Keidel: Jets, Giants Did What Was Necessary Ahead Of Monster Matchups
By Jason Keidel
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So this is what it feels like.
After the Mets lost an agonizingly close World Series, blowing three games with a lead after the seventh inning, the Big Apple turned to the local football clubs for relief.
But the Jets and Giants didn't provide any. After darting to a 4-1 start, the Jets lost two games in inelegant fashion, blowing a game they should have won to the hated Patriots and then getting spanked by the Raiders. Entering Foxboro with the stingiest defense in the NFL, they surrendered nearly 60 points over the next two weeks.
The Giants somehow scored 49 points and lost, in New Orleans, always their house of the rising sun. Eli Manning became the first QB in NFL history to toss six TD passes, zero picks, and leave the arena sans a victory.
However, a week later both teams from the same town won at the same time. Gang Green (5-3) beat a foundering but talented Jacksonville club at MetLife, 28-23, a game that the crowd found frighteningly close despite entering as heavy favorites. The Jaguars have two wildly talented wideouts in Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns, a refreshing, rookie running back in TJ Yeldon, and a blossoming young quarterback in Blake Bortles.
Still, the Jags are 2-6. And after losing two straight, the Jets may not have recovered from losing, at home, to a team that had lost 12 straight road games. Even with the walking triage the Jets have become, you don't lose to last-place teams at your house if you want to be regarded as a contender.
The Jets could not have lost, despite injuries to Ryan Fitzpatrick, Antonio Cromartie, and Nick Mangold. Even kicker Nick Folk came up lame during pregame warmups. The Jets could not have lost, not with Rex Ryan's return to Broadway this week, in just three days. Rex has some studs on defense and will be on a mission to show Gang Green he should still be their coach.
Big Blue (5-4) was their typical football paradox. Manning was a shadow of his Louisiana brilliance, tossing two picks at Tampa. Yet the Giants won, 32-18, beating a Buccaneers team still learning how to win with Jameis Winston. The rookie QB is typically schizophrenic on the field, looking every bit the No. 1 pick on some Sundays and bewildered on others. In the end, the Bucs' three turnovers and a football follies worth of dropped balls -- circa 1976, when some guy named Spurier was their signal-caller -- did them in.
For all their flaws, the G-Men are gifted at getting the ball. Now they'd like to be equally adept at getting the QB. And they're hoping the return of Jason Pierre-Paul will spark a defensive resurgence. Despite his summer from hell, returning to work with one functioning hand, it had to pry a wry smile from Tom Coughlin to see a bona fide baller on a defensive line that entered the game as the only unit with fewer than 10 total sacks, and an overall defense ranked 32nd in the league.
Next, New York plays the Patriots. No, not the Jets. This time the Giants get a crack at the Jets' eternal tormentors. Unlike the Jets, the Giants don't find the Pats nearly as problematic. And it will be the rare time that Gang Green and Jets Nation will be pining for Big Blue, who can give Tom Brady and Bill Belichick their first loss of the season, and keep the AFC East beacon barely lit for the second-place Jets.
Some say the Pats have that ornery look from 2007, when they went 16-0. Brady is playing with that familiar cinder block on his shoulder. Instead of SpyGate chafing the immortal quarterback, it's Deflategate that has him playing with biblical fury.
For today, Big Blue and Gang Green are both over .500 after nine weeks, which means we actually will have some salient football played in a month, if not two. Indeed, both MetLife tenants would make the playoffs if the season ended today. And we can only hope football remains just as meaty in the Meadowlands in a month, if not two.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel
