Blogs – Page 233 – Keefe To The City

Nov 23, 2010

Looking Back on Black Sunday

After taking a full day to become emotionally stable following the second game in a row that looks like it will kick off the annual second-half collapse for the New York Football Giants, I am

After taking a full day to become emotionally stable following the second game in a row that looks like it will kick off the annual second-half collapse for the New York Football Giants, I am ready to look back at the Sunday night debacle. It was the darkest day of the 2010 season, and not just for the Giants and their chances at reaching the postseason, which now sit at 30 percent, but for me personally as a Giants fan, and as a football fan.

On Sunday I had to watch the Jets pull off a miracle win against the Texans. Then I watched the Patriots pick off Peyton Manning one less time than he had been picked off in the first nine games of the season, as the Colts teased me almost their second 31-14 comeback against the Patriots in as many years. The Cowboys? Not like they matter anymore this year, but they won too. The Redskins? Victorious. As the day went on, every NFL team I hate was watching their win total change, and the only two teams left to play that I despise were the Eagles against the Giants and the Chargers on Monday night. Give the Eagles a W, and the Chargers one too. And remember November 21, 2010 as Black Sunday.

The storm didn’t stop there. Nope. On Monday we found out that Hakeem Nicks would be out for three weeks, and that the Giants would be posting their latest wide receiver job opening on the team’s official site and Craigslist. The only actual wide receiver left on the roster that anyone thought would see playing time in 2010 is Mario Manningham, who becomes the No. 1 receiver against Jacksonville on Sunday after being the No. 2 receiver against Philadelphia and the No. 3 receiver before the bye week. When it rains, it pours around here. And it usually starts to pour in the second half of the season.

All week I heard about the Giants’ second-half collapses during the Tom Coughlin Era. And with each time it was mentioned, I said the same thing: “Sure it’s happened before, but those seasons are irrelevant to this season and this team.” Who was I kidding? How could I be so stupid?

Sure this year the Giants have a defensive coordinator that actually understands the concept of “defense,” but it’s virtually the same team. Justin Tuck can keep saying, “We don’t like to lose around here,” but just because you don’t like to lose and didn’t like it last year, doesn’t stop it from happening again. You actually have to do something about it.

Two years ago when the Giants were 11-1 and making a mockery of their competition, I actually thought it was stupid that no one thought we would ever see another dynasty in the NFL under the current system with too much parity in the league. I was certain the Giants were a dynasty in the making, but since Plaxico Burress decided to go out for the night in the city with a gun, the Giants have gone 16-16 including their only playoff game. What hurts even more is knowing that the Giants beat the final four teams in the 2008 playoffs during the regular season (Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Arizona). After the first 12 games in 2008, I never would have believed that the Giants would be on the verge of missing the postseason for the second straight year with this team. Then again, I didn’t think that after the Mets lost Game 7 of the NLCS to the Cardinals that they still would not have played another postseason game. Though that doesn’t really bother me.

Here are how the Giants have started and finished each season during the Tom Coughlin Era (minus the 2007 season for obvious reasons):

2004: 5-3 in first eight games, 1-7 in last eight games.

2005: 6-2 in first eight games, 5-3 in last eight games and a first-round playoff loss.

2006: 6-2 in first eight games, 2-6 in last eight games and a first-round playoff loss.

2008: 11-1 in first 12 games, 1-3 in last four games and a first-round playoff loss.

2009: 5-0 in first five games, 3-8 in last 11 games.

2010: 6-2 start in first eight games, 0-2 in last two games.

You could probably take 2005 off the list since they didn’t really stumble down the stretch as badly as other years, but that 23-0 loss at home in the first round to the Panthers needs to be included somehow. The idea that in five of Coughlin’s first six seasons with the Giants (2004-06 and 08-09), the team has played consistently bad in the second half and has never made it past their first postseason game except for 2007 is remarkable.

I don’t know if this is my attempt at a reverse jinx or if it’s just me being down on the team and then if a reverse jinx happens I can take credit for it, but I just don’t know what to think of the 2010 Giants anymore. I am fully prepared for a second-half collapse. I have stocked up on canned foods and bottled water like it’s Y2K and I am ready to take this second-half meltdown head on. In the past the Giants were always able to sneak up on me with their horrific second-half play. I was always too high on them in the past to see the reality that they were just getting ready to rip my heart and stomp on it, but not this time. Not this year. A second-half collapse won’t come out of nowhere over these next six weeks. So bring on your five-game losing streak, Tom Coughlin! Finish the season 8-8! Miss the playoffs for the second year in a row! I’m ready!

But seriously, I am down on the G-Men because I have seen this story too many times to think it is might end otherwise. No matter how many times I watch Dumb and Dumber, I always hope that Lloyd and Harry will get on the bikini tour bus at the end of the movie, even though I know they don’t because I have seen the movie probably close to 100 times. The same goes for the Giants. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that they will torture me and test me as a fan over the next six weeks, and they will undoubtedly lure me back in to believing in them only to pull the rug out from underneath me right when I let my guard down. I’m used to it by now, and it’s my own fault for getting drawn back in time and time again, but I let them pull me back in because I experienced in 2007 what it’s like to keep believing, and I know how rewarding it can be when they play to their potential.

