Jets at Rams, Sunday, 1pm
Things could be worse for the Jets. They could be going into the deciding game of the season with an injury list that looks like this:
Reid, Dexter S Shoulder Doubtful *
Seymour, Richard DE Knee Doubtful *
Chatham, Matt LB Hamstring Questionable *
Faulk, Kevin RB Knee Questionable *
Gay, Randall CB Arm/Flu Questionable *
Givens, David WR Ankle Questionable *
Graham, Daniel TE Rib Questionable *
Johnson, Bethel WR Thigh Questionable *
Law, Ty CB Foot Questionable *
Moreland, Earthwind CB Abdomen Questionable *
Pass, Patrick FB Knee Questionable *
Samuel, Asante CB Shoulder Questionable *
Wilson, Eugene FS Thigh Questionable *
Brady, Tom QB Right Shoulder Probable
Miller, Jim QB Right Shoulder Probable
That's a long injury list. And but it's the Patriots injury list, and they've been doing OK for themselves - I just thought I'd throw that out there.
As for Sunday's game...I've been talking about it all week. On Wednesday, the Jets had all kinds of fiery speeches thrown at them - one by Herman Edwards, then in a closed-door meeting, Chad Pennington, Curtis Martin, and Terrell Buckley. (In my opinion, Buckley's speech was probably him apologizing for how badly he's played filling in for Ray Mickens.) The veterans were fired up, and they say they are going to turn that emotion into a great performance on the field. I think they will. The Jets seem capable of turning it on in must-win games like this Sunday's...I hope they can do it four more times, the last one being the Super Bowl. As for this week, the Jets will find enough offense to outscore the Rams, and it's on to the playoffs! Jets, 31-20.
Here's my take on the rest of the (mostly meaningless) NFL (for entertainment purposes only):
SF +14 (that spread seems like too much considering most of the good Patriots will probably sit much of the game)
PIT +9 (the Steelers are playing too well, Roethlisberger or not, to be nine point underdogs...although I do think the Bills will win)
BAL -11 (Miami finishes with a whimper)
MIN -3.5 (the Vikings charge into the playoffs, instead of folding again)
CIN -3 (the Eagles might as well not show up if they're going to pull what they did Monday night)
GB +3 (the Bears might not show up at all)
NO +8 (the Panthers will win, but the Saints will keep themselves in it until the end)
TEN +3 (Volek will lead the Titans to the win over the Lions as home underdogs)
CLE +10.5 (I don't think Houston's good enough to blow out Cleveland)
TB +3 (the Bucs have played decent enough, they should be able to beat the Cards)
SEA -6 (the Seahawks take advantage of the Jets beating the Rams)
IND +9 (as I said earlier in the week, Manning might be rested, but the Colts' defense will make it tough for Denver)
JAX NL (Jacksonville collapsed last week, but in desperation should beat Oakland)
SD +3 (they're still better than banged up KC)
DAL +3 (the Giants stink)
Lastly, I just want to comment on Paul Hackett. He will probably be fired at the end of the season - Herman Edwards wouldn't give him any type of vote of confidence this week. That's probably a good thing. I can't wait to see the offensive weapons on the Jets being used correctly...including Chad Pennington. He likes Hackett, but he's good (and smart) enough to adjust to someone new.
Go JETS!!
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Yesterday I talked about Chad Pennington in the so-called "big games". Today, I'll focus on the Jets as a whole in those types of games.
A Jets coach has never led the Jets to the playoffs three times in four years. Herman Edwards will try to accomplish that feat when the Jets take on the Rams on Sunday. If he accomplishes it, each time he will have done it on the last day of the season.
In 2001, the Jets won on a last second field goal at Oakland, winning the opportunity to go back to Oakland for a first-round playoff loss to the Raiders. (Vinny Testaverde was the quarterback that year.)
In 2002, as I mentioned already this week, the Jets beat the Packers, and got a miracle, last second win by the Patriots over the Dolphins, eliminating New England and Miami, and vaulting the Jets to the playoffs.
Last year the Jets were 6-10.
This is what Herm Edwards has to say about the scenarios the Jets keep putting themselves in:
"It's good for you," Edwards said Wednesday. "The harder, the better. Come on. The bigger the bully, the better. Come on. Because life is about a fight. You can't go run in your house and close the door. You're not in your neighborhood, so you'd better go fight. If we do that, we'll be OK."
This is why I love Herman Edwards. He will get the team psyched to win on Sunday. The Jets will beat the Rams. David Barrett will have a good game, silencing the Rams deep. Terrell Buckley will get burned a couple of times, but the Jets will score enough to win. The question for me is, what will happen with the Jets in the weeks after the Rams? (And I don't even want to think what will happen if the Jets lose...but I really don't think they'll lose. No way. I'm convinced.)
A Jets coach has never led the Jets to the playoffs three times in four years. Herman Edwards will try to accomplish that feat when the Jets take on the Rams on Sunday. If he accomplishes it, each time he will have done it on the last day of the season.
In 2001, the Jets won on a last second field goal at Oakland, winning the opportunity to go back to Oakland for a first-round playoff loss to the Raiders. (Vinny Testaverde was the quarterback that year.)
In 2002, as I mentioned already this week, the Jets beat the Packers, and got a miracle, last second win by the Patriots over the Dolphins, eliminating New England and Miami, and vaulting the Jets to the playoffs.
Last year the Jets were 6-10.
This is what Herm Edwards has to say about the scenarios the Jets keep putting themselves in:
"It's good for you," Edwards said Wednesday. "The harder, the better. Come on. The bigger the bully, the better. Come on. Because life is about a fight. You can't go run in your house and close the door. You're not in your neighborhood, so you'd better go fight. If we do that, we'll be OK."
This is why I love Herman Edwards. He will get the team psyched to win on Sunday. The Jets will beat the Rams. David Barrett will have a good game, silencing the Rams deep. Terrell Buckley will get burned a couple of times, but the Jets will score enough to win. The question for me is, what will happen with the Jets in the weeks after the Rams? (And I don't even want to think what will happen if the Jets lose...but I really don't think they'll lose. No way. I'm convinced.)
The big criticism about Chad Pennington is that he can't win the big game. While Chad Pennington is not my favorite person right now, I will argue that Pennington can win, and indeed has won, the big game in his time in New York.
This season's big games have been defined as Week 7 against the Patriots, then against the Steelers, and last week again versus the Patriots. In week 7, Pennington was one of the reasons the Jets lost, making a poor throw on the Jets' last possession on a drive that could have won the game. But the Jets had other opportunities to win that game, and some dropped passes and fumbled balls were among the reasons the Jets lost. As for the other two games, we're not seeing the same Chad Pennington. He is hurt, and is playing with a bad shoulder. I'm not making excuses, I'm just saying what's going on...Pennington should not be playing. Anyone who has seen him make throws in the Pittsburgh game or the New England game can see he's clearly not himself. What is tougher to explain is why his shoulder didn't look so bad against Seattle or Houston...actually, Houston wasn't his finest day throwing the football either, in retrospect. And maybe Seattle's suspect defense made Pennington look better than he is.
Anyway, there are the facts for Chad Pennington being unable to win the big game. But in 2002, Chad Pennington won three big games in a row...and the situation was similar to the situation the Jets find themselves in now. After losing to 2-12 Buffalo, the Jets needed to beat New England (in New England, I believe), then Green Bay in order to make the playoffs. Pennington was outstanding, winning both games, (and Green Bay did play its starters for the first half of the latter game, before they started pulling guys out once the Jets started to blow them out - lest you think the Packers rolled over for the Jets) and then Pennington played really well in the playoffs - which is a really big game, beating the Colts. Pennington had a rough outing the following week in Oakland, and that might have made him gun shy for future big games, but I don't think so. I think Pennington has done OK in his career in big games, and I don't buy the fact that he can't win the big game.
I do buy the fact that he's got a bad shoulder, and he's killing the Jets if he's trying to hide it. That's all I'll say on Pennington, for now.
Dave writes in again today:
"Dear JohnnyJets,
On the radio today, my favorite midday sports anchors Dale and Neumy were talking about some of the lines on this weekend's games. The fact that some teams don't have anything to play for makes this either a minefield or a gold mine, for entertainment purposes, of course.
Buffalo minus 3 against the Steelers, Chicago minus 3 against Green Bay, and perhaps most notably, Denver minus 9 against the Colts.
What's your strategy this week to put .500 in the rearview mirror once and for all? Better yet, what's The Wife's strategy?
Dave in Brighton"
I was thinking about this same thing, Dave. It reminds me of when we had this conversation about the Dolphins following the firing of Dave Wannstedt. It's so tough to tell what's going to happen any week, let alone when teams start resting players. You'll see my picks on Friday (brutal week last week, by the way - 5-10-1, back to a game under .500), but Buffalo minus-3 looks awfully good, especially considering what they have riding on this game. Denver minus-9 is tough, because the Colts are too good to be that kind of an underdog this year - they might rest Manning, but remember, their defense has been really good this year too. So my strategy is to just think about which team is better, no matter what, just like I did on Monday night when I picked the Eagles over the Rams. That worked out well. The Wife's strategy is the same as always - don't stress, just pick, then laugh at me when the picks come out better.
This season's big games have been defined as Week 7 against the Patriots, then against the Steelers, and last week again versus the Patriots. In week 7, Pennington was one of the reasons the Jets lost, making a poor throw on the Jets' last possession on a drive that could have won the game. But the Jets had other opportunities to win that game, and some dropped passes and fumbled balls were among the reasons the Jets lost. As for the other two games, we're not seeing the same Chad Pennington. He is hurt, and is playing with a bad shoulder. I'm not making excuses, I'm just saying what's going on...Pennington should not be playing. Anyone who has seen him make throws in the Pittsburgh game or the New England game can see he's clearly not himself. What is tougher to explain is why his shoulder didn't look so bad against Seattle or Houston...actually, Houston wasn't his finest day throwing the football either, in retrospect. And maybe Seattle's suspect defense made Pennington look better than he is.
Anyway, there are the facts for Chad Pennington being unable to win the big game. But in 2002, Chad Pennington won three big games in a row...and the situation was similar to the situation the Jets find themselves in now. After losing to 2-12 Buffalo, the Jets needed to beat New England (in New England, I believe), then Green Bay in order to make the playoffs. Pennington was outstanding, winning both games, (and Green Bay did play its starters for the first half of the latter game, before they started pulling guys out once the Jets started to blow them out - lest you think the Packers rolled over for the Jets) and then Pennington played really well in the playoffs - which is a really big game, beating the Colts. Pennington had a rough outing the following week in Oakland, and that might have made him gun shy for future big games, but I don't think so. I think Pennington has done OK in his career in big games, and I don't buy the fact that he can't win the big game.
I do buy the fact that he's got a bad shoulder, and he's killing the Jets if he's trying to hide it. That's all I'll say on Pennington, for now.
Dave writes in again today:
"Dear JohnnyJets,
On the radio today, my favorite midday sports anchors Dale and Neumy were talking about some of the lines on this weekend's games. The fact that some teams don't have anything to play for makes this either a minefield or a gold mine, for entertainment purposes, of course.
Buffalo minus 3 against the Steelers, Chicago minus 3 against Green Bay, and perhaps most notably, Denver minus 9 against the Colts.
What's your strategy this week to put .500 in the rearview mirror once and for all? Better yet, what's The Wife's strategy?
Dave in Brighton"
I was thinking about this same thing, Dave. It reminds me of when we had this conversation about the Dolphins following the firing of Dave Wannstedt. It's so tough to tell what's going to happen any week, let alone when teams start resting players. You'll see my picks on Friday (brutal week last week, by the way - 5-10-1, back to a game under .500), but Buffalo minus-3 looks awfully good, especially considering what they have riding on this game. Denver minus-9 is tough, because the Colts are too good to be that kind of an underdog this year - they might rest Manning, but remember, their defense has been really good this year too. So my strategy is to just think about which team is better, no matter what, just like I did on Monday night when I picked the Eagles over the Rams. That worked out well. The Wife's strategy is the same as always - don't stress, just pick, then laugh at me when the picks come out better.
Labels:
Chad Pennington,
Dave in Brighton,
E-Mail,
NFL Injuries,
NFL Picks
Monday, December 27, 2004
I'll start with e-mail, then have to get back to installing my brand new iPod.
