After another disappointing loss, the Giants’ season is now over, and there’s no reason not to play Daniel Jones instead of Eli Manning.
The feeling I had when the Giants’ scored on their first offensive drive of the season wasn’t replicated when they did the same in Week 2. I knew better than to think the Giants had completely changed in a week and were going to keep scoring or prevent the Bills from scoring. I have seen many Giants games in recent years begin the same way they have the first two weeks of this season and have seen many Giants games end the same way they have the first two week of this season as well.
The Giants lost 28-14, but had their chances to get back into the game and possibly tie or even win it. They had a chance to complete a two-touchdown comeback late in the game like they used to when they were a competitive team.
Trailing by seven in the fourth quarter, the Giants were a defensive stop away from getting the ball back and trying to tie the game. Instead of a stop, the Giants’ defense gave its usual late-game performance, the kind of performance which got Tom Coughlin fired and pushed Ben McAdoo out the door, and will end Eli Manning’s career. Needing a stop, the Giants’ defense gave up a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown, which ate up six minutes and three seconds, and included a crucial third-down conversion on the Giants’ 40 for 17 yards. But the most Giants part of it all was that the Bills originally had to settle for a 21-yard field goal on the drive before a personal foul on the Giants on the field-goal attempt gave the Bills a first down and an eventual touchdown. Whether it was a penalty or not (and according to Gene Steratore, it wasn’t), the Giants weren’t going to come back and win the game even if the Bills had only extended their lead to 10.
The loss had a little bit of everything for frustrated Giants fans. There were the back-to-back drives after the game-opening touchdown in which the Giants gained one yard total. There was the missed 48-yard field goal from Aldrick Rosas. There was the interception thrown by Manning near the end of the first half, which came immediately after the Giants’ defense forced one of the only punts they will force all season. There was the turnover on downs (the Giants third of the season) in the fourth quarter. There was that long Bills drive, which first resulted in a field goal and then a touchdown to all but seal the win for Bills, and there was another Manning interception late in the fourth quarter, which ended the game. And the game wasn’t without a Pat Shurmur blunder either as the mostly-lost Giants head coach tried to challenge a play which can’t be challenged, which now seems to be a weekly bit he does.
It was a textbook Giants loss as they gave Giants fans encouragement to begin the game then made them question why they even watch or care about the team before reeling them back in one last time only to break their heart late in the fourth quarter. I feel bad for the Giants fans who went through that gauntlet of emotions on Sunday. I have gone through it many times, but I’m now immune to it after having no expectations for this season.
Mathematically, the 2019 Giants are done. They are finished. After Sunday’s disappointing loss, the Giants have now started 0-2 in six of the last seven seasons. Everyone knows the history of 0-2 teams and reaching the playoffs, and it’s that they rarely every do, which means in six of the last seven years, the Giants’ season was effectively over in mid-September from an odds perspective. Those odds have held up for the Giants as they have missed the playoffs in the previous five seasons in which they started as 0-2 and they are by no means going to the postseason this year.
The only good that can come from this season now is that Daniel Jones plays and proves to be a franchise-caliber quarterback. That’s it. If he doesn’t then this entire season was a waste and can’t be considered a rebuilding year. If Jones doesn’t work out, the Giants are no better than the Browns were for many years: a team without a plan.
The Giants won’t know what Jones is until he plays, and there’s no reason not to play him now. The season is over, and with Manning in the final year of his contract, he doesn’t have a future with the Giants. As a Manning supporter and fan, it’s unfortunate it had to come down to this, but when you’re given the surrounding pieces Manning was for this season (and for most of his career), it was always going to end this way, in midseason with Manning standing on the sideline.
For a team with 98 wins with two weeks left in the regular season, the Yankees sure have a lot to figure out before the end of September.
For a team with 98 wins with two weeks left in the regular season, the Yankees sure have a lot to figure out before the end of September. When will their current injured players return? Who will be on the postseason roster? What will their postseason rotation be? What will their postseason lineup be? Will they be the 1- or 2-seed in the postseason? And most importantly, who will their ALDS opponent be? All of that will be answered between now and September 29, though Yankees fans won’t be made aware of all the answers by then.
Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees on this off day as usual.
1. Well, that didn’t take long. After writing Yankees Can Have Postseason Home-Field Advantage If They Want It on Friday, the Yankees gave away their two-game lead over the Astros by losing two of three to the 59-win Blue Jays. The two losses in Toronto gave the Yankees a 4-6 record at Rogers Centre for the season against a team on its way to almost 100 losses.