What makes the Giants losing even harder is having to watch the other team that plays at New Meadowlands Stadium come back in the most improbable ways like they’re the 2009 Yankees, and then having to listen to their head coach ramble on about apologizing for wins or not apologizing for wins or whatever he is rambling on about, pretending like winning in overtime or on pass interference calls or in the final seconds of a game was in the game plan all along. It’s hard to watch my Jets friends enjoy winning even if it’s only regular season winning, while the Giants give away games by giving away the football.

The only game the Giants have left against a team out of playoff contention is in Minnesota in Week 14, and even though the Vikings are 3-7, that is anything but an automatic win. The other five games left for the G-Men are against Jacksonville (6-4), Washington (5-5) twice, Philadelphia (7-3) and Green Bay (7-3). The last easy win the Giants had on their schedule (in a league where no win is easy unless you’re playing against Charlie Whitehurst) was against the Cowboys in Week 10, and the Giants blew that game.

There were four main problems for the Giants on Sunday night, and four seems to be the magic number at this juncture in the season. Four turnovers in the loss to the Eagles (technically, there were five turnovers, but the last one came on an Eli Manning interception when the game was over and didn’t have an impact on the outcome). Four losses on the season for the Giants. Four wins away from basically guaranteeing themselves a postseason berth. Four division games left. Here are the four problems from Sunday in order of importance:

1. Ahmad Bradshaw’s Best “Tiki Barber”
It’s hard to win any game when you lose in the turnover column. It’s hard to ever win when those turnovers are from your running back consistently putting the ball on the ground. Tom Coughlin called it “a callous disregard for the football.” I called it something else that I can’t write here.

I’m not sure what Ahmad Bradshaw doesn’t understand about holding onto the ball or protecting the ball, but there is never a moment when he is rushing with the ball that I don’t envision him putting the ball on the ground. That shouldn’t be the case. A fumble from your running back should be a shock and unexpected. It shouldn’t be a normal occurrence.

Bradshaw’s biggest strength also happens to be his biggest weakness in his second efforts on runs. It’s his second efforts that make him dangerous to defenses and unpredictable on runs, but it’s those same second efforts that prevent him from initially going down and those attempts to gain that extra yard or two while being tackled is when the fumbles happen. It’s up to Coughlin now to get Bradshaw righted for the remainder of the season the same way he helped Tiki Barber overcome his fumble problems.

There was talk on Monday that Bradshaw might be in jeopardy of losing his starting job to Brandon Jacobs, and if that happens, the Giants can pack up and go home for the year now because the last thing this team needs is Brandon Jacobs getting more carries. I would take Ahmad Bradshaw, who is capable of breaking off game-changing runs, fumbling left and right as my starting running back over rumblin’, bumblin’, stumblin’ Brandon Jacobs who hasn’t been the same since 2008 any day of the week.

2. Offsides, Defense, Number 90, Five-Yard Penalty, Replay Third Down
If the offense doesn’t turn the ball over four times in the game (and another time with the game over), then the defense probably doesn’t need to stop the Eagles on third-and-1 to hold their 17-16 lead with 4:38 left in the game. And if Jason Pierre-Paul doesn’t go offsides on what was initially a third-and-5 that the Giants did stop the Eagles on, then we are probably sitting here talking about how the Giants rebounded from an awful loss to the Cowboys and have sole possession of first place in the NFC East. But the offense did turn the ball over times, and Jason Pierre-Paul did go offsides and the Giants didn’t stop the Eagles on third-and-1 and they didn’t win the game, and they aren’t in first place.

Jason Pierre-Paul went offsides and it was a big play in the game and a devastating turn of events, but what are you going to do? The offense could have bailed him out on the next drive if not for No. 3…

3. Whatever Eli Manning Calls The Way He Went To The Ground
At what point during his 16-yard run, did Eli Manning think, “I’m going to stop, drop and roll for a first down!” And when did he think it was a good idea?

I could understand if someone was diving at the back of his legs and his only play was to dive head first to go down, but there wasn’t a green jersey anywhere near him. Yes, the defense was closing in him, but he could have slid to the ground and stood up and gone into the grand roll that Gene Wilder performed as Willy Wonka (1:20 mark), and the defense still wouldn’t have gotten to him yet. That’s how much time he had to go to the ground properly. Instead, Eli went with the “Should I slide? Should I dive? Should I slide? Ahhhhh! I can’t make up my mind! I’m going to do both at the same time for an awkward fall!” routine. And it ultimately cost the Giants the game.

On Friday, I said this about Eli:

“No, 13 interceptions in nine games isn’t good, but if you have watched every minute of Giants football this season and you have seen how those 13 picks have been compiled, then you would understand Eli a little better. The majority of his picks have been tipped by his receivers on balls that should have been caught. He isn’t throwing picks directly to the opposition the way that Brett Favre and Donovan McNabb do, but the box scores don’t provide the video necessary for those who can’t watch Eli to see exactly why he has thrown as many picks as he has this season. Eli is better than the numbers suggest. Much better.”

If you read that, and decided to watch the Giants-Eagles game on Sunday because of what I wrote, well I apologize for wasting three-plus hours of your life.

4. Matt Dodge
You could make the case that a lot of things could be in the No. 4 spot, but I saved this spot for the man, the myth, the legend himself … Matt Dodge. After the Giants went three-and-out to start the game because they thought running on the first two plays of the game for no yards was a good idea, Matt Dodge punted the ball 25 yards and out of bounds. On another punt, Cris Collinsworth talked about how shaky Dodge has been, only to be rewarded with a perfect setup when Dodge dropped the ball before getting his punt off.

