 2009 Jets playoff run.
Amar'e Stoudemire is as legitimate of an MVP candidate as there is in the NBA this season, and Raymond Felton is really getting the most out of guys who have never sniffed a .500 season. I know that every Knicks piece I've written has been centered around Stoudemire and Felton but these two guys are just such difference makers. And the team will live and die by them, that is, until they get Melo...
Please God...don't allow the 2010 Jets to become the 2007 (and 2008) Mets
If you were to pick up a milk carton in the Tri-state area you may find a picture of the Jets offense on the side of that carton under a bold headline that reads "MISSING." Ok, I know milk cartons haven't done the "missing" thing in years now, but you get my drift. After starting 9-2 and averaging 24 points per game, the Jets have gone 0-2 and scored a total of 9 points against the Patriots and the Dolphins.
They have road games against the Steelers and Bears coming up, before coming home to play the Bills in the season finale. If they don't win either of the next two this team is in serious trouble of not making the playoffs, or backing themselves into a spot due to another teams futility. While I know that the ultimate goal is to make the playoffs anyway you can, it's going to look awful if a team that started 9-2 finished 10-6 with losses against pretty much every good team they face. I got news for you, if you can't beat the good teams in the regular season, you probably won't beat them in the postseason. Get it together Jets.
Cliff Lee's on the Phillies, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez are on the Red Sox, what else do you need to know? While these two teams have had the most successful offseasons so far, not to mention they're already building on stacked rosters, I'm being mightily sarcastic with my headline. I know that I'm a Yankees fan and readers will take that and think I'm being biased, but it is December and they do play the games for a reason. Who expected the Giants to win the World Series a year ago? I mean they weren't even in the playoffs until the final week of the season.
Not to completely shoot down my headline, with the addition of Lee the Phillies now have two of probably the three best starting pitchers in baseball and the Red Sox lineup is probably the scariest in baseball heading into the season. The Phillies offense has also been one of the most productive in baseball since 2008 and the Red Sox have three (maybe four if you include Bucholz) guys who could be aces on just about any team in baseball. New York baseball fans hold your breathe.
Line as of Thursday afternoon, home team in caps
SAN DIEGO (-10) over San Francisco
Two teams that I tend to be wrong on a lot, and two teams that I have little to no confidence picking. Ten points is a lot, but as the Chargers proved last week, they will stomp somebody out (31-0 over the Chiefs, wow). They did however prove the week before that they're very vulnerable against gritty teams (second loss of the season to the Raiders). The Niners aren't exactly gritty, but they do have a good defense, their offense is what scares me. I talked about the Smith quarterback carousel last week, and I don't feel any better heading into a game against the team that gives up the least amount of yards in the NFL. I really want to pick against Norv Turner, but the Chargers still have a playoff spot in sight and the Niners are awful despite wins over the Seahawks and Cardinals in two of their last three (sarcasm, those teams are believe it or not worse than the Niners).
4 comments:
I hate to say it but the Mets teams that collapsed were better teams than this Jets team. Sanchez is nowhere near close enough to lead a team to any real success. The Jets skated by with luck for 10 weeks or so and people want to act like its shocking that they arent playing as well recent. Sanchez is as bad a QB as is starting for any team this year by any metric. 17 of 44 is a joke. This Jets team has EVERYTHING to win except a QB. Sadly Sanchez appears to not even be the game manager a guy like Dilfer was. Sanchez should lose his job sometime next year. They blew it drafting him and he's shown virtually no improvement from last season.
It's not fair to say they have everything in place besides Sanchez because they really don't. And its pretty hard to skate by to 9-2. They took advantage of a less than difficult schedule up to the Pats game, and were just completely outplayed on all facets on MNF. I don't think Sanchez is the reason, I think a lack of pass rush, not being able to cover a sole in the passing game, awful play calling, and awful in-game management by Rex and Schottenheimer have as much to do with it as Sanchez's mistakes. He's a second year quarterback and while he was more impressive the first 10 games of the season, I don't think its fair to say he's the reason they're losing. I mean he's not the one deciding to throw the ball 44 times. He has the weapons that he shouldn't be playing so poorly, and I gotta tell you, you may criticize me for this one but Donovan McNabb's gonna be out there next year and it may not be a bad idea to get someone that isn't Mark Brunell or Kellen Clemens for Sanchez to learn from. That said, there won't be a QB change until Sanchez is booted from the team. He's their guy and honestly they could be in worse shape.
It's way too early to say they blew it with Sanchez but I'm sure the Shrecker is just trying to get a rise out of Costa, i mean Mintz.
Nice blog Jared. Keep plugging away, good things happen to good people (well not always, but I'm sure you'll find a way to make it in the biz (at least you're out of Bristol).
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