I have written many times about how the Yankees don’t really care to win home-field advantage. To the Yankees, if it happens and they fall into home-field, great, and if they don’t, oh well. That was once again clear on Friday night when they brought Tyler Lyons in before more established relievers and he promptly gave up a walk-off home run to Bo Bichette, and it was clear on Sunday when Nestor Cortes was brought into a 3-3 game and allowed to face the top of the Blue Jays’ order. Bichette singled, Cavan Biggio walked and Randal Grichuk hit a three-run home run, his second of the game. (There’s a reason I had Grichuk starting in the outfield of my 2019 All-Animosity Team. He now has eight home runs and a .990 OPS in 16 games against the Yankees this season as 29 percent of his home run total (28) have come against them.)
So now the Yankees are back to being tied with the Astros and back to being the 2-seed in the American League because the Astros won the season series. The Astros’ schedule is much easier for the final two weeks of the season, so barring the Astros not caring about home-field, get ready for Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 of a potential ALCS being in Houston.
2. Sunday isn’t the reason I’m questioning Cortes being a Yankee, I have questioned it all season. Now with September call-ups and the 40-man roster he’s not going anywhere, but he never should have been here to begin with. Cortes came back to the Yankees after being unwanted by the 2018 Orioles. The 47-win Orioles who are one of the worst teams in the history of baseball didn’t want Cortes, and after more than four months of him pitching for the Yankees, we all know why.
Cortes now has a 5.54 ERA on the season, which is the highest its been outside of when it was 13.50 briefly following his Yankees debut (2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3K, 1 HR) and when it was 9.00 following his second Yankees outing (4 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 1 HR). Cortes has given up earned runs in 18 of his 34 appearances, including six straight, and has allowed an astounding 14 home runs in 63 1/3 innings. I have no idea how he’s survived a demotion in more than four months, but I guess good for him? He’s been a New York Yankee, making a major-league salary and traveling in luxury nearly all season, earning service time toward his future pension. Good for him. Bad for Yankees fans.
3. It was beautiful watching Dellin Betances return to the Yankees and strike out the only two batters he faced on eight pitches. It would have been even more beautiful to watch him get to complete an inning of work, but apparently he was on a two-batter or eight-pitch limit, and you have to trust the Yankees in these situations since they have been the model franchise for preventing pitching injuries and keeping their players healthy.
If the Yankees are getting the real Betances for the postseason then they’re getting the best relief pitcher in all of baseball for the last five years. That means everyone gets bumped down in the bullpen pecking order and hopefully means a few less stress tests for Yankees fans in high-leverage situations in October.
I trust Betances more than any other Yankee reliever, and that holds true whether he’s pitched all season or thrown eight pitches.
4. Here is my current Yankees’ Bullpen Trust Rankings (scale of 1-10):
Dellin Betances: 9.6 Aroldis Chapman: 8.2 Adam Ottavino: 7.5 Chad Green: 6.9 Tommy Kahnle: 5.2 Zack Britton: 4.3
I don’t trust Chapman from a runners-on-base standpoint, but I trust him to pitch a scoreless inning. Ottavino’s control issues when he doesn’t know where his slider is going is worrisome for October, but when he’s on, which is most of the time, he’s unhittable. After the worst month of April from a reliever ever, Green has regained my trust heading into the postseason. I want to trust Kahnle as much as Aaron Boone does, but his love for Kahnle against lefties because of his changeup scares me, and I have a bad feeling about Kahnle giving up a home run in a big spot in the postseason. When Britton starts striking batters out again and not putting two on everytime he pitches, we can talk about trusting him again.
5. Luis Severino is going to start on Tuesday and if he looks like his usual self like Betances did, he has to start either Game 1 or 2 of the postseason. I know there’s been a push over the last month-plus by James Paxton to be the Yankees’ Game 1 starter, and he might continue to earn that honor over his last few starts, but Severino belongs starting one of the games.
Masahiro Tanaka has been my Game 1 starter all season, based on his five-start postseason career, and the fact Paxton sucked for most of the year, Severino hasn’t pitched, the Yankees are unsure of what to do with Domingo German and because CC Sabathia and J.A. Happ shouldn’t be anywhere near the mound in October. I would still be happy with Tanaka getting the ball to open the postseason for the Yankees, but with the return of Severino and the run Paxton has been on since the beginning of August, I don’t think Tanaka is the go-to guy anymore, especially if recency bias is going to determine the postseason rotation.