No Matt Dodge wasn’t really a problem or a factor in the Giants’ loss, but I wanted to include him in this because over the next six weeks the Giants will need him to come up in a big spot, and he has done nothing to prove that he will come through in that spot. We keep hearing about how Dodge kicks bombs in practice, and that the Giants are just waiting for it to consistently happen in games. The problem is the Giants’ season is taking on water and when you are asking Dodge to pin the opposition deep in an effort to help save the season, well don’t be surprised when he assists in causing the season to come crashing down.

In his Monday Morning Quarterback column, Peter King said, “Matt Dodge is a disaster waiting to happen.” I’m pretty confident the disaster has already arrived, and if it hasn’t yet, I’m not sure I will be able to physically, mentally or emotionally handle anything worse than we have already seen from him through 10 games.

The same way I can’t understand why the Yankees are deciding to be tough with Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, the two faces of the team for the last 15 seasons when they were basically handing out money to anyone in need of a contract the last three years, I can’t understand how the Giants didn’t just tell Jeff Feagles they would give him whatever he wanted to come back this year. Why not tell Feagles he could go home during the week and only show up to games? Maybe the Giants did offer him some lucrative deal to try to entice him to punt for one more season, but if they did, I didn’t hear about it. There are still six games left. Please come back, Feagles. Please come back.

As the game ended on Sunday, Cris Collinsworth said in reference to the Giants, “They had their chances in this one, they just gave it away.”

That’s a nice way to sum up what the Giants have been in the second half during the Tom Coughlin Era minus 2007, though I would probably sum it up a little differently. But once again, I can’t write it here.

For now, I am forced to sit and wonder if I will be without playoff football for the second year in a row. If that’s the case, I’m ready.

Blogs • Giants

Nov 19, 2010

Giants Just-Past-Midseason Awards

For a team tied for first place in their division, the Giants are in trouble. They are in trouble because they couldn’t win at home against the Cowboys, a team that had nothing left to

For a team tied for first place in their division, the Giants are in trouble. They are in trouble because they couldn’t win at home against the Cowboys, a team that had nothing left to play for. They are in trouble because now they head to Philadelphia to face the hottest team in the league – in a tie for first place with the Eagles rather than a game up. They are in trouble because their final seven games are all against quality opponents.

I wouldn’t be thinking like that if the Giants didn’t go out and lay the equivalent of an A.J. Burnett egg last Sunday, but they did. And they did in typical New York Football Giants fashion, by making sure they were always within reach of turning the game around only to come up short. It was the type of Giants tease that I have grown accustomed to over the years. The type of tease they displayed last year when they beat the Cowboys and then trailed the Eagles 14-0 early the following week – only to take the lead and then blow the game and their season. They did it the year before that when they lost Plaxico Burress, went on a losing streak only to come back against the Panthers and win in overtime in the best game of the season before losing in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Aside from those four magical games in a row in the 2007-2008 playoffs, I am used to the Giants getting my hopes up and then crushing them and then getting them up again and then crushing them even harder. I can’t even imagine what Jets fans have had to deal with over the years.

The Giants suckered me in again on Sunday. They had me telling my friends that they were the best team in football for an entire week only to lose to the 1-7 Cowboys who were just looking to close up shop if they got behind. And when the Cowboys got a commanding lead, the Giants began to creep back to make sure you stuck around to see what would happen. And when the Cowboys failed to put the Giants away with interceptions and missed field goals, you thought “Hey, maybe they will win this game after all.” It never happened.

The Giants’ embarrassing performance on Sunday can be directly correlated to the fact that the media started to believe in the Giants. They took over in Vegas as favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl and many of the sports outlets had them sitting at or near the top of their power rankings.

In the second episode of Friday Night Lights this season, the East Dillon Lions are coming off a 2-8 season and no one believes in them. Then in their first game, they knock off the No. 8 team in the state and they open eyes around Texas. But the following week, the Lions are nowhere to be seen on the state rankings, and it has the whole team flustered and annoyed that even though they beat a top team, they aren’t being recognized. So Coach Taylor (played by Kyle Chandler, who I still believe is really a high school football coach and would like to make him an offer to coach the Giants once Coughlin retires) flips out on his team for caring so much about what a stupid poll says rather than the results on the field. His team finally understands him and they go out and win again.

So that’s what I believe frequently happens with the Giants. They are always so concerned with how they are viewed by the public, and it can be traced back to 2007 when Antonio Pierce used to make a point to mention to the media that no one believes in the Giants.

Last season the Giants started 5-0, and were a unanimous choice as the top team in the league. Then they went down to New Orleans and the Saints embarrassed them and the G-Men never recovered. In 2008, Trent Dilfer said on ESPN before the start of the season, “The Giants would be the biggest disappointment in the NFL,” after winning the Super Bowl the year before. The Giants started out 10-1 and everyone was riding high on them, then Plaxico brought a gun out with him one night, the season fell apart and they lost to the Eagles in the playoffs once again. In 2007, no one believed in the Giants. After they lost to the Packers in Week 2, I told my friend Red that the Giants might not win a game all year. Then they had the goal-line stand against the Redskins in Week 3 and things began to come together. But once they made the playoffs, no one gave them a chance to win on the road in Tampa Bay or Dallas or Green Bay or in Arizona against New England, and they went out and ran the table. The moral of the story is that the Giants just aren’t good when everyone is so high on them, but when no one pays them any attention, they go out and shock the world

Following the loss on Sunday, Justin Tuck made some comments that at first I was upset about since the Giants were just embarrassed, and I had to watch this loser in a Jason Witten jersey dance around at the bar where I was watching the game. But the more I thought about what Tuck said, the more it made sense.

