Keidel: Don't Be Fooled — Giants Are Still A Much Better Bet Than The Jets
By Jason Keidel
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I got such a silly and sacrilegious tweet on Monday night that it rendered me inert.
Some Jets homer implied that Geno Smith is better than Eli Manning based on their Week 1 performances. You can't deal with these people, so I merely report them to you.
Before you get all giddy about the 1-0 Jets, please remember that they simply -- and barely -- held serve against the wretched Raiders, a team that hasn't mattered in a decade and was fighting the twin burdens of a rookie quarterback and the woeful record of West Coast teams traveling east for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
I've been called all kinds of hater for my cynical take on Gang Green. But even the most jaded Jets fan realized that if they didn't defeat Oakland, then the season was a rather dire proposition.
And for all of Smith's pyrotechnic stats, he still turned the ball over twice and tried a third -- but the ball bounced back at him.
Manning has become a turnover machine of almost equal renown. But he does have two Super Bowl rings and two Super Bowl MVP awards, which is perennially lost on the masses. And maybe I was a bit bullish on Big Blue, but I'm not going to retract anything 60 minutes into the season.
We love the eternal sports edict that it's not how you begin, but rather how you finish. And the sprawling platitudes about resilience and toughness and never quitting, and images of David Tyree pinning a pigskin to his helmet against all odds and laws of physics. Yet we become de facto physicists after one game.
Among the winless are the Patriots, Packers, Chargers, Colts and Saints. Does anyone really think they will end on the bottom rung of their respective divisions?
Jets fans can feel some relief at being a game up on the Patriots for the first time since the Civil War. But can anyone assert with any certainty that this is where the teams will end their seasons? Over their next six games, the Jets play the Packers, Bears, Lions, Chargers, Broncos and Patriots. Pray for 3-3 and relax.
And let's not bury their MetLife co-tenants. We've seen this script before. The Jets once started 10-1 and didn't reach the AFC title game, while Big Blue once started 0-2 and defeated the undefeated Pats.
Not to defend the Giants, who played like they tailgated for four hours in some week-choked, Detroit parking lot before Monday night's game. But it's quintessentially New York to stretch our first impressions over an entire season. Based on the last 48 hours, the Jets are a first-place team and the Giants a cellar dweller, in grand defiance of each team's history over the last 30 years.
Granted, the Giants have been a front-four team, and this year's squad is decidedly different and weaker. There's no Justin Tuck, Michael Strahan or Osi Umenyiora to rally the downtrodden defense. But if we are to remain true to our stated mantra that the HC/QB combo is the most sacred in the sport, then it's still impossible to pick Rex Ryan and Smith over Tom Coughlin and Manning.
Ryan has won nothing, yet we imbue him with almost biblical virtue every year. Smith threw 12 touchdowns and 21 interceptions last year, yet he's the anointed leader a few months later. Coughlin has done nothing but win wherever he's been, but we're supposed to abandon his bio. Likewise with his quarterback, Mr. Manning.
And if Gang Green groupies want to draw endless conclusions from opening weekend, then let's also declare that the Bills and Dolphins -- who pulled off big upsets -- are exponentially better than we expected and thus the Jets can't expect to moonwalk their way to four combined wins over Buffalo and Miami.
Can't have it both ways. Either that weak win over the Raiders says everything, nothing or something in between. The middle is often where the truth dwells, yet we rarely look there. Let's wait a few games before we crown or drown a team with opinions.
Follow Jason on Twitter @JasonKeidel.
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