But that’s fine. Give the ball to Tanaka for Game 3 on the road. I trust him on the road more than anyone, and he proved himself on the road in the 2017 ALCS in Houston and the 2018 ALDS in Boston. No matter what the rotation is going to be, it’s looking a lot better than it was at the trade deadline, as long as Sabathia and Happ aren’t a part of it.
6. The groin injury sufferd by Gary Sanchez is both unfortunate and ill-timed. It seems he might miss the rest of the regular season and essentially play his rehab games in the ALDS. Either that, or Austin Romine or Kyle Higashioka will start in the postseason, and the Yankees will be without their biggest lineup advantage. Sanchez was hurt on a stolen-base attempt, injuring his groin, which seems to get injured once a month. Sanchez had five career stolen-base attempts prior to this one, and Aaron Boone took responsibility for allowing Sanchez to go. Either Boone is protecting his player and Sanchez is dumb for trying such an unnecessary thing, or Boone is dumb for thinking it was clever to allow his catcher to attempt to steal a base with two weeks left in the season. I don’t know who’s truly at fault here, but either one or both of them are idiots.
7. As for the injury to Edwin Encarnacion, I’m not sure what to expect. The Yankees have said it’s minor, but anything the Yankees say is minor usually turns into major, and without many regular-season games left and Encarnacion’s age, it’s hard to know when and if Encarnacion will return.
His absence solves the lineup problem when Giancarlo Stanton returns and doesn’t force someone who deserves to play to the bench, but I would rather have Encarncion healthy and available and force that decision to be made. It seems like whenever the Yankees are just about to activate an injured player, another player is hurt. In this case, with the return of Betances, Severino and Jordan Montgomery, the Yankees lost Sanchez and Encarnacion. Had they lost Gleyber Torres after an awkward play at shortstop over the weekend, it would have been a disaster, but expected. That’s the way this ridiculous season has gone.
8. The Yankees’ magic number is down to 3. Any combination of Yankees wins and Rays losses totaling three and the Yankees are division champions. That could happen as early as Wednesday. If it were to happen after play on Wednesday, the Yankees would have 16 days and nine regular-season games until Game 1 of the ALDS to get everyone healthy, feeling comfortable at the plate and to line up their rotation. It will also mean a whole lot of Cortes, Tyler Lyons and Breyvic Valera and the other 40-man call-ups. Get ready for three- and four-inning games from the regulars.
9. The team I most want the Yankees to play in the ALDS is the Rays. After them, it’s the Indians then the Twins then the A’s. It’s looking more and more like it’s going to be another Yankees-Twins ALDS the way it was in 2003, 2004, 2009 and 2019, which all led to ALCS appearances for the Yankees.
I pray that the Yankees somehow fall into home-field over the final two weeks because it will mean facing a lesser opponent which will have had to burn their best starter to get to the Yankees, along with having to travel from wherever the wild-card game is to New York with only one calendar day in between. It also means being able to host the ALCS. To me, it means everything.
10. My expected record for the Yankees in September is 15-10. They are currently 9-5, which means they have to finish at least 6-5 to meet expectations. That shouldn’t be hard given their schedule during a normal time of the season, but will be hard since there’s no way of knowing how they are going to handle the final two weeks once they clinch the division.
The Yankees have 98 wins and only need to win two of their remaining games to match last season’s 100 wins. I think they easily pass the 2009 Yankees’ 103-59 record and possibly even get to 105 wins. But if the postseason doesn’t end with a win, it won’t matter.
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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is available!
If the Yankees truly want home-field advantage, it’s there for them to win. The Yankees should go into the postseason knowing they did everything possible to put themselves in the best position to win a championship.
I have been writing about the Yankees and home-field advantage in the postseason a lot lately because I think it’s that important. It was the difference in the 2017 ALCS and screwed up the team’s chances in 2018. Avoiding a situation in which the Yankees would have to play the first two games of the ALCS in Houston against Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole and four of the seven games of a potential series there is crucial. It has to be avoided, even if that means using pitchers other than Nestor Cortes, Luis Cessa, Cory Gearrin, Tyler Lyons, Ryan Dull and Chance Adams when there is a game to be won.