“I’m not mad, and I’m not sad about this game,” Tuck said. “Actually, I’m kind of glad. Maybe this is a wake-up call that we needed. This is a chance to look at ourselves and say that maybe we aren’t as good as we thought we were.”

Tuck is right. It’s a good thing this loss happened because it reminded the Giants that people telling you you’re good doesn’t make you good. And people predicting you will win, doesn’t mean you will win. Not in this league of parody where the consensus top team seems to get knocked off every single week and an unusual amount of teams are currently in playoff contention.

I’m not sure what will happen this Sunday night in Philadelphia. When I get too down on the Giants they prove me wrong and when I get too high on them they do the same, but there is no in between and there is no balance for me as a Giants fan.

I did midseason awards for the Yankees, so I thought it would be a good idea to do them for the Giants as well. (Yes, I know we are a game past the midseason point). These aren’t your standard awards and not every member of the Giants received one, but for those who didn’t receive one, there’s still seven games left to prove yourself.

The Rudy Award for “No One Believes In Him Because They Can’t See It Every Week”

“My father loves Notre Dame football more than anything else in the world. He doesn’t believe I’m on the team … because he can’t see me during the games.”

That quote is from Rudy, and when I think of Eli Manning, I think of that quote.

I am always defending Eli Manning against the haters (and there are a lot of them), who see the numbers at the end of the day, but don’t realize how good he is. No, he is never going to put up the numbers that his brother puts up or the numbers that Philip Rivers puts up because the Chargers lack a running game, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t an elite quarterback in the NFL.

No, 13 interceptions in nine games isn’t good, but if you have watched every minute of Giants football this season and you have seen how those 13 picks have been compiled, then you would understand Eli a little better. The majority of his picks have been tipped by his receivers on balls that should have been caught. He isn’t throwing picks directly to the opposition the way that Brett Favre and Donovan McNabb do, but the box scores don’t provide the video necessary for those who can’t watch Eli to see exactly why he has thrown as many picks as he has this season.

Eli is better than the numbers suggest. Much better.

The Robbie Cano, Don’t Ya Know Award for “Being The Smoothest Player There Is And Having All The Talent In The World But Making Mental Mistakes”

Robinson Cano might very well be the AL MVP for 2010, but it took him long enough to finally put it all together and limit the amount of times he would make fans scratch their heads and wonder what is going through his mind. These instances still happen, but at a much lesser degree than they were happening two and three years ago.

Like Cano, Hakeem Nicks has all the talent in the world, and has the potential to be the best wide receiver in the league. The only problem is that he has these brain farts where he stops his route short, tips or drops a pass or just flat out misses a wide open catch for a huge gain. All three of these things happened to happen in the same game on Sunday and it’s no wonder that the Giants suffered their most embarrassing loss of the season.

I am a huge Hakeem Nicks fan and I think anyone that likes the Giants would say the same. But for all the talent the abilities he has, he needs to minimize the mistakes. If he does that, it’s scary how good he will be.

The Dennis Green Award for “He Is Who We Thought He Was”

Before the season began, I talked with Ralph Vacchiano, Giants beat writer for the New York Daily News, about Jacobs taking the backup role, and we both assumed there would be trouble on the horizon for Jacobs and his bad attitude. So far, there hasn’t been much complaining from the man who once made Giants fans forget about Tiki Barber, but he has been as ineffective as we thought he would be. Sure, he has a handful of TDs from the goal line that make his numbers look somewhat decent, but he has rarely made the necessary play to extend a drive or get the first down, and there was never a better example than in Sunday’s loss.

Jacobs was given the ball on fourth-and-1 and instead of moving his legs and plowing to get just three feet, the big back sort of just fell forward and the Giants turned the ball over at a crucial point in the game. It’s not all Jacobs’ fault though. You can’t put Jacobs into the game on a fourth-and-1 and not expect the defense to just clog the middle knowing that he isn’t going anywhere. With Jacobs in the backfield on fourth-and-1, there is one option and that is to drive his way straight forward. If Bradshaw had been in that situation, he could have gone to the outside if the middle was clogged or stayed up the middle if the defense was worried about him going to the outside. With Jacobs in the backfield, the Giants are one-dimensional when he gets the ball, and three years ago that wasn’t a problem, but he is nowhere near the same player he was three years ago.

The Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Award for “It’s A Mystery As To How You Still Have A Job”

This award could have easily been called the Sergio Mitre award because like Jimmy Fallon, no one is sure how Mitre is able to keep his job with the Yankees. I always figured that Mitre had dirt on Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman or compromising photos, and maybe the same goes for Jimmy Fallon and the NBC executives. The man ruined every Saturday Night Live skit by uncontrollably laughing to the point where Will Ferrell would give him the look like, “Hey stop ruining my show,” and then NBC gave him his own show to take over for Conan O’Brien. Fallon’s version of Late Night is so bad that my roommate and I will do my Jimmy Fallon Test a few times a week in which we put his show on at a random time and watch for five minutes to see if either of us laugh. We have never laughed.

I never understood why NBC didn’t just give Conan the same money he was making on the Tonight Show to go back to Late Night in New York, and then everyone would have had a show that had one before the Tonight Show debacle began, except for Jimmy Fallon. But no one would have cared.