"Dear JohnnyJets,
How would you describe the feeling in Jets nation, now that the team might go 10-6 but not make the playoffs?
Do you think Chad has learned a lesson about picking a fight with people who buy ink by the gallon, as Tommy Lasorda once said?
Signed, Dave (back) in Brighton"
Dave, welcome back to Massachusetts. Real quick on the Pennington point - I think he learned his lesson mid-week last week, because he kept talking about it as a mistake. He won't be saying anything controversial for a while, and will be hearing a bunch of masked "I told you so"'s all week this week.
As for your first point, about the feeling in Jets nation, it's about the same as usual. Utter disappointment late in the year. 10-6 and not making the playoffs would be a slap in the face, but it would be just the latest chapter in the disappointing life of a Jets fan. However, I don't expect 10-6 and no playoffs - I fully expect 11-5 and playoffs, and then whatever happens after that. As was printed by Gary Meyers in the Daily News today, the Jets should beat the Rams next week, because they beat bad teams and the Rams are a bad team.
The Jets have a disappointing history (not that I need to tell you that), and the best thing about Herman Edwards and Chad Pennington is that they are so positive all the time. There wasn't a lot of positivity coming out of the Jets clubhouse on Sunday (rightfully so), but it does give you hope for the future, with the positive attitudes usually in the clubhouse.
Here's the playoff scenario - the Jets need to win to get in the playoffs....that's the most important thing. If the Jets lose, they need either Denver or Buffalo to lose. Hopefully the Jets take care of business themselves.
Hopefully I'll remember, because I'm actually working a bit this week, but tomorrow I want to talk a bit about Chad Pennington's performances in "big games".
"Dear JohnnyJets,
How would you describe the feeling in Jets nation, now that the team might go 10-6 but not make the playoffs?
Do you think Chad has learned a lesson about picking a fight with people who buy ink by the gallon, as Tommy Lasorda once said?
Signed, Dave (back) in Brighton"
Dave, welcome back to Massachusetts. Real quick on the Pennington point - I think he learned his lesson mid-week last week, because he kept talking about it as a mistake. He won't be saying anything controversial for a while, and will be hearing a bunch of masked "I told you so"'s all week this week.
As for your first point, about the feeling in Jets nation, it's about the same as usual. Utter disappointment late in the year. 10-6 and not making the playoffs would be a slap in the face, but it would be just the latest chapter in the disappointing life of a Jets fan. However, I don't expect 10-6 and no playoffs - I fully expect 11-5 and playoffs, and then whatever happens after that. As was printed by Gary Meyers in the Daily News today, the Jets should beat the Rams next week, because they beat bad teams and the Rams are a bad team.
The Jets have a disappointing history (not that I need to tell you that), and the best thing about Herman Edwards and Chad Pennington is that they are so positive all the time. There wasn't a lot of positivity coming out of the Jets clubhouse on Sunday (rightfully so), but it does give you hope for the future, with the positive attitudes usually in the clubhouse.
Here's the playoff scenario - the Jets need to win to get in the playoffs....that's the most important thing. If the Jets lose, they need either Denver or Buffalo to lose. Hopefully the Jets take care of business themselves.
Hopefully I'll remember, because I'm actually working a bit this week, but tomorrow I want to talk a bit about Chad Pennington's performances in "big games".
Labels:
Chad Pennington,
Dave in Brighton,
E-Mail,
Herman Edwards,
NFL Playoffs
Sunday, December 26, 2004
Patriots 23, Jets 7
I just got feeling back in my fingers, so I can write about this game. I'm really ticked off, so I don't know how much I'm going to rehash.
I can't find any play-by-play game recaps (I thought espn or yahoo had those, but I guess I was wrong), but I think the turning point of this game happened in the second quarter, on the Patriots touchdown drive.
The Jets had the Patriots at third and nine, in Patriots' territory. 3rd and 9! And the crowd is into the game, yelling, trying to rattle Brady, when what happens...the Jets have just 10 guys on the field! The Jets call time out. The Jets have to call time out! What a momentum swing. The Patriots have time to regroup, they come out with a pass play that gets them the first down. Not two plays later, the Jets have to call another timeout because they again have confusion on defense after having just 10 guys on the field. Way to take the crowd out of the game, boys. The Pats went up 10-0, then 16-0, then 23-0. The Jets got crushed.
Chad Pennington looked awful. He padded his stats in garbage time. Everyone's saying Paul Hackett should be fired (which is probably the case, but he can't really be blamed for this game) but it's not really fair for Hackett right now. Pennington can't throw the ball far down the field when his shoulder is at normal strength. Right now, he's got a serious problem with his shoulder, and he can't make a throw over five yards. It was like watching Bad Vinny (as opposed to good '98 Vinny) every time Pennington dropped back to pass vs. the Pats. I think the Jets might be better off going with Quincy Carter next week, just so the Jets can use Santana Moss' speed and have him streak down field. Pennington just can't get the ball to him.
Every time Pennington tried to throw the ball twenty or more yards he was picked off. The first drive, Bruschi got him, and then on another drive, down 16-0 at the start of the fourth quarter, Pennington was picked again. Curtis Martin couldn't get going, not really his fault, I think it was more a result of the play-calling. Martin would run for a yard, then everyone in the building knew he was getting the ball again on second down. I don't like to hear the Jets get booed at home, but they deserved every boo they got on Sunday.
Everyone sucked. Special teams - allowing Troy Brown to rip off a huge punt return right before the half, then turning the ball over on a squib kick (which resulted in a missed field goal) right after that drive ended with a field goal. The defense just didn't play smart, or well. The defense played poorly. Very bad game all around.
The Patriots played well, they played smart. The Jets kept shooting themselves in the foot. They had their opportunities to jump out to a lead, and stop the Patriots' streak of scoring first (it was 0-0 after one), but the Jets just kept beating themselves. Bad, bad game.
I feel like the Jets bounce back very well from these types of games (probably better than I do), so I think they will do well in Saint Louis next week, and probably get into the playoffs. But they need to improve...a lot...if they're going to do anything in the playoffs.
I can't find any play-by-play game recaps (I thought espn or yahoo had those, but I guess I was wrong), but I think the turning point of this game happened in the second quarter, on the Patriots touchdown drive.
The Jets had the Patriots at third and nine, in Patriots' territory. 3rd and 9! And the crowd is into the game, yelling, trying to rattle Brady, when what happens...the Jets have just 10 guys on the field! The Jets call time out. The Jets have to call time out! What a momentum swing. The Patriots have time to regroup, they come out with a pass play that gets them the first down. Not two plays later, the Jets have to call another timeout because they again have confusion on defense after having just 10 guys on the field. Way to take the crowd out of the game, boys. The Pats went up 10-0, then 16-0, then 23-0. The Jets got crushed.
Chad Pennington looked awful. He padded his stats in garbage time. Everyone's saying Paul Hackett should be fired (which is probably the case, but he can't really be blamed for this game) but it's not really fair for Hackett right now. Pennington can't throw the ball far down the field when his shoulder is at normal strength. Right now, he's got a serious problem with his shoulder, and he can't make a throw over five yards. It was like watching Bad Vinny (as opposed to good '98 Vinny) every time Pennington dropped back to pass vs. the Pats. I think the Jets might be better off going with Quincy Carter next week, just so the Jets can use Santana Moss' speed and have him streak down field. Pennington just can't get the ball to him.
Every time Pennington tried to throw the ball twenty or more yards he was picked off. The first drive, Bruschi got him, and then on another drive, down 16-0 at the start of the fourth quarter, Pennington was picked again. Curtis Martin couldn't get going, not really his fault, I think it was more a result of the play-calling. Martin would run for a yard, then everyone in the building knew he was getting the ball again on second down. I don't like to hear the Jets get booed at home, but they deserved every boo they got on Sunday.
Everyone sucked. Special teams - allowing Troy Brown to rip off a huge punt return right before the half, then turning the ball over on a squib kick (which resulted in a missed field goal) right after that drive ended with a field goal. The defense just didn't play smart, or well. The defense played poorly. Very bad game all around.
The Patriots played well, they played smart. The Jets kept shooting themselves in the foot. They had their opportunities to jump out to a lead, and stop the Patriots' streak of scoring first (it was 0-0 after one), but the Jets just kept beating themselves. Bad, bad game.
I feel like the Jets bounce back very well from these types of games (probably better than I do), so I think they will do well in Saint Louis next week, and probably get into the playoffs. But they need to improve...a lot...if they're going to do anything in the playoffs.
Labels:
Chad Pennington,
Coaches,
In Attendance,
Patriots
Thursday, December 23, 2004
Sunday, 4pm - Jets vs. Patriots
Since there's a bunch of traveling and Christmasing on the horizon, I'm going to post the picks and predictions and then see you post-game on Sunday.
A couple of things before the prediction, though. John Abraham, Curtis Martin, and Kevin Mawae are the Jets' Pro Bowlers. Abraham says he will not be back for any of the regular season games. He's shooting for the first week of the playoffs, but it's still not clear if that's even realistic.
Also, on Wednesday, apparently, Chad Pennington started his talk with the media by saying, "Group hug, real quick?". That's great comedy.
The big talk now in the papers (even in New York), is how horrible Tom Brady played in the last couple of minutes of the game Monday night in Miami. And the talk of Pennington not being able to win the "big game" is starting up again.
I'm kind of mad the Patriots lost to Miami, first of all, because the Jets lost to Pittsburgh. Had the Jets beaten Pittsburgh, and needed Miami to beat New England to keep their division title hopes alive, it wouldn't have happened. I'm also mad about it because the Patriots are going to be coming off a loss...they're 2-0 coming off their last two losses (That's spread out over a year and a half - I came up with that stat myself - and it might actually be 3-0 coming off their last 3 losses, but I can't remember that far back). But the point is, I would have rather seen the Pats coming into the Meadowlands off a win rather than a loss.
I still think, though, that the Jets will beat the Patriots. I don't care what ANYONE says, the Patriots' defense has gotten worse as the year has gone on. Other people may believe this is not the case, but that is my opinion, and that's what I put on this site - MY OPINION. And the fact that a wide receiver is playing defense only furthers my point that the Patriots are having defensive problems. So that works in the Jets favor. If Tom Brady makes some more bonehead plays (though highly unlikely), that works in the Jets favor. And this is the second road game in a row for the Patriots, for whatever that's worth...that has to work in the Jets favor. Meanwhile, it's the second home game in a row for the Jets, and the Pats are coming off a Monday night game - short turnaround.
All that still doesn't decide the game. The Jets have lost three straight to the Pats, and it's about time for the fortunes in the series to shift. The Jets have hung in there with New England, barely losing earlier this year. Since that meeting the Jets' defense has improved (and it wasn't too bad at that point of the year), and that will help the Jets get over the hump. Jets, 21-7.
One more thing about this game - I'm happy the Dolphins allowed the Patriots to get out to a 7-0 lead in Monday night's game, because now it allows the Jets to break the Pats' streak of scoring first in 20 straight games or so. I really think the Jets will get on the board first, even if it's just a field goal...they are well aware of that streak, and the Jets are well aware that they need to score first if they hope to win.
Here's my take on the rest of the NFL (after a three-week let the wife pick 'em hiatus, I pick up at 88-84-4 on the season):
NYJ +3
GB +3
OAK +7
DEN -4
BAL +6
DET -6
CIN -6
SD +7
JAX -6.5
TB -3
ATL +3
BUF -10
WAS -2
SEA -7.5
MIA -6
PHI +2.5
Merry Christmas to all (even you, Al M.)...and I'll post again when I get back from the game on Sunday.
Since there's a bunch of traveling and Christmasing on the horizon, I'm going to post the picks and predictions and then see you post-game on Sunday.
A couple of things before the prediction, though. John Abraham, Curtis Martin, and Kevin Mawae are the Jets' Pro Bowlers. Abraham says he will not be back for any of the regular season games. He's shooting for the first week of the playoffs, but it's still not clear if that's even realistic.
Also, on Wednesday, apparently, Chad Pennington started his talk with the media by saying, "Group hug, real quick?". That's great comedy.
The big talk now in the papers (even in New York), is how horrible Tom Brady played in the last couple of minutes of the game Monday night in Miami. And the talk of Pennington not being able to win the "big game" is starting up again.