As I wrote on Wednesday, there’s certainly the chance the Astros could be upset in the ALDS or don’t reach the ALCS, and there’s also the chance the Yankees could upset the Astros in the ALCS despite not having home-field advantage. But the odds of either happening aren’t likely and aren’t in the Yankees’ favor, and the Yankees’ entire organization is based on decisions made to put the odds in their favor.
The Yankees have proven they would like to have home-field advantage, but they’re not going to go out of their way to win it, even if going out of their way only means giving a little less extra and unnecessary rest to the roster. To the Yankees, if it happens and they fall into home-field, great, and if they don’t, oh well. Somehow the organization has come to the conclusion that giving even more rest and days off to their regulars will help them be more successful in October than potentially needing to win at least one game in Houston against Verlander or Cole or Cole again or Zack Greinke. Despite their best efforts to prevent injuries in a season in which they set the all-time record for most players placed on the injured list in a single season, the Yankees still watched J.A. Happ, Edwin Encarnacion and Gary Sanchez all come away from Thursday’s doubleheader injured.
The Yankees have a right-handed heavy lineup and their only available left-handed hitters who will play in the postseason are Didi Gregorius and Brett Gardner, and neither should be hitting above seventh in the postseason lineup. That leaves the strikeout-prone Yankees extremely vulnerable in a series in which they will face the two best power starting pitchers in baseball, who also happen to be right-handed, in Verlander and Cole, and they will face them twice if the series lasts longer than four games. Already without the switch-hitting Aaron Hicks for the rest of the season and not knowing what the next few weeks will hold for the recently-injured Sanchez or the always-injured Giancarlo Stanton, and the fact the Yankees have a much inferior rotation compared to the Astros, the Yankees need every edge they can get in a potential ALCS matchup. They need every advantage they can get in a potential ALCS matchup. They need home-field advantage for a potential ALCS matchup.
The Yankees have a two-game lead over the Astros with two weeks and 14 games left in the season. (They also have a two-game lead over the Dodgers for the best record in baseball and home-field in the World Series). Home-field is theirs right now and it’s set up to be theirs as long as they don’t decide to go full-spring training on the remaining games once the division is clinched. Since the magic number for the division is down to 5, the Yankees have the opportunity to clinch as early as Sunday, which would mean if you have tickets to any of the games in the final two weeks of the season, get ready for a lot of Tyler Wade, Breyvic Valera and the endless Goof Troop of relievers the Yankees will pitch from their 40-man roster. The Yankees were already going to treat the final two weeks of September like the first two weeks of March and that was before Happ, Encarnacion and Sanchez were injured on Thursday, which will certainly scare them into increasing whatever rest they were already prepared to give to their regulars.
The Yankees remaining schedule is: three games at Toronto, three games against the Angels, three games against Toronto, two games at Tampa Bay and three games at Texas. Outside of the two games against the Rays, it’s about as easy as final 14-game schedule gets. The only easier remaining schedule you could come up with is the Astros’. The Astros remaining schedule is: three games at Kansas City, two games against Texas, three games against the Angels, two games at Seattle and four games at the Angels. The Astros won’t play a winning team in their remaining 14 games.
The Yankees have to beat the Astros by at least one game to win home-field, and a tie will go in the Astros’ favor after the Astros won the season series, thanks to a three-game sweep in Houston in April in which the Yankees blew two of the three games in the seventh and eighth inning. (It’s almost as if April games do matter. Who knew?)
I don’t think the Yankees will finish worse than .500 in their remaining games and even that seems low given their remaining opponents. But let’s say the Yankees play between .500 and undefeated baseball through the end of the season, here is what the Astros would have to do to at least tie them to win home-field.
If the Yankees truly want home-field advantage, it’s there for them to win. The Yankees should go into the postseason knowing they did everything possible to put themselves in the best position to win a championship for the first time in a decade and make the path to doing so the easiest as possible. It won’t be easy to win the American League, even if they don’t have to face the Astros to do so, but it will be that much harder if they do, and if they have to win it by winning in Houston.
The Yankees control their own home-field destiny with two weeks to go in the season. It could once again be the difference between winning the pennant or missing out on the World Series for the 10th straight season. The Yankees shouldn’t want to take that chance.
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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is available!
Week 2 has always been the hardest week of the season for me to pick, and I’m sure it will be again this year.
I usually reserve this space in the weekly picks blog to write about the Giants, but I’m not sure that will continue this season. Like Tony Perkis telling Nicholas in Heavyweights, “I’m a beaten man.”