Anyways, back to Reynaud. Now that he is hurt, the Giants actually have a chance to gain somewhat decent field position without him returning kicks and punts since I think the most yards I ever saw him get off either was maybe three yards. It’s pretty amazing that the Giants were winning the way they were when Reynaud was healthy given the terrible field position they would start with whenever he actually attempted to a run a kick or punt back.

The Chad Gaudin Award for “It’s Never Good To See You In The Game”

Another case of possibly blackmailing the front office, Matt Dodge is still a Giant after nine games. I had the under on three, so I lost a long time ago, but if this man keeps his job throughout the season, a lot of people will be surprised, including me.

I couldn’t believe that after how bad he was to start the year that the Giants didn’t just call up Jeff Feagles and say, “Hey, a blank check is going to be arriving in your mailbox today. Fill in the amount you want and cash it, and we’ll see you at practice tomorrow.”

I am scared that what we are seeing with Dodge after having Feagles for so long will be like life without Mariano Rivera (still hoping that never happens). Because when you have someone as good as Feagles who was just automatic and now you have a kid who basically rolls the dice every time the ball is snapped to him, well it’s just hard to watch. Nothing is automatic anymore. Nothing.

The South Park Award for “Being Wildly Popular And Then Falling Off The Face Of The Earth Only To Become Wildly Popular Once Again”

When I was in sixth grade, South Park took the world by storm. It was as big as Jersey Shore, Four Loko and Lady Gaga combined. Then over the next few years, the show began to fade and was ultimately forgotten about even though it was still on the air. Once it became an afterthought and pretty much a non-factor in pop culture, it slowly climbed back into the spotlight with its comedic take on current events and then grew so popular again that it made everyone wonder why there was ever a gap in success for the show since the talent and abilities were always there.

The same goes for Osi Umenyiora. Following Super Bowl XLII, Osi became a household name with sack after sack; he was dating Victoria’s Secret supermodel Selita Ebanks and was basically just living the dream as a Super Bowl champion. Then he was forced to miss all of 2008 when he tore his ACL in preseason and never became the same player in 2009 after fighting with defensive coordinator (not sure if putting that title in front of his name even makes sense) Bill Sheridan and eventually became a bench player for the Giants. Umenyiora made it public that he wanted out of New York and no one knew if he would be the a Giant in 2010, and if he was, which Osi would we see?

Well so far this season, Osi has been every bit as good as he was before the season-ending knee injury in 2008. He has nine sacks in nine games, which is already more than his 2009 total, and he is on pace to have a better season statistically than he did in 2007. It’s good to see the old Osi back along with his old attitude.

The Tom Coughlin Award for Undergoing The Scrutiny That Only Tom Coughlin Could Undergo

Only Tom Coughlin could have an award named after him in the midseason, and only he could win the award named after him. Mike Francesa likes to talk about the terrible treatment and injustices Coughlin has had to deal with since becoming head coach of the Giants, and I would have to say I agree. No other coach in the city that has had the type of success Coughlin has had and has had to deal with as much as Coughlin has. It seems like his job is in question multiple times a year, and he always seems to deflect the questions with wins (except for the 2009 meltdown).

This season Coughlin’s job security became the topic of discussion after the Giants started the season with a 1-2 record and Bill Cowher’s name began to come up in Google searches for New York Giants. But Coughlin got the Giants back on track with the help of Perry Fewell (aka the anti-Bill Sheridan), and now the Giants are tied for first place in the division after nine games.

My relationship with Tom Coughlin is an odd one. It’s a love/hate relationship I guess, but I think the hate end of the relationship is a lot more extreme than the love. If I were to write about Coughlin on Sunday night or Monday morning after the Dallas loss, it wouldn’t have been pretty. But when you’re a fan and you watch a man decide to go for some 4th-and-1’s and not others, despite being exactly the same situation, well it will make you a little angry.

Coughlin was the head coach of one of the best days of my life, so he will forever get a pass in my book. But that doesn’t mean I can’t get angry with him from time to time.

Blogs • NFL

Sep 8, 2010

Jets End One Season, Begin Another

The Jets are just days away from starting a season in which expectations haven’t been this big for them in a long, lone time. And with only a handful of days to go before the

The Jets are just days away from starting a season in which expectations haven’t been this big for them in a long, lone time. And with only a handful of days to go before the Jets take the field against the Ravens to kick off Monday Night Football, the season finale of Hard Knocks airs on Wednesday night.

This has been the best season of Hard Knocks in my mind, and not only because it has followed a local team. Between Rex Ryan’s mouth (both swearing and eating), the constant Darrelle Revis contract negotiations, the awkward moments when the annoying Mike Tannenbaum cuts players and the practical jokes played, the season has exceeded expectations.

With the season of Hard Knocks coming to an end and the regular season about to begin, Jets columnist Jeff Capellini, a.k.a “The Green Lantern” on CBSNewYork.com, joined me to talk Hard Knocks and preview the 2010 season.

Keefe: Hard Knocks has done the impossible; it has made the Jets a likable and unlikable team at the same time. For me, disliking the Jets has always been about disliking the players, their coach and their fans. But now, they have a coach that isn’t Eric Mangini and a coach that I wish Tom Coughlin was more like. There are plenty of players on the team with rich personalities and intriguing background stories that are worth rooting for. But I could do without so much Mike Tannenbaum.