I'm kind of mad the Patriots lost to Miami, first of all, because the Jets lost to Pittsburgh. Had the Jets beaten Pittsburgh, and needed Miami to beat New England to keep their division title hopes alive, it wouldn't have happened. I'm also mad about it because the Patriots are going to be coming off a loss...they're 2-0 coming off their last two losses (That's spread out over a year and a half - I came up with that stat myself - and it might actually be 3-0 coming off their last 3 losses, but I can't remember that far back). But the point is, I would have rather seen the Pats coming into the Meadowlands off a win rather than a loss.
I still think, though, that the Jets will beat the Patriots. I don't care what ANYONE says, the Patriots' defense has gotten worse as the year has gone on. Other people may believe this is not the case, but that is my opinion, and that's what I put on this site - MY OPINION. And the fact that a wide receiver is playing defense only furthers my point that the Patriots are having defensive problems. So that works in the Jets favor. If Tom Brady makes some more bonehead plays (though highly unlikely), that works in the Jets favor. And this is the second road game in a row for the Patriots, for whatever that's worth...that has to work in the Jets favor. Meanwhile, it's the second home game in a row for the Jets, and the Pats are coming off a Monday night game - short turnaround.
All that still doesn't decide the game. The Jets have lost three straight to the Pats, and it's about time for the fortunes in the series to shift. The Jets have hung in there with New England, barely losing earlier this year. Since that meeting the Jets' defense has improved (and it wasn't too bad at that point of the year), and that will help the Jets get over the hump. Jets, 21-7.
One more thing about this game - I'm happy the Dolphins allowed the Patriots to get out to a 7-0 lead in Monday night's game, because now it allows the Jets to break the Pats' streak of scoring first in 20 straight games or so. I really think the Jets will get on the board first, even if it's just a field goal...they are well aware of that streak, and the Jets are well aware that they need to score first if they hope to win.
Here's my take on the rest of the NFL (after a three-week let the wife pick 'em hiatus, I pick up at 88-84-4 on the season):
NYJ +3
GB +3
OAK +7
DEN -4
BAL +6
DET -6
CIN -6
SD +7
JAX -6.5
TB -3
ATL +3
BUF -10
WAS -2
SEA -7.5
MIA -6
PHI +2.5
Merry Christmas to all (even you, Al M.)...and I'll post again when I get back from the game on Sunday.
Labels:
Chad Pennington,
NFL Picks,
Patriots,
Tom Brady
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
On Thursday I will probably post the angry e-mail from Mr. Montoya. But today I need to devote the space to Chad Pennington.
Here's my take on Pennington's attack on the media:
I don't care. I don't. Pennington was supposedly mad at what the writers said about him following the loss to Pittsburgh, and supposedly used that as motivation in his 3-touchdown performance against the Seahawks, and then, after trying not to speak to the media on Sunday, spoke AT the media on Monday. I don't care for a few reasons.
1) What the media writes about this situation is biased, because they can tell any story they want, and leave out whatever part of Chad's speil (?) they want. (I know that in some newspapers they've already done that, because before Chad [I'm not on a first-name basis with him, it's just that 'Chad' is easier to keep writing than 'Pennington'] told them 'it's a privilege to cover the Jets', he told them he was privileged to be in the spot he was in, QB of the Jets, and that hasn't shown up in any of the papers, because it's not juicy enough.
2) I don't care because Chad had a great game on Sunday, and if he needs to be mad at the media or someone else to have a great game, then get mad, Chad, get mad. The newspaper reporters are making a big deal out of this, saying that this whole thing shows that Pennington gets rattled. I don't understand how that's the case. If this had happened before the Pittsburgh game, when Pennington threw 3 INT's, I'd believe he's susceptible to the media rattling him. But he went out and led the Jets to a 37-14 win. That's not rattled.
3) Here's why I do care about this thing: Chad Pennington is too smart to do something like this. It doesn't fit into the type of person he's been the past few years. I do believe that Pennington is pissed, but I don't think he needs to make a big public stink about it. I have a feeling Pennington was looking ahead to what a big game this Sunday is (for the Jets to clinch a playoff spot with a win, for the Jets to prove they can beat a really good team), and wanted to create a distraction from the media hubbub that usually surrounds the Jets-Patriots matchups (especially when there's playoff positioning on the line). I could be way off, but I just have a feeling that this is what Pennington is up to, and it's just something that the New York media can string along and make a big deal out of.
One last thing - it's also an opportunity for the Jets' beat writers to make a big deal out of how badly they've been treated by New York Jets players in the past. For an example, check out Rich Cimini's rant in the Jets Insider in the New York Daily News Wednesday. Boo-hoo, Rich. If you don't enjoy what you do, don't do it. I didn't like the Red Sox being a bunch of jerks, so I stopped producing sports, and now I teach. And now I have a week-and-a-half of vacation. Maybe you should become a teacher Rich. And stop complaining about Chad Pennington handing you your lunch.
Oh, one more last last thing: I heard Pennington on the radio following the Steelers loss. He was harder on himself than anyone in the media could have been. So I'm not sure that he was totally angry at the media's coverage following the Pittsburgh game at all...he knows he played poorly. I think he was more mad at the perception that he can't win the big game, so he'll probably have that motivation on Sunday against the Patriots too.
Here's my take on Pennington's attack on the media:
I don't care. I don't. Pennington was supposedly mad at what the writers said about him following the loss to Pittsburgh, and supposedly used that as motivation in his 3-touchdown performance against the Seahawks, and then, after trying not to speak to the media on Sunday, spoke AT the media on Monday. I don't care for a few reasons.
1) What the media writes about this situation is biased, because they can tell any story they want, and leave out whatever part of Chad's speil (?) they want. (I know that in some newspapers they've already done that, because before Chad [I'm not on a first-name basis with him, it's just that 'Chad' is easier to keep writing than 'Pennington'] told them 'it's a privilege to cover the Jets', he told them he was privileged to be in the spot he was in, QB of the Jets, and that hasn't shown up in any of the papers, because it's not juicy enough.
2) I don't care because Chad had a great game on Sunday, and if he needs to be mad at the media or someone else to have a great game, then get mad, Chad, get mad. The newspaper reporters are making a big deal out of this, saying that this whole thing shows that Pennington gets rattled. I don't understand how that's the case. If this had happened before the Pittsburgh game, when Pennington threw 3 INT's, I'd believe he's susceptible to the media rattling him. But he went out and led the Jets to a 37-14 win. That's not rattled.
3) Here's why I do care about this thing: Chad Pennington is too smart to do something like this. It doesn't fit into the type of person he's been the past few years. I do believe that Pennington is pissed, but I don't think he needs to make a big public stink about it. I have a feeling Pennington was looking ahead to what a big game this Sunday is (for the Jets to clinch a playoff spot with a win, for the Jets to prove they can beat a really good team), and wanted to create a distraction from the media hubbub that usually surrounds the Jets-Patriots matchups (especially when there's playoff positioning on the line). I could be way off, but I just have a feeling that this is what Pennington is up to, and it's just something that the New York media can string along and make a big deal out of.
One last thing - it's also an opportunity for the Jets' beat writers to make a big deal out of how badly they've been treated by New York Jets players in the past. For an example, check out Rich Cimini's rant in the Jets Insider in the New York Daily News Wednesday. Boo-hoo, Rich. If you don't enjoy what you do, don't do it. I didn't like the Red Sox being a bunch of jerks, so I stopped producing sports, and now I teach. And now I have a week-and-a-half of vacation. Maybe you should become a teacher Rich. And stop complaining about Chad Pennington handing you your lunch.
Oh, one more last last thing: I heard Pennington on the radio following the Steelers loss. He was harder on himself than anyone in the media could have been. So I'm not sure that he was totally angry at the media's coverage following the Pittsburgh game at all...he knows he played poorly. I think he was more mad at the perception that he can't win the big game, so he'll probably have that motivation on Sunday against the Patriots too.
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Unfortunately, due to a holiday concert at my school, and the wife needing the computer, I need to keep this one short. So I will take a couple of e-mails, and save a huge long rant of an e-mail for tomorrow...as well as my comments on Chad Pennington's comments.
"Dear JohnnyJets,
Do you find it a privelege to run a New York Jets blog? ChadPennington says you should, because you get to write about some of the greatest athletes in the world for an audience that is known to include at least 3 people who are not your wife.
On a separate note, could you, as a Jets fan experienced at hysteric overreaction, give me any tips on how I should hysterically overreact to the Pats' loss last night [Monday]?
I have an unsubstantiated theory that the Pats are play much worse in the final 2 minutes of the first half and of the game than they do the other 56 minutes.
I can cite last night [Monday], and the end of the first half against the Ravens.
I have no other proof.
On the Jags bandwagon since 9/04,
Dave in S.C."
Dave - I'll reserve comment on the Pennington comments until tomorrow. Here's how you can hysterically overreact to the Patriots' :
"Oh my God, the Patriots lost to the Dolphins!! That was horrible. How can I ever get past that disaster of a game?!?! I hope they don't even show up in New York on Sunday, since it's going to be all downhill from here." That might be a start.
As for your theory that the Pats are a bad "final 2 minute" team, remember that the first time they played the Jets, the Patriots won the game with a drive in the final two minutes of the first half. (Then the teams played to a scoreless second half.) Tom Brady has also won more than his share of games coming back late in the game...I can't think of whether or not that has happened yet this year, though...maybe week 1 against Indy. The fact is, they've been ahead so much this year, they haven't had to play too well in the "final two minutes".
One more e-mail:
"Dear JohnnyJets-
Please note that for the last two weeks of the season, I will not be providing picks to your Web site. I have utterly choked since broadcasting my picks, and have fallen to #223 in the country. I was at 72 two weeks ago! If you want me to make a miracle run at winning the plasma TV, you will cease and desist from publishing my picks. I can't deal with the pressure.
Sincerely,
Your Wife"
Thanks, Wife. I was actually going to comment on this fact before I knew the wife had sent an e-mail...I knew I should have just published the picks without asking her - I knew it would put the pressure on. She says I should say she choked worse than Tom Brady on Monday night. I prefer to compare her to the singing frog in the old Warner Bros. cartoon...she picks the games when no one's looking, and then when everyone's attention is on her, she acts like she's just your run of the mill girl.
OK...tomorrow is the last day of school, so I will start writing more then. I'm actually undecided on whether I will print the Al Montoya e-mail - it's got an angry tone...that's just not what we're all about here at johnnyjets.blogspot.com. Especially during the holidays. Maybe that's the answer to Dave's question - send angry e-mails as hysteric overraction to your team losing to one of the worst teams in football.
"Dear JohnnyJets,
Do you find it a privelege to run a New York Jets blog? ChadPennington says you should, because you get to write about some of the greatest athletes in the world for an audience that is known to include at least 3 people who are not your wife.
On a separate note, could you, as a Jets fan experienced at hysteric overreaction, give me any tips on how I should hysterically overreact to the Pats' loss last night [Monday]?
I have an unsubstantiated theory that the Pats are play much worse in the final 2 minutes of the first half and of the game than they do the other 56 minutes.
I can cite last night [Monday], and the end of the first half against the Ravens.
I have no other proof.
On the Jags bandwagon since 9/04,
Dave in S.C."
Dave - I'll reserve comment on the Pennington comments until tomorrow. Here's how you can hysterically overreact to the Patriots' :
"Oh my God, the Patriots lost to the Dolphins!! That was horrible. How can I ever get past that disaster of a game?!?! I hope they don't even show up in New York on Sunday, since it's going to be all downhill from here." That might be a start.
As for your theory that the Pats are a bad "final 2 minute" team, remember that the first time they played the Jets, the Patriots won the game with a drive in the final two minutes of the first half. (Then the teams played to a scoreless second half.) Tom Brady has also won more than his share of games coming back late in the game...I can't think of whether or not that has happened yet this year, though...maybe week 1 against Indy. The fact is, they've been ahead so much this year, they haven't had to play too well in the "final two minutes".
One more e-mail:
"Dear JohnnyJets-
Please note that for the last two weeks of the season, I will not be providing picks to your Web site. I have utterly choked since broadcasting my picks, and have fallen to #223 in the country. I was at 72 two weeks ago! If you want me to make a miracle run at winning the plasma TV, you will cease and desist from publishing my picks. I can't deal with the pressure.