The Giants have beaten me up since the beginning of the 2017 season, losing 25 of their last 33 games, and there’s nothing left to beat as a Giants fan. They have lost because of their quarterback; they have lost because of their receivers; they have lost because of their offensive line; they have lost because of their defensive line; they have lost because of their secondary; they have lost because of their coaching; they have lost in blow-out fashion; they have lost in the final minute; they have lost as time expires. The Giants have lost in every way imaginable over the last two-plus seasons and it’s hard to take it anymore. They aren’t a team in the middle of a rebuild with a light at the end of the tunnel and a clear timeline for when they will be competitive again. They are a team in the middle of a rebuild with no light at the end of the tunnel and no clear timeline for when they will be competitive again.
Thankfully, I have no expectations for them this season and don’t expect them to make the playoffs or go on a postseason run. My expectations are for them to be one of the worst teams in the league and once again pick near the top of the draft in 2020. Week 1 was enough for me to realize this is going to happen and I don’t know how it will get better or when it will be fun and enjoyable to watch the Giants.
Week 1 is all about survival and not getting buried with the picks record for the season just as the season begins. I survived Week 1. It wasn’t pretty, but coming away with a 7-9 record after some sloppy football and wild finishes is more than acceptable, at least to me. Week 2 has always been the hardest week of the season for me, and I’m sure it will be again this year.
(Home team in caps)
CAROLINA -7 over Tampa Bay I love Thursday Night Football because it means football. I hate Thursday Night Football because of this blog. But the one thing I have learned over the years is if you’re unsure of who to take, take the home team on Thursday night. It makes it a little easier when the road team is the Buccaneers.
New England -18.5 over Miami I don’t care about Tom Brady’s odd career record in Miami and I don’t care about all the weird things that have happened to the Patriots down south. This Dolphins team is unlike any other Brady has ever faced since this Dolphins team isn’t even trying to win and isn’t even fielding an NFL-caliber roster.
The Dolphins have one goal this season: lose more games than any other team. Achieving that goal will get them Tua Tagovailoa, and getting him will speed up their rebuilding process. The lines for Dolphins games are only going to go up, s0 feel safe teasing them now because pretty soon the lines are are going to be Alabama vs. New Mexico State-esque.
BALTIMORE -13.5 over Arizona Kyler Murray’s NFL debut looked like it was going to be a flop when the Cardinals were trailing the Lions 24-6 early in the fourth quarter. But Murray led the Cardinals to a comeback which included a touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald with 43 seconds remaining and a successful two-point conversion to Christian Kirk to send the game to overtime, eventually tying 27-27.
Unfortunately, Murray’s feel-good start to his career and search for his first win will be put on hold in Week 2. This isn’t about the Ravens demolishing the Dolphins like a lopsided August college football matchup, this is about the Ravens being a postseason team with arguably the best defense in the league whether they embarrassed the Dolphins on the road or not. The Cardinals historically have been a disaster in Eastern Time Zone games and that’s only going to be enhanced for a rookie quarterback and rookie head coach flying across the country to face for the Ravens’ home opener.
San Francisco -1.5 over CINCINNATI This is the type of game where I have no idea which way to lean and wonder who would ever bet on this game and it becomes the easiest pick of the day and the biggest laugher from a score standpoint. One of these teams will probably win in a blowout. I hope I’m picking the right team.
Los Angeles Chargers -2.5 over DETROIT If anyone watched the Lions blow a late lead to a rookie quarterback/head coach combination like I did on early Sunday night, you too would not pick the Lions to cover. I don’t need any other information other than the fourth quarter of Week 1 to make this pick.
Minnesota +3 over GREEN BAY It took the Vikings a full season and a disappointing 8-8 record to realize Kirk Cousins isn’t good. I guess better late than never. We know the Vikings have come to terms that they should have kept the much cheaper Case Keenum and not destroyed their salary-cap situation by signing Cousins because of their Week 1 game plan. The Vikings let Cousins only throw the ball 10 times in their win over the Falcons, running the ball 38 times instead of letting their unreliable and untrustworthy quarterback decide the game.
That game plan is likely the one the Packers thought they were going to see in Chicago before the Bears forgot who their quarterback is, so the Packers will be ready for it this week, except the Vikings have much better personnel than the Bears to pull it off. If the Vikings stick to their plan and don’t allow Cousins to ruin the game, they will be 2-0 and in first place in the NFC North. If they go back to what made them unsuccessful last year, they will be unsuccessful again.