After the first episode of the show, I wrote about how the Jets had started to rise drastically in the New York football landscape, as a team moving closer to what the Giants had become in previous years, while the Giants have gradually declined over the last two years.

Do you think that Hard Knocks has been good or bad for the 2010 Jets, and how has it affected you as a Jets fan?

Capellini: I’m one of those fans who has been sitting outside the candy store with his nose pushed up against the glass for years. So, believe me when I say any time the Jets can seize the spotlight for themselves in a supposedly positive way, I’m all for it. I think the show was too much Hollywood in the first three episodes, but got things just right in Episode 4 with the way it focused less on the garbage and more on the tension that was building toward cuts.

I think the show has been a positive for the Jets, even though we must all remember so much of it is scripted and produced for dramatic effect. The Jets have been second-class citizens for so long in this town and a running joke across the NFL, it is nice to see them be the center of attention for once.

Keefe: HBO couldn’t have asked for a better setup with the Darrelle Revis contract talks, and now that Revis is once again a Jet, who is guaranteed $32 million, it makes me wonder if he should have held out longer?

Obviously not playing is never a good choice, but given the Jets’ opponents in Weeks 1 and 2, if they had gotten off to an 0-2 start, Revis could have gained some serious leverage with Jets fans threatening the livelihood of Woody and Tannenbaum.

I guess on the flip side, if the Jets won both games it would have hurt his negotiations, and no one wants to not be getting paid the year before there might not be football, but I really don’t think the Jets can beat the Ravens and Patriots without him.

Capellini: I was firmly in Revis’ corner when the holdout started because regardless of what his current contract had stipulated there was really no way after the type of 2009 season he had that he could come back as the team’s seventh- or eighth-highest paid defensive back.

I would like to believe Revis caved by accepting the four-year deal. I had hoped he would have been signed for longer, and in the end it just feels like the numbers for his deal are too low – years and total compensation. That makes me believe also that this guy wants to play. The almighty dollar is important, but he obviously came to realize what “within reason” means.

As for whether the Jets could have beaten the Ravens and Patriots without him, I don’t think he ultimately would have made the difference. Mark Sanchez would have and probably still does or still will make the difference either way.

Keefe: Mark Sanchez seems to still be in that territory of “Hey, just don’t lose the game for us.” Rex made it clear last week that the Jets are still going to be the same team they came within one game of the Super Bowl last season, in which they ran the ball the majority of the time and played exceptional defense, and obviously it’s a formula that works.

With the way the offense has been playing during preseason, it’s hard to believe that Sanchez will be given the chance to consistently attempt big plays on offense, and the idea of holding him back got them to the AFC Championship last season, but I think that it is, and that he is, the one difference in the Jets being contenders or actual champions.

Capellini: I think regardless of what Sanchez has shown in the preseason, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer must allow him to air the ball out from time to time, because the Jets will be predictably a run-first team. However, they can’t be known as a team that just goes student body left and right.

Sanchez must be allowed to bring balance to the force through use of play-action and the abilities of his talented receivers. The second this guy throws an interception and Schotty stops allowing him to chuck the rock is the day the Jets’ season ends. For the Jets, being a balanced offense is the key to everything because you know the defense will bring its “A” game week in and week out. By showing a balanced hand on offense, the Jets will keep opponents off-balance.

Keefe: The Jets brought in two aging mercenaries, looking to win a Super Bowl as their careers wind down in LaDainian Tomlinson and Jason Taylor.

Both players were the best at their position at one point in their career, but now they are more of just big names rather than big players. However, I will admit that Tomlinson has looked better and rejuvenated in preseason. Then again it’s preseason.

Which of these two do you expect the most from this season and which do you think will be the bigger contributor?

Capellini: I’m a huge Tomlinson guy. I was one of the few on sites like Twitter screaming the Jets sign him in the offseason. A lot of people were understandably in love with Thomas Jones, but Jones’ numbers, primarily yards-per-carry diminished considerably as the season wound down. Now, some can say Tomlinson is an injury waiting to happen or whatever, but the truth is, if healthy, he will still be very productive, especially if the Jets use him properly – something like 10-15 touches per game. He showed his trademark explosiveness in the preseason and certainly has something to prove.

While most everyone just assumed he’s “lost” it after a career-low 700-yard rushing season in 2009, what really happened was the Chargers went away from the run and bulked up the pass protecting to showcase Phillip Rivers’ abilities. And look where that got them?

I’m not in love with Jason Taylor and it really has nothing to do with the fact that he’s insulted the Jets and their fans in the past. I just think this guy is 36 and how many pass rushers still have the goods at 36? Not many, if any. And it appears, now with Calvin Pace’s injury, at least initially, Taylor is going to have to play every down. I don’t see him being anywhere near as successful as an every-down player as he would be fresh in passing situations.

So, in a nutshell, I expect a comeback-player-of-the-year type of effort from LT and not a whole heck of a lot from Taylor.

Keefe: During the offseason, it seemed like the jets were making a roster strictly for the purpose of Hard Knocks. They signed Tomlinson and Taylor and traded for Santonio Holmes and Antonio Cromartie.

The problem with Tomlinson and Taylor might be that they are old, but the problems with Holmes and Cromartie come away from the field.

There isn’t a doubt that when Cromartie and Holmes are on the field that they make the Jets a much better team, but with Holmes missing four games due to suspension, do you think it will cause him to start slow when he comes back in Week 5. And how excited are you for a secondary that includes Cromartie and Revis?