Sincerely,
Your Wife"
Thanks, Wife. I was actually going to comment on this fact before I knew the wife had sent an e-mail...I knew I should have just published the picks without asking her - I knew it would put the pressure on. She says I should say she choked worse than Tom Brady on Monday night. I prefer to compare her to the singing frog in the old Warner Bros. cartoon...she picks the games when no one's looking, and then when everyone's attention is on her, she acts like she's just your run of the mill girl.
OK...tomorrow is the last day of school, so I will start writing more then. I'm actually undecided on whether I will print the Al Montoya e-mail - it's got an angry tone...that's just not what we're all about here at johnnyjets.blogspot.com. Especially during the holidays. Maybe that's the answer to Dave's question - send angry e-mails as hysteric overraction to your team losing to one of the worst teams in football.
Labels:
Chad Pennington,
Dave in Brighton,
E-Mail,
The Wife
Monday, December 20, 2004
Not much to talk about with the Patriots playing as I write this. The only development I will get to tonight is Chad Pennington being ornery.
Pennington, after Sunday's game, tried to walk out of the lockerroom without speaking to the media, but he was held up by a Jets PR guy. Pennington stuck around, spoke for about a minute and a half, and then bolted. He was very short and terse with the media on Sunday. Teammates said, "Chad had something to prove".
On Monday, Pennington apparently ripped into reporters because of the things they wrote leading up to the Seahawks game...or more accurately, following the Pittsburgh game. I have not seen or read these quotes, but I will write more about this scenario tomorrow. All I'll say for right now is that if Pennington was playing angry on Sunday, keep playing angry....he played one of his better games of the season on Sunday.
One e-mail to get to (thankfully Dave is no longer charading as a Brighton resident during his Christmas holiday):
"Dear Johnnyjets,
Is it possible that the AFC East could provide three (3) playoffs teams?
Is there a scenario where the Jets and Bills would win both wild cards?
Is this unprecedented?
Would that make the AFC East the best division in football?
Would it make it the bet division insports?
What do you think the best division in sports is? NL East,probably, you jamoke.
Signed,Dave in Mauldin, SC...home of the flourescent orange Mauldin Mavs visor."
Well, Dave, it's a shame the Dolphins tanked this year, because the AFC East would definitely be the best division in sports if the Dolphins were the slightest bit competitive. Well, since Miami is competitive right now with the Patriots, I'll go along with it. Sure, the AFC East is the best division in sports...and definitely the NFL. I think the Bills have a real shot at the wild card - having won 8 of their last 10 games. Here's the breakdown of the 4 wild card potentials (not counting the Jets, who hopefully get in even at 10-6):
BUF: at SF, vs. PIT
BAL: at PIT, vs. MIA
JAX: vs. HOU, at OAK
DEN: at TEN, vs. IND
I think all of those teams will lose one of their final two games, except for Jacksonville. So I think the Jaguars get into the playoffs, proving you, Dave from Mauldin, SC, quite prescient, picking Jacksonville to do something big early in the year.
One other note I wanted to touch on before I go to bed - the Eagles are so screwed. Even if they've proven they can win without Terrell Owens, which I don't think is the case, I think his broken leg is going to mess with their heads so much that they might lose their first playoff game -not even making it to the NFC Championship game. Just a thought. Look for Atlanta (or an even crappier team) to make it to the Super Bowl out of the NFC.
Pennington, after Sunday's game, tried to walk out of the lockerroom without speaking to the media, but he was held up by a Jets PR guy. Pennington stuck around, spoke for about a minute and a half, and then bolted. He was very short and terse with the media on Sunday. Teammates said, "Chad had something to prove".
On Monday, Pennington apparently ripped into reporters because of the things they wrote leading up to the Seahawks game...or more accurately, following the Pittsburgh game. I have not seen or read these quotes, but I will write more about this scenario tomorrow. All I'll say for right now is that if Pennington was playing angry on Sunday, keep playing angry....he played one of his better games of the season on Sunday.
One e-mail to get to (thankfully Dave is no longer charading as a Brighton resident during his Christmas holiday):
"Dear Johnnyjets,
Is it possible that the AFC East could provide three (3) playoffs teams?
Is there a scenario where the Jets and Bills would win both wild cards?
Is this unprecedented?
Would that make the AFC East the best division in football?
Would it make it the bet division insports?
What do you think the best division in sports is? NL East,probably, you jamoke.
Signed,Dave in Mauldin, SC...home of the flourescent orange Mauldin Mavs visor."
Well, Dave, it's a shame the Dolphins tanked this year, because the AFC East would definitely be the best division in sports if the Dolphins were the slightest bit competitive. Well, since Miami is competitive right now with the Patriots, I'll go along with it. Sure, the AFC East is the best division in sports...and definitely the NFL. I think the Bills have a real shot at the wild card - having won 8 of their last 10 games. Here's the breakdown of the 4 wild card potentials (not counting the Jets, who hopefully get in even at 10-6):
BUF: at SF, vs. PIT
BAL: at PIT, vs. MIA
JAX: vs. HOU, at OAK
DEN: at TEN, vs. IND
I think all of those teams will lose one of their final two games, except for Jacksonville. So I think the Jaguars get into the playoffs, proving you, Dave from Mauldin, SC, quite prescient, picking Jacksonville to do something big early in the year.
One other note I wanted to touch on before I go to bed - the Eagles are so screwed. Even if they've proven they can win without Terrell Owens, which I don't think is the case, I think his broken leg is going to mess with their heads so much that they might lose their first playoff game -not even making it to the NFC Championship game. Just a thought. Look for Atlanta (or an even crappier team) to make it to the Super Bowl out of the NFC.
Labels:
AFC East,
Chad Pennington,
E-Mail,
Eagles,
Seahawks
Sunday, December 19, 2004
Jets 37, Seahawks 17
Ah, good ol' reliable Seattle. Nothing like a good choke job by the Seahawks to make you feel better about your team. But seriously, folks, the Jets played very well, improving to 10-4 on the season, and moving to within a win of a playoff spot. (For you non-Jets fans out there, just realize that 10 wins in a season is still a pretty novel thing to us Jets fans...we're used to double digits in the losses column.)
Chad Pennington came back from last week's disaster in Pittsburgh with an awesome game. 253 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT. Classic Chad. His throws looked as good this week as they looked bad last week. So maybe his arm isn't in as bad shape as I thought. I'll get a look in person next week against New England.
Curtis Martin rushed for 134 yards and 2 touchdowns (LaMont Jordan added 84 yards on the ground) as the Jets racked up 482 yards of offense. Very nice. The only negative spot on offense came in the third quarter when Anthony Becht dropped a touchdown pass on the goal line. He got booed off the field for the second consecutive home game. The Jets' tight ends were being talked up all week as needing to become a bigger part of the offense, and Becht had just two passes thrown his way (including the dropped TD), and Chris Baker had one catch. Maybe they'll throw Becht's way a lot more in the coming games...or they're saving it for the post-season. Either way, it doesn't look like Anthony Becht will be back in a Jets uniform next year. The good news, though, is that uncharacteristically, after Becht dropped the TD pass, the Jets went right back to the air from the 7-yard line and Pennington threw a touchdown to Santana Moss. Usually the Jets would run it into the ground and settle for a field goal in a situation like that.
On the ensuing drive, the Seahawks drove down to the Jets' 1-yard line, and the defense held, forced fourth down, and then Shawn Alexander fumbled the ball into the end zone. The defense has been playing so well...and another second half shutout - that's starting to mean something to me now. Terrell Buckley got burned again for a touchdown (so did Donnie Abraham), but if the defense keeps playing like this, who knows what could happen.
Doug Brien had a couple of hiccups, missing an extra point and a field goal, but he tends to do that once or twice a year. So I think it's out of his system.
The officiating was once again horrid. Seattle had a few gripes in that game, nothing that changed the course of the game, really, but the Jets caught a couple of breaks. I think...I'm not really positive. I have a bad feeling that someone's season this year is going to hinge on a bad call by the referees....I hate when that happens. It better not be the Jets. I just feel that no matter what, the refs tend to favor the home team, and it gets aggravating...especially when the Jets' path to the championship takes them on the road.
Moving on to some other news from Sunday - the Broncos collapse has been unreal. They got whipped by the Chiefs on Sunday, and with the Jaguars and Bills winning, (and pending the outcome of Sunday night's Baltimore game), the Broncos have put themselves almost out of the playoffs. Speaking of the Bills winning, that Jets' loss to the Bills isn't looking so horrible anymore. (Although I'm still a little upset by it.) But the Bills, after starting off 0-4 (remember, I called them the best 0-4 team in football...you can look it up), are now 8-6. And I called them the best 0-4 team in football because they lost some really, really close games back in September. They could easily be 9-5, 10-4...even 11-3 right now. I think. The Jaguars snuck by them, the Jets beat them by two...Bledsoe was driving the Bills to tie against the Patriots late in the game....anyway, the fact remains the Bills are 8-6...but they're making a playoff push.
A couple of e-mails from Dave (not in Brighton this week):
"Dear JohnnyJets,
I know you eschew the Sunday morning pregame shows, so I wanted to let
you know that Chad Pennington was the guest on Fox's "Ten Yards with
TB" segment.
As a dutiful JJDBSDC agent, I took notes so you could have blog fodder in case Al takes the week off.
If you're not familiar with the segment, Terry Bradshaw gives you 2 choices, and you pick one of them. Chad's picks in CAPS.
call your own plays/COACH CALLS THE PLAYS
big arm/OK ARM
zero int's/FOUR TD'S
rhodes scholarship/HEISMAN TROPHY
rock and roll/COUNTRY WESTERN
boxers/briefs
Chad said BOXER-BRIEFS.
METS/yankees
Chad offered that he likes the Islanders, too.
namath/MONTANA
Before making his choice Chad said "Joe, I love you," which is almost as funny as "Joe, I wanna kiss you."
LARRY THE CABLE GUY/jeff foxworthy
Mets? He must be nuts. Maybe they taped it before the Pedro business.
Dave in Brighton"
Dave, thank you. But to be honest, I saw an ad for the pregame show Saturday while watching Redskins/49ers, so I knew about Pennington and Bradshaw. So I tuned in to see that. He was very entertaining...as usual. Pennington is a good interview, as is Tom Brady. Thanks for the transcript, though...and you don't know how happy I was to hear Pennington roots for the Mets. Perhaps there's a shot I'll fire up johnnymets.blogspot.com again.
Dave checked in again later in the day:
"Dear Johnnyjets,
Granted I didn't see the game because I'm out of market, but what's up
with the Jets running up the score on poor helpless Seattle? 37-14?
How offensive.
Dave in Brighton"
An interesting thing about the Jets offensive output, Dave. After the Jets lost 20-13 to the Bears in 2002, jeopardizing their playoff hopes, they reeled off games of 30, 42, and 41 points against New England, Green Bay, and Indianapolis as they won the AFC East, then their divisional playoff game. The Daily News made the comparison today, with the Jets coming off the loss to Pittsburgh, that maybe the Jets would start another offensive streak like that....so far, the Daily News is right. 37 points. Granted, it was the Seattle Seahawks defense, but it was a good game plan. I'll take it. Let's do the same thing to New England next week.
That's all I have for today...this will be a big week for the blog. Thanks for reading, and we'll do e-mails tomorrow (and the rest of the week, if there's enough e-mail).
Chad Pennington came back from last week's disaster in Pittsburgh with an awesome game. 253 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT. Classic Chad. His throws looked as good this week as they looked bad last week. So maybe his arm isn't in as bad shape as I thought. I'll get a look in person next week against New England.
Curtis Martin rushed for 134 yards and 2 touchdowns (LaMont Jordan added 84 yards on the ground) as the Jets racked up 482 yards of offense. Very nice. The only negative spot on offense came in the third quarter when Anthony Becht dropped a touchdown pass on the goal line. He got booed off the field for the second consecutive home game. The Jets' tight ends were being talked up all week as needing to become a bigger part of the offense, and Becht had just two passes thrown his way (including the dropped TD), and Chris Baker had one catch. Maybe they'll throw Becht's way a lot more in the coming games...or they're saving it for the post-season. Either way, it doesn't look like Anthony Becht will be back in a Jets uniform next year. The good news, though, is that uncharacteristically, after Becht dropped the TD pass, the Jets went right back to the air from the 7-yard line and Pennington threw a touchdown to Santana Moss. Usually the Jets would run it into the ground and settle for a field goal in a situation like that.
