NFL WEEK 7 RECAP

The Jets would obviously be one of the most disappointing performance of the week, but since I care so much about them, they get a whole separate dressing-down.

I didn't write it, I guess because I was sidetracked by baseball, but if you had spoken to me over the weekend, you would have heard trepidation in my voice when I spoke about the Jets going to Oakland. Nothing good ever happens to the Jets in Oakland. So even though the Raiders are terrible and secretly I thought the Jets would rebound from the subpar outing against Cincinnati and blow their doors off, in the back of my mind I thought they might lose.

But that doesn't make the fact that they lost any more acceptable.

Brett Favre had a horrendous day. And even though to help my fantasy team I wanted him to keep throwing, I thought it was a horrendous decision to have him keep throwing when Thomas Jones was just having his way with the Raiders defense. The fact that the Jets couldn't score more than a touchdown on the Raiders is horrible.

It's even more horrible for the Raiders that the Jets were able to force overtime. The Jets had no business being in that game in the fourth quarter. The fact that they were able to force OT was a minor miracle. And I guess that's what Brett Favre brings to you - because even though the Jets wouldn't have been in that position were it not for Brett Favre (any other quarterback on Sunday leads the Jets to a blowout win), I'm not sure there are many QB's in that last minute situation who get the Jets to a game-tying field goal.

Bottom line on this Jets game - when I'm thinking, "You know, a tie in this situation is actually going to look pretty good, all things considered", just before the Raiders kick a game-winning field goal....it's just not a good Jets Sunday.

The Jets are making things very hard on themselves as far as the playoffs go. Their only route, after losses to the Chargers and the Raiders, might now be through a division title, and they fell two games behind Buffalo on Sunday. Here's how hard they've made things - they probably have to sweep the rest of their division games (2 vs. Buffalo, 1 more each against Miami and New England), at least, to have a shot.

BEST GAME OF WEEK 7: Not many good ones, to be honest. I guess for entertainment value it could have been the shootout between the Bears and the Vikings, which the Bears won, 48-41.

BEST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 7: I'm thinking Steven Jackson of the Rams. He led the team's offensive charge, with 160 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns, in the 34-14 upset over the Cowboys.

WORST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 7: The Cowboys. The only loss of the week worse than the Jets' - and the Jets' was pretty bad.

BEST GAME IN WEEK 8: I like Buffalo-Miami, and San Diego-New Orleans (in London) would be intriguing if those two teams weren't so hard to figure out...but Giants-Steelers is the marquee matchup. It's a 4 o'clock game...and should be a good one.

BEST PERFORMANCE PREDICTED IN WEEK 8: Oakland, full of false confidence after winning a game they had no business winning against the Jets, heads to Baltimore. The Ravens are coming back home off a good road win in Miami. Doesn't matter what the spread is, take the Ravens. Baltimore 44, Raiders 13.
-Last Week: I said Brandon Jacobs would have 117 yards and 3 touchdowns. I was off by a TD and 48 yards. He had 69 yards on 17 carries, with just 2 touchdowns. I still classify this one as "pretty close".

MORE RIDICULOUS MASCOTS

Inspired by the Steelers' bold move of not only creating a mascot (Steely McBeam, left), but giving him a stupid name, johnnyjets.blogspot.com has learned that a few other teams are less reluctant to release their less-than-intimidating mascots. To wit:

CHICAGO BEARS: GROWLY THE BEAR


CINCINNATI BENGALS: DISNEY'S TIGGER


NEW YORK JETS: JUMBO THE JET

OK, sadly, this imginary creation of mine for the Jets actually existed for one season. I'm not sure what happened, but quietly, one season, there was a mascot at Jets games (I don't even know what its name was), which sort of resembled this cartoon above. He was gone the next season. Unceremoniously brought in, unceremoniously eliminated. I tried to find a picture, but it seems the Jets have (perhaps rightfully) erased all evidence that this character ever existed.

Comments: dave in brighton said...
The inside story behind Jumbo the Jet's demise: Drafted by the USAF during the chaos of the fall of the Soviet Union, he was shot down over China by a MiG-27. Jumbo the Jet is still listed as missing in action.

SUPER BOWL XLI

I love the Super Bowl. I really do. I love Super Bowl history, I love that they use roman numerals, I love the commercials. I love these America's Games that the NFL Network has been running, which let you relive some great Super Bowls, and the seasons leading up to them, also including some stuff I've never seen before.

I can't imagine what it will be like when the Jets make it back to the game someday (maybe next year?), a game which has come a long way since the Jets' last appearance in III.

But I'll tell you what I don't like. I don't like two weeks of hype. I don't like rematches (which I'm sure you all know). Two Bills-Cowboys....two Redskins-Dolphins...two 49ers-Bengals...three! Steelers-Cowboys. What wastes.