Capellini: It’s hard not to like either player. Holmes can be spectacular, has great hands and runs routes better than maybe any receiver in the NFL. The potential problem, as you stated, could be his rustiness after staying away from the team for a month. I’d also worry about his rapport with Sanchez. How long will it take to develop? Ultimately, when Holmes is on he should make Sanchez better because he gets open better than anyone on the roster.

Cromartie brings unadulterated ability to a secondary that, not counting Revis, sorely lacked athleticism at certain spots last year. He will gamble. He will at times get burned, but I’d rather have an overly aggressive corner than one who sluffs off and allows teams to keep the chains moving. My one concern about Cromartie is his tackling. The Jets dumped Kerry Rhodes because, among other things, he wasn’t very physical. I watched Cromartie attempt to tackle Shonn Greene on that 53-yard TD scamper in last year’s divisional round and I can understand why some of the Chargers took issue with Cromartie. He better hit people and wrap up. That’s all I’m saying.

Keefe: You voiced your opinion about the Jets cutting Tony Richardson on Twitter and you were unhappy about it and rightfully so. But now that Richardson is a Jet again after just a brief hiatus, I’m guessing you’re happy once again.

After Rex made it clear that Richardson would be on the final roster, it was a shock to see him get cut, considering his leadership role on the team. Were there any other cuts made that surprised you during preseason? And were there any cuts not made that you thought should have been made?

Capellini: I did get upset about T-Rich getting cut because I hate seeing bad things happen to good people. The initial cut bugged me because Rex screamed about leadership on Hard Knocks and then cut one of his only true leaders. Now, of course, I don’t think the Jets brought Richardson back because the fans screamed about it. They probably said, “If we can cut Tony to save some money, sign Darrelle and then bring Tony back we win on every level.”

The one cut that really bothered me was Chauncey Washington. I mean, this guy could easily have stepped in and spelled Shonn Greene a few carries per game if the Jets didn’t want to burn LT out as a featured back. He’s a horse. It’s an absolute shame that a guy who worked as hard and showed as much as Washington did was waived and later replaced by two nobodies off someone else’s scrap heap. Odd indeed. If nothing else, Washington could have made the Jets’ special teams that much better because he brings quite a wallop.

I will not get overly upset about Danny Woodhead making the team. I just think he was a better story last year and if he gets some time and does nothing this season I think it’s safe to say the novelty has worn off.

Keefe: I believe Rex Ryan is right when he says that the Jets can beat any team in the league when they play their best, and if everything goes right for them this season, they could easily find themselves in the same place they were last season: playing for a trip to the Super Bowl.

There are still questions with this team, as there are with every team, and the biggest question mark with the Jets remains the offense. But with probably the best defense in the league, I expect the Jets to be in contention all season long.

I guess the most important question is: What are your expectations for the Jets this season?

Capellini: Wow. I’ve avoided discussing this like the plague. The NFL is such an odd league. One year you’re 10-6 and the next – with largely the same personnel – you’re 7-9 or 6-10. I think if Sanchez is more like a 50-50 TD-to-INT guy, as opposed to the 12-TD, 20-INT QB he was as a rookie, and can get to 3,000 yards, excuse the pun but the sky should be the limit for this team. The defense, barring injury, figures to be pretty amazing and the coaching is beyond reproach.

I think the Jets should win a minimum of 11 games. They should win the division. If they can get home-field advantage throughout the playoffs I really think they will get to the Super Bowl.

But then again, that’s 30-plus years of fan frustration talking right there.

Follow Neil on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NeilKeefe

Follow Jeff on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GreenLanternJet

Blogs • NFL

Aug 12, 2010

Rise of the Jets

Following the Yankees early exit in the 2006 ALDS, and the rise of the Mets in their near trip to the World Series that season, I was legitimately worried that maybe, just maybe the landscape

Following the Yankees early exit in the 2006 ALDS, and the rise of the Mets in their near trip to the World Series that season, I was legitimately worried that maybe, just maybe the landscape of baseball in New York City was starting to change in favor of the Mets.

That season, the Mets had produced the same record as the Yankees and had now advanced into the championship series of their league while the Yankees were home wondering how Kenny Rogers and Jeremy Bonderman embarrassed them, and also wondering whether or not Joe Torre would be back in the Bronx in 2007. While the Yankees had become a team overpopulated with “me first” personalities and a tabloid’s dream, the Mets had become the better baseball team for at least one season.

The Mets’ position as the talk of the town was short lived and lasted only about a week before the Cardinals ended their season. But that one week was scary enough that I started to envision life as a Yankee fan and a second-rate baseball citizen in the tri-state area. Luckily, the Mets lost Game 7 of the 2006 ALCS, collapsed in 2007, collapsed again in 2008 and had the season they did in 2009 and again this year to restore order in the baseball world in New York City and make everything right again.

Last season I began to watch a similar shift in power in the NFL with the area’s football teams. While the Giants were busy blowing a 5-0 start to the season and giving up 74 points a game, the Jets went from AFC East losers led by the class clown all the way to the AFC Championship Game completely changing their team’s future and how they are perceived in the sports world.

Here were the Giants, just two years removed from the greatest Super Bowl win in history, limping to an 8-8 season with the worst secondary to ever take the field and a pass rush that didn’t fully understand the concept of “rushing the passer.” And here were the Jets, perennial heartbreakers, whose stock was suddenly skyrocketing as they became the George Mason of the NFL postseason by creating a personality and identity that the Giants had lost since their Super Bowl win.