On the ensuing drive, the Seahawks drove down to the Jets' 1-yard line, and the defense held, forced fourth down, and then Shawn Alexander fumbled the ball into the end zone. The defense has been playing so well...and another second half shutout - that's starting to mean something to me now. Terrell Buckley got burned again for a touchdown (so did Donnie Abraham), but if the defense keeps playing like this, who knows what could happen.
Doug Brien had a couple of hiccups, missing an extra point and a field goal, but he tends to do that once or twice a year. So I think it's out of his system.
The officiating was once again horrid. Seattle had a few gripes in that game, nothing that changed the course of the game, really, but the Jets caught a couple of breaks. I think...I'm not really positive. I have a bad feeling that someone's season this year is going to hinge on a bad call by the referees....I hate when that happens. It better not be the Jets. I just feel that no matter what, the refs tend to favor the home team, and it gets aggravating...especially when the Jets' path to the championship takes them on the road.
Moving on to some other news from Sunday - the Broncos collapse has been unreal. They got whipped by the Chiefs on Sunday, and with the Jaguars and Bills winning, (and pending the outcome of Sunday night's Baltimore game), the Broncos have put themselves almost out of the playoffs. Speaking of the Bills winning, that Jets' loss to the Bills isn't looking so horrible anymore. (Although I'm still a little upset by it.) But the Bills, after starting off 0-4 (remember, I called them the best 0-4 team in football...you can look it up), are now 8-6. And I called them the best 0-4 team in football because they lost some really, really close games back in September. They could easily be 9-5, 10-4...even 11-3 right now. I think. The Jaguars snuck by them, the Jets beat them by two...Bledsoe was driving the Bills to tie against the Patriots late in the game....anyway, the fact remains the Bills are 8-6...but they're making a playoff push.
A couple of e-mails from Dave (not in Brighton this week):
"Dear JohnnyJets,
I know you eschew the Sunday morning pregame shows, so I wanted to let
you know that Chad Pennington was the guest on Fox's "Ten Yards with
TB" segment.
As a dutiful JJDBSDC agent, I took notes so you could have blog fodder in case Al takes the week off.
If you're not familiar with the segment, Terry Bradshaw gives you 2 choices, and you pick one of them. Chad's picks in CAPS.
call your own plays/COACH CALLS THE PLAYS
big arm/OK ARM
zero int's/FOUR TD'S
rhodes scholarship/HEISMAN TROPHY
rock and roll/COUNTRY WESTERN
boxers/briefs
Chad said BOXER-BRIEFS.
METS/yankees
Chad offered that he likes the Islanders, too.
namath/MONTANA
Before making his choice Chad said "Joe, I love you," which is almost as funny as "Joe, I wanna kiss you."
LARRY THE CABLE GUY/jeff foxworthy
Mets? He must be nuts. Maybe they taped it before the Pedro business.
Dave in Brighton"
Dave, thank you. But to be honest, I saw an ad for the pregame show Saturday while watching Redskins/49ers, so I knew about Pennington and Bradshaw. So I tuned in to see that. He was very entertaining...as usual. Pennington is a good interview, as is Tom Brady. Thanks for the transcript, though...and you don't know how happy I was to hear Pennington roots for the Mets. Perhaps there's a shot I'll fire up johnnymets.blogspot.com again.
Dave checked in again later in the day:
"Dear Johnnyjets,
Granted I didn't see the game because I'm out of market, but what's up
with the Jets running up the score on poor helpless Seattle? 37-14?
How offensive.
Dave in Brighton"
An interesting thing about the Jets offensive output, Dave. After the Jets lost 20-13 to the Bears in 2002, jeopardizing their playoff hopes, they reeled off games of 30, 42, and 41 points against New England, Green Bay, and Indianapolis as they won the AFC East, then their divisional playoff game. The Daily News made the comparison today, with the Jets coming off the loss to Pittsburgh, that maybe the Jets would start another offensive streak like that....so far, the Daily News is right. 37 points. Granted, it was the Seattle Seahawks defense, but it was a good game plan. I'll take it. Let's do the same thing to New England next week.
That's all I have for today...this will be a big week for the blog. Thanks for reading, and we'll do e-mails tomorrow (and the rest of the week, if there's enough e-mail).
Saturday, December 18, 2004
Good news - after I put this preview in, I'll try to finish up my final paper for the semester, then I'll hopefully get back to daily Jets updates.
And I just checked the e-mail, and there's a huge amount to talk about. So I'll post the picks, then respond to all the mail. Thanks for reading and writing, I apologize for the delay in the replies...it's the schoolwork (lest you think I am being rude).
So we'll start with the Seahawks at Jets, Sunday 1pm, on FOX25 (one of my many former employers) here in Boston.
The Jets see this as a must-win game, which I'm not so sure is a good thing. I have a feeling that this is going to be a real nail-biter, but I think the Jets will win. This is one of those games where the Jets have the potential to choke...bad. But there's only one team in the NFL with as spotty a history as the New York Jets, and that is the Seattle Seahawks. They need this game worse than the Jets do, and they will play worse than the Jets.
John Abraham again will not play, but as I've been saying, Bryan Thomas can fill in ably. There's a chance we'll be seeing a lot more of Derrick Strait, which is good, because Terrell Buckley has been killing the Jets lately. The secondary is going to be huge this week, because the Seahawks can throw the ball...but I'm not really worried about the defense. They'll be fine. Especially David Barrett, who has been fun to watch the past few weeks - I hope teams continue to test him - he makes a great deflection at least once a week.
But it's the offense I'm worried about. This week the Jets said Chad Pennington is not at 100%...which we already knew by watching him the past couple of weeks. But he says he knows he can be effective the rest of the season. The Jets are supposedly going to try to get the ball to their tight ends more these last few games...which to me might mean that Pennington can't get the ball downfield. But I expect the Jets to be able to do enough on offense to beat Seattle...I'm going to say Jets 31, Seahwaks 24.
That would mean the Jets cover the six and a half point spread....which seems like a lot...but I guess the Jets win by a touchdown. But you don't care about my picks - you want to know who The Wife picked - so here they are, Saturday games first:
PIT -10.5
WAS -3.5
ATL -3.5
NYJ -6.5
HOU +1.5
JAX +3.5
MIN -3.5
CLE +9.5
DAL +12.5
BUF -2.5
STL +1.5
NO +7.5
TEN +1.5
DEN +1.5
BAL +8.5
NE -9.5
The Wife suffered a setback last week, just hitting 7, she's down to 136 overall. Still not bad.
OK. Let's attack the mailbag, lots to get to.
"Word up, yo! Far be it from me to complain. And I give you all the credit in the world for keeping the web site afloat amidst the craziness of your life. However, I have to admit that the "analysis" on the site is letting me down a bit lately. I give you credit for making an assertion (vague and general though it was) that it seems unrealistic for the Jets to win 2 or 3 road games in the playoffs, but I GUARANTEE you won't pull the trigger on picking them to lose a specific game when the time comes. And you of course asserted that the Jets will beat the Patriots in two weeks. C'mon. Do you really believe that? (Then again, why wouldn't they? The Pats have already lost one game in their last 28, right?!)
AND THEN, you made some sort of half-cocked reference to the Colts probably putting up 45 points on the board against New England in the playoffs "with the way the Patriots are playing." Huh? Correct me if I'm wrong, but since losing their two starting cornerbacks (and usually playing without their third cornerback as well) and routinely using a wide receiver and a back-up linebacker at db, the Patriots have held the Rams to 20 points in St. Louis (tough to do with a full complement of db's), held Drew Bledsoe below 100 yards passing while annihilating and embarrassing the Bills, held the Chiefs to 19 points in Kansas City (even harder to do than holding down the Rams in St. Louis), essentially shut out the Ravens (yielding only a field goal after 30 yards of penalties on the same play), and held the Browns (who, granted, suck) to 7 points before pulling all of their healthy starters before finally having a tough day on defense against the Bengals. So I guess my final question is a two-parter... 1) What evidence exists that the Patriots' defense is prone to struggles? 2) Aren't they only likely to get even better as their three cornerbacks return from injury, all presumably before they would meet the Colts in the playoffs? (Oh yeah, and don't forget that the Colts are like 0-71 with Manning against the Pats and always give up a ton of points.)
Sometimes, all I can do is shake my head as I think about your web site while standing in my crease and watching my teammates in their winged helmets pepper the goalie at the other end of the ice!
Faithfully Yours,
Al Montoya
Ann Arbor, MI"
You're right, I probably won't pick against the Jets because I think they CAN win all of their remaining games. And I do think the Jets will beat New England next week at home. But we'll get to that next week. I'll watch the Patriots' defense this week against Miami and make another judgment before they play the Jets, but the fact is, their defense has not been as good overall this season as in the past (I know, they're 12-1, blah, blah, how can their defense not be that good!?!? It hasn't, I'm sure, if you look at the stats, and from what I saw of last week's game [admittedly, not much], they look like they're slipping, rather than improving.) I'll re-evaluate after Monday night's game. Let's move on....that's not the last we heard from Al. We'll get back to him.
"Dear JohnnyJets,
For entertainment purposes only, how do you think the Steelers, Eagles, and Pats will finish the season?
Is it possible there will be 3 teams at 15-1? Would that be historic?
Have you done the math to figure out who the Jets might face in the playoffs? Could they beat the Colts on the road?
Is your wife ranked No. 1 in the world yet? Have you ever ranked No. 1 in the world in anything? Spelling, maybe? Or blogging?
Dave"
Thanks for writing Dave. A quick look at the remaining skeds -
NE - Miami, Jets, 49ers - 2-1 (loss to Jets), finish 14-2.
PIT - Giants, Ravens, Bills - 2-1 (Bills or Ravens might pull the upset), finish 14-2
PHI - Cowboys, Rams, Bengals -2-1 (I think the Rams or Bengals pull off upsets - Bengals perhaps because of rested starters) - finish 14-2
I haven't done the math on who the Jets would face, but figure the Jets get the wild card (which is still a risky gamble), and figure NE and PIT get byes...the Jets can beat either San Diego or Indy on the road. The Jets already beat the Chargers at San Diego this year, and the Jets have proven in the past they can win in Indy. And although I picked the Colts to win the AFC, if the Jets face them in the first round, I can see the Jets winning. Remember 41-0 a couple of years ago? And that was with Ted Cottrell as the defensive coordinator - the Jets have a better defense this year. The interesting thing about the Jets playoff hopes this year is that they can win in New England, in Pittsburgh, and in Indianapolis or San Diego. So it's a long shot to get to the World Series as a wild card, but the Jets could do it this year....but let's worry first about beating Seattle and earning a playoff spot first.
As for your other questions: after last week's setback, unless The Wife hits 16 this week, she will not be ranked number one in the world (she is, however, in the playoffs in fantasy football. I am not.). I've never ranked number one in the world in anything...I won my school's spelling bee, but lost the District spelling bee, so scratch spelling. Not blogging, there are far better bloggers, I'm sure. I still manage to maintain something of a life. I've never even been on a Little League championship team. We came close once - we went 16-0, then lost in the playoffs.............man. That's a sad memory. I have gotten birthday cards telling me I'm #1 though, so I must be number one in something in the world.
Thanks for writing Dave. Kevin has written back with a qualifier on last week's abbreviation:
"JJDBSDC
Johhny
Jets
Dot
Blog
Spot
Dot
Com
Its not vulgar...but that's for assuming that since it was from me, it was. Probably a good guess.
kevin"
Thanks Kevin. I like it. Maybe I'll put JJDBSDC on my merchandise.
OK. One more time from Al:
"Where are the picks? And where are the email replies? Tuesday came and went without email replies. (And I don't want to read any excuses like, "I replied to emails on Monday." If you choose to do that, it should not count as a replacement, we faithful readers should get an EXTRA DAY of email replies!)
This web site has really gone downhill in recent days!
