This week, I”ve got to make some comments on the state of New York State football after an extremely satisfying (for a Jets fan) opening to the NFL season.
The Jets showed me some serious game with huge performances from Chad ‘I love overshadowing Carson Palmer’ Pennington and Curtis ‘I make my fantasy football owners happy’ Martin. The Bills, in contrast, wasted some serious airtime that the Jets could have been occupying on upstate New York cable (I”m bitter) with a horrendous loss to the Jaguars that ended on a Byron Leftwich touchdown pass with no time left on the clock. Ah, and the Giants. Big Blue”s defense looked like it was enjoying watching Donovan ‘Eat it Limbaugh’ McNabb tear them apart for over 300 yards.
Anyhow, let”s go into the details of where I think New York football is headed this season. This one”s for all you New York Giants fans out there: The Giants are screwed. Sure, you can argue that their first game was against a very tough Eagles offense and a McNabb who played absolutely ridiculously, but I say that this is just the beginning of a sad season for Big Blue. Especially after what I consider one of the most awful draft moves I”ve ever seen where G-Unit traded a third-rounder, next year”s first and fifth round picks, its soul, Kurt Warner”s duodenum, and, oh yeah, Philip ‘I”m just as good as Eli’ Rivers, the Giants should have a lot of fun rebuilding over the next 86 years. Last night”s three completions on nine attempts for Lil” Peyton was pretty gratifying.
As for the Bills, game one was pretty much representative of what we”ll likely see the entire season. Buffalo is simply a very good defensive team that doesn”t have a modicum of offense. If the Bills were ever to play the Bucs this year, it would be like a game of Quidditch with no Golden Snitch (I”m not a nerd — every single one of you knows what I”m talking about). In fact, I”m pretty sure the world would implode and NHL hockey might become popular again. OK, probably not the latter. Regardless, I just don”t think the Bills have the O to be effective this season. They”ve got a new offensive coordinator and Drew Bledsoe. Not gonna cut it.
The way I see it, the Jets are going to save New York football from complete mediocrity this season. This opinion is completely unbiased — also, you are getting verrryyy sleeepyyy. The Jets basically had a pure-profit offseason. They acquired Justin McCareins, who had a solid 66-yard game one, got Chad Pennington back to 100 percent health, and Curtis Martin claims that he had the offseason of a lifetime (Sunday”s game agreed). In addition, Gang Green retains a solid defensive corps despite the loss of some big name linebackers like Marvin Jones and Mo Lewis with former first-rounders filling the veterans” roles. Admittedly, the defense is nowhere near the offense, but it can probably get the boys in green into the playoffs.
New York football may be in dire straits this season, but the Jets may be our saving grace. If the Green can keep its offense on fire, we should be in for some good football. Herman Edwards for president.
Archived article by Mike Pandolfini