HOUSTON -9 over Jacksonville It’s never good to have a team +10.5 in a five-team, seven-point teaser and have that team’s quarterback break his clavicle on a 75-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter and have that team’s best defensive player get ejected from the game for throwing punches also in the first quarter, especially when that team is playing the best offense in the league. Yes, I had the Jaguars +10.5 in a five-team, seven-point teaser.
The Texans covered for me and should have won if not for playing the old prevent defense, which unsurprisingly gave the Saints a time-expiring win. The Texans surprised me and looked much better than I expected them to and DeAndre Hopkins looked as good as ever despite already being the best wide receiver in the league. Usually, I would have a hard time picking for the Texans, but here I am picking them to cover in back-to-back weeks to open the season.
Buffalo -2 over NEW YORK GIANTS I have a feeling the first defensive and first offensive drives of the season are the only two times I will be happy with the Giants this season. Actually, I know they will. Because after seeing Sunday’s debacle in Dallas, I know the Giants still suck and didn’t improve at all on either side of the ball. This wasn’t just one game and it’s not early and only Week 1. This is a continuation of the 2018 season which was a continuation of the 2017 season.
So why would I ever pick the Giants to win their home opener against the Bills, who were also in MetLife on Sunday to overcome a 16-point second-half deficit to the beat the Jets, who at least on paper are must better than the Giants? I don’t care that the Bills will always be the Bills and I don’t care that the Jets will always be the Jets. The Giants are still the Giants of the last two-plus seasons and that’s much worse than the Bills.
Seattle +4.5 over PITTSBURGH The Seahawks almost lost to the Bengals at home and almost knocked me out of my survivor pool on the first Sunday of the season. The Steelers were flat-out embarrassed, and Mike Tomlin rightfully ripped his team, and himself, after the ugly loss. I always have a hard time trusting either of these teams, but the difference is the Seahawks are coming off a narrow win at home to a team going nowhere and the Steelers lost on Sunday Night Football to the best team in the league. Logic would suggest the Steelers will play better at home and the Seahawks will play worse on the road this week, but there’s no logic in the NFL and nothing truly matters from week to week as each week is essentially its own season. For that, I’m regrettably picking the Seahawks.
TENNESSEE -3 over Indianapolis I would like to thank the Titans for going to Cleveland and blowing out the Browns in Week 1. It was beautiful. Watching Odell Beckham be a part of another loss and Baker Mayfield scrambling to avoid eventual sacks before losing it on the officials with only a few minutes remaining in a four-score game was enjoyable. Beckham did get his targets (11), receptions (7) and yards (71), so I’m sure he didn’t care that the team lost. I’m going to show my appreciation for the Titans by picking them again in Week 2.
Dallas -5 WASHINGTON I used to care about other NFC East matchups because they would have implications for the Giants and the postseason. The Giants aren’t going to the postseason unless they buy tickets, so I have to find other reasons to determine who to pull for in division games.
I don’t think Dak Prescott is a good quarterback, and the longer he plays for the Cowboys, the less of a chance they have of winning a championship. Since the Cowboys are in extension mode right now giving out years and money to anyone who comes in contact with Jerry Jones, it only makes sense that Prescott is next. It was all the FOX broadcast talked about during Sunday’s game against the Giants, and the Giants did their part by making Prescott look like a superstar by allowing him to throw four touchdown passes while racking up yards thanks to yards after the catch against the Giants’ horrendous defense.
The better Prescott plays, the more years and money he will get in his eventual contract extension. The more years and money he gets, the more players the Cowboys won’t be able to sign in the future, and hopefully that future coincides with the Giants return to being a competitive team. Here’s to Prescott going off against the Redskins and adding more zeros to his future contract!
Kansas City -7.5 over OAKLAND The game which will be most used in teasers is also the second-best survivor pool game of the week. The Jaguars and their preseason top-ranked defense couldn’t stop the Chiefs, so I have no idea how the Raiders plan on doing so. The over/under on Chiefs punts in this game is 0.5 and I’m taking under.
Chicago -2.5 over DENVER After the Bears proved that running the ball and playing great defense is still a successful formula in the NFL last season, they apparently thought they had now become the Saints of the north, allowing Mitch Trubisky to throw 45 times in Week 1, while only running the ball 12 times. That formula resulted in three points and a disastrous season-opening loss despite holding Aaron Rodgers to 203 passing yard and 10 points.