By the way, what are the chances that you're a Mets fan as well? (That sure is a swell looking stadium they have in Flushing Meadows, but I digress...) If so, I want you to know that I wish you nothing but joy and happiness for the next four years with the lying, crying, whiny, manipulative, backstabbing, hypocritical primadonna pitcher! (One other thing, I happen to know a Boston reporter who went to Shea for the Pedro press conference. He said he has never encountered worse people than the New York media types. The photographers were bossing people around and pushing people out of the way. And at one point, one of the NY reporters snapped at my friend, "ENOUGH BOSTON QUESTIONS!!!" Great place, that New York! I can't wait to play there.)
-Al Montoya
Ann Arbor, MI"
If I ever get e-mail on consecutive days, rest assured I will post them that day. Tuesday is the regular e-mail day, but there will be follow-ups...sadly, it's just that people hadn't been writing me, so I hadn't checked the mailbag. I will be more vigilant.
And Al, you know darn well I am a Mets fan. Well, maybe was a Mets fan. I can't decide yet. Because I don't know if I can take four years of Pedro Martinez. All we need to know about Pedro is he spent his entire welcome to the Mets press conference badmouthing the Red Sox. Show a little class, jerk. You sound awfully offended by the reaction to the media...you sound a lot more like a member of the media than the future goaltender of the New York Rangers...just saying...is Al Montoya your real name?
By the way, Al - How about those BU Terriers beating your alma mater, Michigan, at Michigan, for the second year in a row?!?!?! GO BU!!
OK. Time to get some other work done. Then I'll step up the blogging for the playoffs - and maybe take my spot as #1 blogger!!!!!!! Go Jets.
And I just checked the e-mail, and there's a huge amount to talk about. So I'll post the picks, then respond to all the mail. Thanks for reading and writing, I apologize for the delay in the replies...it's the schoolwork (lest you think I am being rude).
So we'll start with the Seahawks at Jets, Sunday 1pm, on FOX25 (one of my many former employers) here in Boston.
The Jets see this as a must-win game, which I'm not so sure is a good thing. I have a feeling that this is going to be a real nail-biter, but I think the Jets will win. This is one of those games where the Jets have the potential to choke...bad. But there's only one team in the NFL with as spotty a history as the New York Jets, and that is the Seattle Seahawks. They need this game worse than the Jets do, and they will play worse than the Jets.
John Abraham again will not play, but as I've been saying, Bryan Thomas can fill in ably. There's a chance we'll be seeing a lot more of Derrick Strait, which is good, because Terrell Buckley has been killing the Jets lately. The secondary is going to be huge this week, because the Seahawks can throw the ball...but I'm not really worried about the defense. They'll be fine. Especially David Barrett, who has been fun to watch the past few weeks - I hope teams continue to test him - he makes a great deflection at least once a week.
But it's the offense I'm worried about. This week the Jets said Chad Pennington is not at 100%...which we already knew by watching him the past couple of weeks. But he says he knows he can be effective the rest of the season. The Jets are supposedly going to try to get the ball to their tight ends more these last few games...which to me might mean that Pennington can't get the ball downfield. But I expect the Jets to be able to do enough on offense to beat Seattle...I'm going to say Jets 31, Seahwaks 24.
That would mean the Jets cover the six and a half point spread....which seems like a lot...but I guess the Jets win by a touchdown. But you don't care about my picks - you want to know who The Wife picked - so here they are, Saturday games first:
PIT -10.5
WAS -3.5
ATL -3.5
NYJ -6.5
HOU +1.5
JAX +3.5
MIN -3.5
CLE +9.5
DAL +12.5
BUF -2.5
STL +1.5
NO +7.5
TEN +1.5
DEN +1.5
BAL +8.5
NE -9.5
The Wife suffered a setback last week, just hitting 7, she's down to 136 overall. Still not bad.
OK. Let's attack the mailbag, lots to get to.
"Word up, yo! Far be it from me to complain. And I give you all the credit in the world for keeping the web site afloat amidst the craziness of your life. However, I have to admit that the "analysis" on the site is letting me down a bit lately. I give you credit for making an assertion (vague and general though it was) that it seems unrealistic for the Jets to win 2 or 3 road games in the playoffs, but I GUARANTEE you won't pull the trigger on picking them to lose a specific game when the time comes. And you of course asserted that the Jets will beat the Patriots in two weeks. C'mon. Do you really believe that? (Then again, why wouldn't they? The Pats have already lost one game in their last 28, right?!)
AND THEN, you made some sort of half-cocked reference to the Colts probably putting up 45 points on the board against New England in the playoffs "with the way the Patriots are playing." Huh? Correct me if I'm wrong, but since losing their two starting cornerbacks (and usually playing without their third cornerback as well) and routinely using a wide receiver and a back-up linebacker at db, the Patriots have held the Rams to 20 points in St. Louis (tough to do with a full complement of db's), held Drew Bledsoe below 100 yards passing while annihilating and embarrassing the Bills, held the Chiefs to 19 points in Kansas City (even harder to do than holding down the Rams in St. Louis), essentially shut out the Ravens (yielding only a field goal after 30 yards of penalties on the same play), and held the Browns (who, granted, suck) to 7 points before pulling all of their healthy starters before finally having a tough day on defense against the Bengals. So I guess my final question is a two-parter... 1) What evidence exists that the Patriots' defense is prone to struggles? 2) Aren't they only likely to get even better as their three cornerbacks return from injury, all presumably before they would meet the Colts in the playoffs? (Oh yeah, and don't forget that the Colts are like 0-71 with Manning against the Pats and always give up a ton of points.)
Sometimes, all I can do is shake my head as I think about your web site while standing in my crease and watching my teammates in their winged helmets pepper the goalie at the other end of the ice!
Faithfully Yours,
Al Montoya
Ann Arbor, MI"
You're right, I probably won't pick against the Jets because I think they CAN win all of their remaining games. And I do think the Jets will beat New England next week at home. But we'll get to that next week. I'll watch the Patriots' defense this week against Miami and make another judgment before they play the Jets, but the fact is, their defense has not been as good overall this season as in the past (I know, they're 12-1, blah, blah, how can their defense not be that good!?!? It hasn't, I'm sure, if you look at the stats, and from what I saw of last week's game [admittedly, not much], they look like they're slipping, rather than improving.) I'll re-evaluate after Monday night's game. Let's move on....that's not the last we heard from Al. We'll get back to him.
"Dear JohnnyJets,
For entertainment purposes only, how do you think the Steelers, Eagles, and Pats will finish the season?
Is it possible there will be 3 teams at 15-1? Would that be historic?
Have you done the math to figure out who the Jets might face in the playoffs? Could they beat the Colts on the road?
Is your wife ranked No. 1 in the world yet? Have you ever ranked No. 1 in the world in anything? Spelling, maybe? Or blogging?
Dave"
Thanks for writing Dave. A quick look at the remaining skeds -
NE - Miami, Jets, 49ers - 2-1 (loss to Jets), finish 14-2.
PIT - Giants, Ravens, Bills - 2-1 (Bills or Ravens might pull the upset), finish 14-2
PHI - Cowboys, Rams, Bengals -2-1 (I think the Rams or Bengals pull off upsets - Bengals perhaps because of rested starters) - finish 14-2
I haven't done the math on who the Jets would face, but figure the Jets get the wild card (which is still a risky gamble), and figure NE and PIT get byes...the Jets can beat either San Diego or Indy on the road. The Jets already beat the Chargers at San Diego this year, and the Jets have proven in the past they can win in Indy. And although I picked the Colts to win the AFC, if the Jets face them in the first round, I can see the Jets winning. Remember 41-0 a couple of years ago? And that was with Ted Cottrell as the defensive coordinator - the Jets have a better defense this year. The interesting thing about the Jets playoff hopes this year is that they can win in New England, in Pittsburgh, and in Indianapolis or San Diego. So it's a long shot to get to the World Series as a wild card, but the Jets could do it this year....but let's worry first about beating Seattle and earning a playoff spot first.
As for your other questions: after last week's setback, unless The Wife hits 16 this week, she will not be ranked number one in the world (she is, however, in the playoffs in fantasy football. I am not.). I've never ranked number one in the world in anything...I won my school's spelling bee, but lost the District spelling bee, so scratch spelling. Not blogging, there are far better bloggers, I'm sure. I still manage to maintain something of a life. I've never even been on a Little League championship team. We came close once - we went 16-0, then lost in the playoffs.............man. That's a sad memory. I have gotten birthday cards telling me I'm #1 though, so I must be number one in something in the world.
Thanks for writing Dave. Kevin has written back with a qualifier on last week's abbreviation:
"JJDBSDC
Johhny
Jets
Dot
Blog
Spot
Dot
Com
Its not vulgar...but that's for assuming that since it was from me, it was. Probably a good guess.
kevin"
Thanks Kevin. I like it. Maybe I'll put JJDBSDC on my merchandise.
OK. One more time from Al:
"Where are the picks? And where are the email replies? Tuesday came and went without email replies. (And I don't want to read any excuses like, "I replied to emails on Monday." If you choose to do that, it should not count as a replacement, we faithful readers should get an EXTRA DAY of email replies!)
This web site has really gone downhill in recent days!
By the way, what are the chances that you're a Mets fan as well? (That sure is a swell looking stadium they have in Flushing Meadows, but I digress...) If so, I want you to know that I wish you nothing but joy and happiness for the next four years with the lying, crying, whiny, manipulative, backstabbing, hypocritical primadonna pitcher! (One other thing, I happen to know a Boston reporter who went to Shea for the Pedro press conference. He said he has never encountered worse people than the New York media types. The photographers were bossing people around and pushing people out of the way. And at one point, one of the NY reporters snapped at my friend, "ENOUGH BOSTON QUESTIONS!!!" Great place, that New York! I can't wait to play there.)
-Al Montoya
Ann Arbor, MI"
If I ever get e-mail on consecutive days, rest assured I will post them that day. Tuesday is the regular e-mail day, but there will be follow-ups...sadly, it's just that people hadn't been writing me, so I hadn't checked the mailbag. I will be more vigilant.
And Al, you know darn well I am a Mets fan. Well, maybe was a Mets fan. I can't decide yet. Because I don't know if I can take four years of Pedro Martinez. All we need to know about Pedro is he spent his entire welcome to the Mets press conference badmouthing the Red Sox. Show a little class, jerk. You sound awfully offended by the reaction to the media...you sound a lot more like a member of the media than the future goaltender of the New York Rangers...just saying...is Al Montoya your real name?
By the way, Al - How about those BU Terriers beating your alma mater, Michigan, at Michigan, for the second year in a row?!?!?! GO BU!!
OK. Time to get some other work done. Then I'll step up the blogging for the playoffs - and maybe take my spot as #1 blogger!!!!!!! Go Jets.
Labels:
Dave in Brighton,
E-Mail,
NFL Picks,
NFL Playoffs,
Patriots,
Seahawks,
Southern Bureau
Monday, December 13, 2004
Gotta write something or people are going to get suspicious about me giving up on the Jets. Truth is, things aren't looking so good. The Jets are showing they're capable of hanging with the really good teams on the road...but they can't get over that hump and beat them (them being the Patriots, Steelers, etc.) The problem with that (and it remains to be seen whether or not the Jets will be able to beat these teams at home...I have a feeling they will, and we'll find out on December 26th, when the Jets host the Patriots) is that the Jets, provided they make the playoffs, which, barring a huge collapse (nothing we in Jetsland haven't seen before), should happen, will have to win on the road in order to advance. One road win is possible, two is unlikely, and the way the Jets played on Sunday, three road wins just isn't going to happen. Unless things really start changing.
Starting with Chad Pennington. I hope he's not hiding a serious injury, because he didn't look good at all against the Steelers, and he made some awful passes. We have to hope they were just bad passes, considering the circumstances (cold weather, hostile environment), and not because his shoulder is still hurting him.
Let's quickly check the mailbag:
This I found sitting in the mailbag from Saturday:
"The game hasn't been played yet, and I happen to think that the Jets could win (but probably won't), but I just had to tell you how utterly shocked I was to read that you think the Jets will beat the Steelers. Stunning. Truly stunning. By the way, can the Jets still go 19-0 and win the Super Bowl by 40 or more points?
Love Always,
Al Montoya
Ann Arbor, MI"
I don't understand. You thought the Jets could win, and so did I. What's the problem here? 19-0 and win the Super Bowl by 40 or more points? Come on now. That's just silly. They're already 9-4.