Anyway, this year it's the Colts-Bears. This is a weird game, because I have no idea what is going to happen (well, that's not the weird thing - I never know what's going to happen). The weird thing is, nothing is sure - it's all wishy-washy.

I feel like there's an equal chance of:
1) Peyton Manning having the greatest game of his life, or being a total failure.
2) Rex Grossman being great or awful.
3) The Colts defense being great or awful.
4) The Colts being able to score on the Bears or being shut down.
5) The Bears putting up 0 points or 20+ points.

And many more.

But I'm going with the Colts to win something like 34-24. That means they'll hit the over on the 48.5. One other thing I like about the Super Bowl is all the prop bets - how many touchdowns will this team score, etc. I love the over/under ones. I selected a few off one of the internet sites that I will watch for this Sunday:

1) Team to score last in the game - Indianapolis
2) 2.5 total interceptions by both teams - OVER (Rex Grossman might do this by himself)
3) 131.5 rushing yards by Chicago - UNDER (A hunch on my part)

Enjoy the game, and look for consistent updates soon on johnnymets.blogspot.com.

JOHNNYJETS.BLOGSPOT.COM OFFICIALLY ENDORSES THE COLTS

This is not a pick. That will come next week. This is me throwing my hat into the Colts' ring. I want the Colts to win Super Bowl XLI.

I don't know what will happen if the Colts win. I don't know if a Super Bowl win will set them off on a tear that will result in Super Bowl win after Super Bowl win. I suspect not. But I do think Peyton Manning as an individual, and the Colts as a team, are too good to not win a Super Bowl, and I want them to win one when the Jets are not in their way. The Colts have finally gotten past the Patriots - if it doesn't happen this year, as I've written before, I'm not sure when or if it will.

So I'm rooting for the Colts over the Bears. Really, I have nothing against the Bears. I wouldn't mind seeing them win. I think Brian Urlacher gets a raw deal - all these people calling him overrated. The guy is friggin' good. He's all over the field. I don't think he's overrated at all. (His choice in women friends is dubious, but that's another story.) I don't particularly like Rex Grossman, but he's harmless. Same with the rest of the team.

But the other thing at play here is that I like the Colts. I like Peyton Manning. I know a lot of people have problems with Manning, and his ubiquity. I say, good for him. (Speaking of which - I only saw a quick shot of it at the end of the game last week, but did you see the fan in Indy who was wearing that fake hair and mustache that Manning wears in the phone commercial? I like that because the guy didn't know it was going to get him on TV, but he wore it anyway, a very subtle thing to support his team, and his reward was getting on TV. Good for him.) (Another parenthetical statement - two 'good for him''s in consecutive thought tangents...I'll try to go the rest of the way without another 'good for him'.) I also really like Tony Dungy. He seems about as genuine as they come, which is tough for a head coach in the NFL (see: Herman Edwards, Nick Saban). I also have a soft spot in my heart for Reggie Wayne, due to his fantasy football success.

There was a time growing up where I had to pick a secondary team to root for come the post-season, because the Jets were never playing. In the late 80's/early 90's that team was the Houston Oilers (I think I liked their logo), so I still have a liking for the Tennessee Titans franchise. I also like the Packers, who I picked up for most of the 90's (I love the yellow and green). If I still played this game today, and sometimes I do, because the Jets haven't had a ton of playoff success, despite being in the playoffs, I think my team would be the Colts. So this is their year, and this is my team. For one more game. Then it's back to the Jets.

CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND

It doesn't make much sense for me to even be writing this, since 90% of the people who read it will be at my house talking to me this weekend, but here are my picks anyway:

New Orleans at Chicago: I really think the Saints are better than the Bears, but I really think home field advantage makes this much of a difference. The Saints are a dome team, and there's a reason so few dome teams have been in the Super Bowl. They lose the championship games outdoors. I'm rooting for the story of the Saints, but I'm thinking the Bears will win. Bears 27, Saints 17

New England at Indianapolis: I realize I seem biased against the Patriots, because I'm always picking against them, but I'm doing it again. They didn't necessarily win last week, the Chargers lost. They played an awful final few minutes, the Chargers did. But the Patriots get credit for pulling out the win, can't take that away from them. I don't hate Peyton Manning. Whenever the Jets aren't in his way, I root for him to win, so that people can stop talking about him not winning the big games. So I'm rooting for him this year. And I fully believe that if he doesn't win Sunday, he's never going to win a Super Bowl. It's this year or never. That's my thought. And if the Colts lose on Sunday, I'm going to start building an argument that Marvin Harrison is the worst post-season player on the Colts - not Peyton Manning. Hopefully I won't have to write that. Colts 31, Patriots 21

As for the Super Bowl matchup sheet, anything but Patriots-Bears works for me.