I have no idea what Matt Nagy was thinking in Week 1. What unfolded for the Bears couldn’t have been their game plan since someone in the organization would have spoken up and said, “Um, what the eff are we doing?” Nagy must have inexplicably changed course during the game, deciding to go with an air-it-out strategy. The only problem with that strategy is that his quarterback is Trubisky, who isn’t capable of that type of game, as a one-read-only passer who telegraphs nearly all of his passes.
I have to think the Bears will get back to what led them to a division title last season. If they do, the Broncos, who were beat up by the talent-less Raiders won’t have a chance.
LOS ANGELES RAMS -2.5 over New Orleans This is a tough one. Not because the two teams are possibly the best two teams in the NFC again this season after playing each other to overtime in the NFC Championship Game last season. It’s tough because I have to pick for either the Rams, who laid an all-time egg in the Super Bowl against the Patriots, or the Saints, who no longer cover the spread at the Superdome and who cost me a two-team Championship Sunday parlay in January. The reason to not pick the Rams has more staying power and had a much more negative impact on my life, but the reason to not pick the Saints is more recent, including Monday night’s game in which a Drew Brees red-zone interception coupled with a Will Lutz missed field goal caused the Saints to not cover. I guess the only way to settle this is to go with the home team.
Philadelphia -1.5 over ATLANTA If the Falcons’ season keeps going the way Week 1 went, Dan Quinn is going to be fired in a move which should have been made the second the Falcons blew their 28-3 second-half lead to the Patriots in the Super Bowl. I don’t know how Arthur Blank can live with Quinn as his head coach after what happened in that Super Bowl and I’m not sure how he has kept him on after that loss and two more disappointing seasons. This season has to be Quinn’s last. It has to be. Until he’s gone it will be hard for me to ever pick the Falcons.
NEW YORK JETS +2.5 over Cleveland I used to love Odell Beckham and would defend him because of his talent and because he had single-handedly won a few games for the Giants. That all ended last October when I wrote I’m Done Defending Odell Beckham after he helped lead the Giants to a season-crushing loss to the Panthers. I turned on Beckham for good at the right time, as it was clear he would never be part of the solution for the Giants and was only going to be part of the problem, if not the problem.
After the one-handed catch in Dallas made him a household name, he did everything he could to be in and remain in the spotlight. From outrageous in-game antics to unnecessary sideline actions to bizarre off-the-field behavior, Beckham wanted to be the focal point of every Giants game, win or lose. After the emergence of Saquon Barkley last season, Beckhamn desperately tried to hold his status as the Giants’ star attraction by increasing his sideline shows and saying whatever he felt would keep his name in headlines.
Eventually, Beckham’s behavior and inability to stay healthy overshadowed his ability on the field. The Giants decided the organization would be better off without the player they made the highest-paid receiver in history and the culture of the Giants would never change as long as he was a member of it.
Since Beckham’s arrival in Cleveland, he has kept up the same act he had with the Giants, speaking about his time and dismissal from the Giants at every chance and going over the top with his look-at-me longing for attention. Beckham wore a $190,000 watch in the Browns’ season opener, a game the Browns lost, adding to the embarrassing record for the Giants and Browns when Beckham has played for them. When asked about the watch, Beckham acted though he was the victim of a media attack, never recognizing for a moment he would never need to know the time of day in the middle of a game and never admitting the decision to wear a clearly visible watch in an NFL game was all for publicity.
Like I said last week, since the Giants can’t be expected to win the Super Bowl this season, my rooting interest has turned to rooting against the Browns because of Beckham. All Week 1 did was make me want to root harder against them, even if they’re playing the Jets.
Scott Reinen of Bronx Pinstripes joined me to talk about everything the Yankees need to figure out before the postseason.
There are only two weeks left in the regular season, but the Yankees still have a lot to figure out before the postseason. Between setting up the postseason rotation, sorting out the postseason roster and figuring out who will be in the postseason lineup, the final 16 regular-season games will be eventful.
Scott Reinen of Bronx Pinstripes joined me to talk about the Yankees’ recent lineups and bullpen management if they’re trying to win home-field advantage in the postseason, which ALDS opponent would be the easiest for the Yankees, the return of Luis Severino, Dellin Betances and Giancarlo, who should be in and out of the postseason lineup and what Yankees fans should be worried about the most heading into October.
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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is available!