Then this:
"Jo Hnyj Ets,
Hi. I was just wondering, would Jets players and coaches break out in a nasty rash if they beat a team with a winning record? And if they finish 10-6, are they still the best team in NFL history?
Take care.
Hugs and Kisses,
-Al Montoya
Ann Arbor, MI"
No one said they were the best team in NFL history. And it's looking like 11-5 (though 10-6 isn't out of the question). And no to the rashes. You'll find out in a couple of weeks.
"I know they just beat the Jets (tears shed from this JJDBSDC reader)...but...is it just me, or are the Steelers the worst 12-1 team in NFL history??
I mean...does anyone REALLY think they'll win the AFC?? How will they ever outscore the Colts (this reader's pick to win it all)?? I know they've beaten the Patriots once, but if they played again...who would you bet on?? And don't even get me started on how "our lord and savior" Chad Pennington will carve them up next time out.
Your expertise is appreciated....
From the balcony at the Lion King...
kevin"
Kevin...thanks for writing. Rare contribution to the Jets site. Not sure I get the JJDBSDC reference - I hope it's nothing profane. Anyway, I happen to agree with you. The Steelers are so ripe for the picking, I can't believe they haven't been beaten in 10 or 11 weeks, whatever it's been. I have half a mind to pick the Giants over them on Saturday, but the Giants are so friggin' bad that they'd lose to a team made up of people going to see the Lion King instead of a hockey game with his college buddies. Not that I speak from experience. The Patriots and Colts, I think are both better than the Steelers, and I have to agree, the Colts look like the best team in that bunch right now, considering they'd probably put up 45 on the Patriots' defense, the way the Pats have been playing lately. But I get the feeling the Eagles could beat the Colts. That's what I'm going to say for now - Eagles over Colts.
OK. I am so swamped in homework, I've written way too much tonight. Gotta go...One week from now all the homework will be done for Christmas break, and I can focus all my attention on football (lucky you). I might also pop over to johnnymets.blogspot.com and write about how that site might be shutting down for 4 years, because of 56 million reasons. What a crappy day. See ya.
Starting with Chad Pennington. I hope he's not hiding a serious injury, because he didn't look good at all against the Steelers, and he made some awful passes. We have to hope they were just bad passes, considering the circumstances (cold weather, hostile environment), and not because his shoulder is still hurting him.
Let's quickly check the mailbag:
This I found sitting in the mailbag from Saturday:
"The game hasn't been played yet, and I happen to think that the Jets could win (but probably won't), but I just had to tell you how utterly shocked I was to read that you think the Jets will beat the Steelers. Stunning. Truly stunning. By the way, can the Jets still go 19-0 and win the Super Bowl by 40 or more points?
Love Always,
Al Montoya
Ann Arbor, MI"
I don't understand. You thought the Jets could win, and so did I. What's the problem here? 19-0 and win the Super Bowl by 40 or more points? Come on now. That's just silly. They're already 9-4.
Then this:
"Jo Hnyj Ets,
Hi. I was just wondering, would Jets players and coaches break out in a nasty rash if they beat a team with a winning record? And if they finish 10-6, are they still the best team in NFL history?
Take care.
Hugs and Kisses,
-Al Montoya
Ann Arbor, MI"
No one said they were the best team in NFL history. And it's looking like 11-5 (though 10-6 isn't out of the question). And no to the rashes. You'll find out in a couple of weeks.
"I know they just beat the Jets (tears shed from this JJDBSDC reader)...but...is it just me, or are the Steelers the worst 12-1 team in NFL history??
I mean...does anyone REALLY think they'll win the AFC?? How will they ever outscore the Colts (this reader's pick to win it all)?? I know they've beaten the Patriots once, but if they played again...who would you bet on?? And don't even get me started on how "our lord and savior" Chad Pennington will carve them up next time out.
Your expertise is appreciated....
From the balcony at the Lion King...
kevin"
Kevin...thanks for writing. Rare contribution to the Jets site. Not sure I get the JJDBSDC reference - I hope it's nothing profane. Anyway, I happen to agree with you. The Steelers are so ripe for the picking, I can't believe they haven't been beaten in 10 or 11 weeks, whatever it's been. I have half a mind to pick the Giants over them on Saturday, but the Giants are so friggin' bad that they'd lose to a team made up of people going to see the Lion King instead of a hockey game with his college buddies. Not that I speak from experience. The Patriots and Colts, I think are both better than the Steelers, and I have to agree, the Colts look like the best team in that bunch right now, considering they'd probably put up 45 on the Patriots' defense, the way the Pats have been playing lately. But I get the feeling the Eagles could beat the Colts. That's what I'm going to say for now - Eagles over Colts.
OK. I am so swamped in homework, I've written way too much tonight. Gotta go...One week from now all the homework will be done for Christmas break, and I can focus all my attention on football (lucky you). I might also pop over to johnnymets.blogspot.com and write about how that site might be shutting down for 4 years, because of 56 million reasons. What a crappy day. See ya.
Labels:
Chad Pennington,
E-Mail,
NFL Playoffs,
Southern Bureau,
Steelers
Friday, December 10, 2004
Sunday at 4pm - Jets at Steelers
The Jets and Steelers are two of the top defenses in the NFL, so this should be a pretty ugly game. The Jets will be without John Abraham, but like I said earlier in the week, Bryan Thomas should fill in nicely. I don't have much time here, so I'll cut right to the chase. The Jets can win this game, and I think they will. The Jets have to win in Pittsburgh some time...and Ben Roethlisberger has to lose a game eventually. I think this weekend is the confluence of those events, at the confluence of the Pittsburgh rivers. Jets 15, Steelers 3. Just a hunch, but it won't be pretty.
Again, I give you The Wife's picks, because mine are worth crap (and again, for entertainment purposes only). The Wife, by the way, is up to number 72 in the world!!
NYJ +4.5
DAL -5.5
DET +9.5
IND -10.5
SEA +4.5
NE -10.5
CHI +5.5
OAK +7.5
NYG +9.5
CLE +9.5
MIA +10.5
SD - 5.5
SF +5.5
CAR -3.5
WAS +9.5
TEN -1.5
The Wife hit 10 last week, jumping like 40 spots in the world rankings. She goes heavy on the 'dogs this week. I disagree with her San Diego pick. For some reason I think the Buccaneers are going to upset the Chargers in San Diego.
The Jets and Steelers are two of the top defenses in the NFL, so this should be a pretty ugly game. The Jets will be without John Abraham, but like I said earlier in the week, Bryan Thomas should fill in nicely. I don't have much time here, so I'll cut right to the chase. The Jets can win this game, and I think they will. The Jets have to win in Pittsburgh some time...and Ben Roethlisberger has to lose a game eventually. I think this weekend is the confluence of those events, at the confluence of the Pittsburgh rivers. Jets 15, Steelers 3. Just a hunch, but it won't be pretty.
Again, I give you The Wife's picks, because mine are worth crap (and again, for entertainment purposes only). The Wife, by the way, is up to number 72 in the world!!
NYJ +4.5
DAL -5.5
DET +9.5
IND -10.5
SEA +4.5
NE -10.5
CHI +5.5
OAK +7.5
NYG +9.5
CLE +9.5
MIA +10.5
SD - 5.5
SF +5.5
CAR -3.5
WAS +9.5
TEN -1.5
The Wife hit 10 last week, jumping like 40 spots in the world rankings. She goes heavy on the 'dogs this week. I disagree with her San Diego pick. For some reason I think the Buccaneers are going to upset the Chargers in San Diego.
Labels:
Ben Roethlisberger,
NFL Picks,
Steelers,
The Wife
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
The Jets got by without Chad Pennington, now, they're going to have to survive without John Abraham. Abraham didn't play in the second half of the win over the Texans on Sunday, and now will reportedly miss 2 to 3 weeks with a knee injury. All the Jets are saying is that Abraham will miss the Steelers game this week, but the Daily News says sources close to the team think Abraham will miss at least two weeks. So that's some bad news - here's the good news...the Jets have now allowed the fewest points in the NFL. Their defense has been very good - no we'll see if they can keep it up without Abraham. Actually, one last point on Abraham - now Bryan Thomas steps into the starting job for at least a few games, and he has played extremely well this season so far. He had a great game in Buffalo, which was overshadowed by the loss, and has played very well in the games he's been in. So I expect the Jets defense to keep it up.
A couple of other housekeeping issues - The Wife hit with Dallas Monday night, in what was quite possible the greatest game in a couple of years (too bad I was sleeping)...so she's now up to number 72 in the country. She moved up about 40 spots after a 10-6 week. Not bad. I guess that's it for the housekeeping. On to the e-mail:
"Dear JohnnyJets...
A couple questions on the same topic this week...
-Which is worse...the NFC or the NBA's Eastern Conference?
-If the Jets played in the NFC East, would they be 11-1?
-How do you feel about the possibility (likely possibility?) that a
7-9 will make the playoffs this year?
10-5 through Sunday's games,
Dave in Brighton"
Dave - congrats on the 10-5...nicely done. Too bad you're not number 72 in the country. Let's answer your questions...I don't know if the NFC is worse than the NBA's Eastern Conference. I would say the NFC is better, simply because people know it exists. I can't say the same about the NBA's East. Or West.
If the Jets were in the NFC East, they could be 11-1 - but they're the Jets..so there are no guarantees on any of these sorts of things. They could be 1-11, for all we know. Sorry I can't be more definitive...but the Jets are in the AFC East, and they're 9-3...I'm happy with that.
Finally, I haven't gone through remaining schedules for the NFC teams, but I think it's very likely a 7-9 team is making the playoffs in the NFC. At the most, the wild card team will be 8-8...and these teams are playing so poorly that 7-9 is more likely. Meanwhile, the Jets could go 13-3 (more likely 12-4 or 11-5), and barely win the wildcard.
One more thing - the Jets can clinch a playoff spot this weekend...if they win, Denver or someone lose, and the Chargers and Ravens win, I think. I'll try to get it straight....but the Jets need to beat the Steelers. That's the priority.
A couple of other housekeeping issues - The Wife hit with Dallas Monday night, in what was quite possible the greatest game in a couple of years (too bad I was sleeping)...so she's now up to number 72 in the country. She moved up about 40 spots after a 10-6 week. Not bad. I guess that's it for the housekeeping. On to the e-mail:
"Dear JohnnyJets...
A couple questions on the same topic this week...
-Which is worse...the NFC or the NBA's Eastern Conference?
-If the Jets played in the NFC East, would they be 11-1?
-How do you feel about the possibility (likely possibility?) that a
7-9 will make the playoffs this year?
10-5 through Sunday's games,
Dave in Brighton"
Dave - congrats on the 10-5...nicely done. Too bad you're not number 72 in the country. Let's answer your questions...I don't know if the NFC is worse than the NBA's Eastern Conference. I would say the NFC is better, simply because people know it exists. I can't say the same about the NBA's East. Or West.
If the Jets were in the NFC East, they could be 11-1 - but they're the Jets..so there are no guarantees on any of these sorts of things. They could be 1-11, for all we know. Sorry I can't be more definitive...but the Jets are in the AFC East, and they're 9-3...I'm happy with that.
Finally, I haven't gone through remaining schedules for the NFC teams, but I think it's very likely a 7-9 team is making the playoffs in the NFC. At the most, the wild card team will be 8-8...and these teams are playing so poorly that 7-9 is more likely. Meanwhile, the Jets could go 13-3 (more likely 12-4 or 11-5), and barely win the wildcard.
One more thing - the Jets can clinch a playoff spot this weekend...if they win, Denver or someone lose, and the Chargers and Ravens win, I think. I'll try to get it straight....but the Jets need to beat the Steelers. That's the priority.
Labels:
AFC East,
Chad Pennington,
Dave in Brighton,
E-Mail,
John Abraham,
NFL Injuries,
Steelers
Monday, December 06, 2004
Uh-oh. No e-mail. I hope I haven't lost my two faithful readers.
I would usually do playoff picture stuff on a Wednesday, but I crunched some numbers today, and you never know when I will have the next chance to write, so I'll put this here today.
The Jets are 9-3. The Patriots are 11-1. For the Jets to have a shot at hosting playoff games, they need to win the rest of their games (at Pittsburgh, vs. Seattle, vs. New England, at St. Louis). They would need the Patriots to then go 2-2 the rest of the way (vs. Cincinnati, at Miami, at Jets, vs. San Francisco). Here's the catch, though - the Patriots two losses would have to be to the Jets (obviously), and the Dolphins, which is a Monday nighter in Miami. It's pretty darn unlikely (not the loss to the Jets - the Jets are probably all that stand between the Patriots and 15-1 - but I'm not going to say it's impossible. Nothing is impossible in the NFL. The Dolphins have suddenly found their offense, so maybe they'll play for pride in front of a national audience on their home turf and A.J. Feeley will throw for another five touchdowns.
But, you might say, even if this unlikely scenario plays out, that still leaves the Jets and the Patriots in a tie atop the division - it doesn't mean the Jets win the division. And I answer you, you're right. And you have to go deep into the tiebreakers to figure out who would win the division - here's how it would play out, if my calculations are correct (and if the season plays out like I talked about above):
1) Head-to-head: 1-1....so we go to:
2) Division: 4-2, 4-2...so we go to:
3) Common Games: 11-3, 11-3...so we go to:
4) Conference Games: 9-3, 9-3...so we go to:
5) Strength of Victory...and we try to figure out what strength of victory means.
I don't think it means margin of victory, because if it did, it would probably say "Margin of Victory"..but it doesn't, so it must mean "strength of victory". And I don't know what that is. Maybe it means record against teams with records over .500...I don't know. But it looks like the division could come down to Strength of Victory, then if that doesn't work out, it would go to strength of schedule, and the Patriots would win the division anyway, because the Jets have one of the weaker schedules in the league.
In order for all of this to play out, the Jets would need to win in Pittsburgh next week, and here's an interesting tidbit - the Jets have never won a game in Pittsburgh. The Jets HAVE beaten the Steelers, most recently last season at a snowy Meadowlands, but never in Pittsburgh. So that's a tall order, leading up to the miracle scenario playing out. Stranger things have happened. And Cincinnati is playing some good ball these days...maybe they'll upset the Patriots next week and help the Jets out even more.
I'll still post e-mails tomorrow if people are still reading my website. Also, FYI, Kathy is now number 89 in the country. She's got Dallas plus the points Monday night. I'll let you know if they cover how far up she moves.
I would usually do playoff picture stuff on a Wednesday, but I crunched some numbers today, and you never know when I will have the next chance to write, so I'll put this here today.
The Jets are 9-3. The Patriots are 11-1. For the Jets to have a shot at hosting playoff games, they need to win the rest of their games (at Pittsburgh, vs. Seattle, vs. New England, at St. Louis). They would need the Patriots to then go 2-2 the rest of the way (vs. Cincinnati, at Miami, at Jets, vs. San Francisco). Here's the catch, though - the Patriots two losses would have to be to the Jets (obviously), and the Dolphins, which is a Monday nighter in Miami. It's pretty darn unlikely (not the loss to the Jets - the Jets are probably all that stand between the Patriots and 15-1 - but I'm not going to say it's impossible. Nothing is impossible in the NFL. The Dolphins have suddenly found their offense, so maybe they'll play for pride in front of a national audience on their home turf and A.J. Feeley will throw for another five touchdowns.
But, you might say, even if this unlikely scenario plays out, that still leaves the Jets and the Patriots in a tie atop the division - it doesn't mean the Jets win the division. And I answer you, you're right. And you have to go deep into the tiebreakers to figure out who would win the division - here's how it would play out, if my calculations are correct (and if the season plays out like I talked about above):
1) Head-to-head: 1-1....so we go to:
2) Division: 4-2, 4-2...so we go to:
3) Common Games: 11-3, 11-3...so we go to:
4) Conference Games: 9-3, 9-3...so we go to:
5) Strength of Victory...and we try to figure out what strength of victory means.
I don't think it means margin of victory, because if it did, it would probably say "Margin of Victory"..but it doesn't, so it must mean "strength of victory". And I don't know what that is. Maybe it means record against teams with records over .500...I don't know. But it looks like the division could come down to Strength of Victory, then if that doesn't work out, it would go to strength of schedule, and the Patriots would win the division anyway, because the Jets have one of the weaker schedules in the league.
In order for all of this to play out, the Jets would need to win in Pittsburgh next week, and here's an interesting tidbit - the Jets have never won a game in Pittsburgh. The Jets HAVE beaten the Steelers, most recently last season at a snowy Meadowlands, but never in Pittsburgh. So that's a tall order, leading up to the miracle scenario playing out. Stranger things have happened. And Cincinnati is playing some good ball these days...maybe they'll upset the Patriots next week and help the Jets out even more.
I'll still post e-mails tomorrow if people are still reading my website. Also, FYI, Kathy is now number 89 in the country. She's got Dallas plus the points Monday night. I'll let you know if they cover how far up she moves.
Sunday, December 05, 2004
JETS 29, TEXANS 7
Before I even get into the football part of the game, let me just tell you that this was the worst officiated game I've ever seen in my life, and I've seen a good amount of football. The referee was Tom White...don't expect to see his crew doing any important games down the stretch here. Actually, what you should expect is to hear something about this crew apologizing to both the Jets and the Texans this week, and if they don't, it's a shame. They were absolutely horrible. I wouldn't be surprised if Tom White actually retires at the end of this year - a lot of the errors looked like a senile old man trying to figure out what was going on...the NFL should gently nudge him out the door.
Here's what I mean: Third quarter, the Jets stop the Texans on their own 2, so Houston punts out of their own end zone. The ball is snapped, it goes out of the end zone for a safety, and then the ref comes out and says, "There was no snap, the players weren't ready." WHAT? Are you kidding me? If the players weren't ready, how come the ball was snapped?!!? Then, there were two more penalties on the next two punt attempts as the Texans tried to punt out of the end zone. So a safety was taken away from the Jets. Then, just to show I'm not only pointing out how the Jets got screwed, Houston also got screwed. David Carr takes 3 steps back to pass, then throws a pass to the sideline. The receiver, obviously running the wrong route, continues towards the end zone, so there's no one around to catch the ball, it drops harmlessly. After about 15 seconds, White throws a flag, and calls intentional grounding. Intentional grounding?!?!? It was a miscommunication - you can't call intentional grounding on that!! Then, to make matters worse, the crew couldn't remember the down, so the loss of down confused the hell out of them. And one more thing - they walked off ten yards on a 15-yard penalty, and only remembered to walk off the extra five yards right before the ball was snapped.
OK. There was also a football game. Chad Pennington looked great - he made one bad pass, an interception (that turned out to not be costly), right before halftime. He threw two touchdowns, only had about 155 yards passing, but he was good ol' Chad Pennington, leading the Jets to a 22-point win. Curtis Martin was also great, one touchdown caught and another rushing, another 100+ yard game on the ground. The defense also played another great game. Everyone keeps pushing this stat - the Jets have six second-half shutouts this year. That's all well and good, but it's a second-half collapse that's killing the Jets right now (the Baltimore game), so I'm not too crazy about the fact that they've had six of the second-half shutouts. I'll be impressed if they keep doing it, I guess. But still, the defense is playing very well - they really kept the Texans' long passing game in check.
The Jets also got plenty of help on Sunday. The Jets are 9-3, and they now have a 2-game lead on the Ravens and the Broncos in the wild card race, as those two teams both lost. The only help the Jets didn't get was from the Browns, and the division still looks like a long shot at this point. More on that later in the week.
I gotta go....your e-mails tomorrow, if you care to send along something.
Here's what I mean: Third quarter, the Jets stop the Texans on their own 2, so Houston punts out of their own end zone. The ball is snapped, it goes out of the end zone for a safety, and then the ref comes out and says, "There was no snap, the players weren't ready." WHAT? Are you kidding me? If the players weren't ready, how come the ball was snapped?!!? Then, there were two more penalties on the next two punt attempts as the Texans tried to punt out of the end zone. So a safety was taken away from the Jets. Then, just to show I'm not only pointing out how the Jets got screwed, Houston also got screwed. David Carr takes 3 steps back to pass, then throws a pass to the sideline. The receiver, obviously running the wrong route, continues towards the end zone, so there's no one around to catch the ball, it drops harmlessly. After about 15 seconds, White throws a flag, and calls intentional grounding. Intentional grounding?!?!? It was a miscommunication - you can't call intentional grounding on that!! Then, to make matters worse, the crew couldn't remember the down, so the loss of down confused the hell out of them. And one more thing - they walked off ten yards on a 15-yard penalty, and only remembered to walk off the extra five yards right before the ball was snapped.
OK. There was also a football game. Chad Pennington looked great - he made one bad pass, an interception (that turned out to not be costly), right before halftime. He threw two touchdowns, only had about 155 yards passing, but he was good ol' Chad Pennington, leading the Jets to a 22-point win. Curtis Martin was also great, one touchdown caught and another rushing, another 100+ yard game on the ground. The defense also played another great game. Everyone keeps pushing this stat - the Jets have six second-half shutouts this year. That's all well and good, but it's a second-half collapse that's killing the Jets right now (the Baltimore game), so I'm not too crazy about the fact that they've had six of the second-half shutouts. I'll be impressed if they keep doing it, I guess. But still, the defense is playing very well - they really kept the Texans' long passing game in check.
The Jets also got plenty of help on Sunday. The Jets are 9-3, and they now have a 2-game lead on the Ravens and the Broncos in the wild card race, as those two teams both lost. The only help the Jets didn't get was from the Browns, and the division still looks like a long shot at this point. More on that later in the week.
I gotta go....your e-mails tomorrow, if you care to send along something.
Labels:
Chad Pennington,
Curtis Martin,
Defense,
In Attendance,
Officials,
Texans
Saturday, December 04, 2004
The Jets absolutely own the Houston Texans. They've never lost to the Texans. Absolute dominance. All-time Series: Jets 1, Texans 0. After tomorrow, it should be 2-0 Jets. The Jets barely beat the Texans last year at Reliant Stadium, scoring the game-winning touchdown with 1:21 to go in the game. I expect this one to be a tough one as well, but I think the Jets will pull it out in Chad Pennington's return: I'll go Jets 21, Texans 17. So I guess I'm taking the Texans, plus six and a half.
I was 7-9 with my picks last week. I don't have my overall standings with me, but here's a fact, and I don't know whether I'm embarrassed by this or proud of it: My wife is having an awesome year picking games. On the ESPN Fantasy Games page, we play the Pigskin Pick 'Em, and I am having a brutal year, somewhere in the 50th percentile. Kathy, on the other hand, has 108 correct picks, and stands 114 in the world, in the 99.8%. So from here on out, I'm going to ride her picks. Here they are for Week 13 (FYI, she actually picked the Jets to cover, so what do I know):
NYJ -6.5
CHI +7.5
CAR +1.5
SF +10.5
ATL +1.5
NE -7.5
ARI +5.5
TEN +10.5
BUF -3.5
CIN +7.5
KC -1.5
DEN +2.5
GB +6.5
WAS -2.5
PIT -3.5
DAL +7.5
I don't think those picks look so great, but I'm not the one ranked in the top 115 in the world. I hope I didn't put too much pressure on her by telling her I'd be publishing her picks to the world (read: two people who read this site).
Enjoy the football - I know I sure will! (I'll be at the Jets game.)
I was 7-9 with my picks last week. I don't have my overall standings with me, but here's a fact, and I don't know whether I'm embarrassed by this or proud of it: My wife is having an awesome year picking games. On the ESPN Fantasy Games page, we play the Pigskin Pick 'Em, and I am having a brutal year, somewhere in the 50th percentile. Kathy, on the other hand, has 108 correct picks, and stands 114 in the world, in the 99.8%. So from here on out, I'm going to ride her picks. Here they are for Week 13 (FYI, she actually picked the Jets to cover, so what do I know):
NYJ -6.5
CHI +7.5
CAR +1.5
SF +10.5
ATL +1.5
NE -7.5
ARI +5.5
TEN +10.5
BUF -3.5
CIN +7.5
KC -1.5
DEN +2.5
GB +6.5
WAS -2.5
PIT -3.5
DAL +7.5
I don't think those picks look so great, but I'm not the one ranked in the top 115 in the world. I hope I didn't put too much pressure on her by telling her I'd be publishing her picks to the world (read: two people who read this site).
Enjoy the football - I know I sure will! (I'll be at the Jets game.)
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