The problem with the pre-2009 Jets is that they were just an unlikable team – at least to me they were. Aside from Fireman Ed and a crowd that continues to make opposing fans fear for their life, there wasn’t a whole lot to like about the Jets. I’m not sure any kid or sports fan in the area without a favorite football team and looking for one to like would have adopted the Jets and called them their own before last season.

Now, when you look at the Jets roster it looks like one of the two rosters for the Pro Bowl. It’s full of superstars and household names. They have a coach that might be the most likable and entertaining in professional sports, and a franchise quarterback who makes it hard not to like him. It’s all these reasons why as a Giants fan, the Jets intrigue me. No, I am not a Jets fan and will never ever switch sides, but I fully understand why that same person searching for a football team to like that I just talked about would choose the Jets over the Giants right now.

The Giants would never let HBO document their training camp for Hard Knocks. They would never expose themselves or prostitute themselves as a sideshow to become a TV program for fans to watch uncensored, and I understand that and I support that. But with the Jets building their brand on the field and off the field, all the Giants can do to make sure they don’t concede their superior ranking in NYC football is to produce wins on the field, and after the way last season finished, I’m not sure how many wins we can expect from this team.

The new-look Jets are why I was more excited for Hard Knocks this season over any previous season in the show’s history. From the moment it was announced that the Jets would participate on the show, it was almost as if they started building their roster accordingly. Just following Rex Ryan and listening to Bart Scott would have been enough, but by adding LaDainian Tomlinson, Santonio Holmes and Antonio Cromartie and including the storyline of the most important contract negotiation in the AFC East and maybe the NFL, it’s almost as if the show became as scripted as Friday Night Lights.

The first episode of Hard Knocks on Wednesday night was as good as advertised. If you missed it, here are the three men responsible for stealing the show in the first hour of what will be the most memorable season of the series.

Rex Ryan
There are going to be a lot of people that watch Hard Knocks simply to see what Rex Ryan is like outside of his comedic press conferences and aside from his extravagant Daily News and Post headlines. After watching Rex freely make fun of his in-laws in the opening minutes of the show, you just knew he was going to make the most of this opportunity to have a camera and censor-free microphone in front of him for training camp.

In the show, Rex Ryan appears to be an actor rather than an amusing and overweight NFL coach. Some of his lines and actions seem a little over the top and rehearsed, the same way that the cast of Jersey Shore now plays up their personas to fulfill the roles of the celebrities they have become rather than be themselves like they were in the first season when the show gained popularity. (Don’t get me wrong, I will continue to watch Jersey Shore no matter how fake the cast becomes, just like I would watch Hard Knocks even if Rex Ryan were reading off cue cards.)

I think the pre-camp meeting was the best example of Rex being a head coach that knows there is a camera recording him. Rex made it clear that he wants his team to lead the league in the wins, but it was almost as if he was trying force every last swear word he could into this scene, so that fans would come away from Hard Knocks and say, “Wow, Rex Ryan is a badass.” But if you take away Ryan’s HBO vocabulary from that meeting, it definitely wouldn’t have passed through the final cut. A power point presentation on Day 1 of camp for NFL players? What player would pay attention to that? It was almost as if someone recorded the first day of class from each semester of college when the professor would just stand there and read the syllabus word for word before you letting you go early. Not exactly captivating TV without Rex trying to break the South Park movie’s record for most swears in one scene.

Rex has reached a point in my life that not many other people can achieve: the point where I could watch Rex Ryan do just about anything. It’s such an elite club that I can’t even think of another person on this list. Whether it’s trying to drop 37 F-bombs before taking a breath, wearing Chuck Taylor shoes given his body type, eating a lunch big enough for a family of four at Cafe Ryan, throwing footballs, punting footballs or just standing around making small talk, there isn’t anything Rex Ryan can’t do that wouldn’t be compelling. I only wish Tom Coughlin could be half as likeable as Rex Ryan.

Rex will never have trouble finding a job in the football world, which is disappointing, because the man could carry his own reality show. And like a lot of other people, I would watch every second of it.

Darrelle Revis
Rex Ryan and the Jets tagged Darrelle Revis as the best player in the league last season, and maybe he is because I’m not sure if anyone other than the best player in the league could take up as much air time as Revis did in the first episode, despite not even being at camp.

There is no chance that Woody Johnson likes watching Rex and the other Jets talking about Revis constantly throughout the show as they further instill the notion that the Jets need Revis to achieve their ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl. It can’t be good for Woody’s negotiations and his stance on not budging on a new contract for Revis when every Wednesday night for the rest of training camp, you have other members of the Jets reminding Jets fans that, “Hey Woody, we really, really need Revis to come to camp, so how about you give him that money?”

I have been torn on both sides of the Revis contract talks. On the one hand, he did sign this contract and he is obligated to live up to his end of the deal, whether or not he has become the player he has since he initially signed. But on the other hand, he does deserve more than his current pay since there are a handful of Jets defensive players making more than him. Like Mike Francesa says, if Woody is going ask fans for every dollar they have to purchase PSLs to attend Jets games, how can he turn around and say he won’t use his own money to sign “the best player in the league?”

It’s time for Woody to pay up.

Joe Namath
Joe Namath appeared in the first episode for maybe two minutes, but every bit of those two minutes was entertaining.

Joe doesn’t exactly look like the guy I grew up watching on TV telling me to shop at “Nobody Beats The Wiz,” but eventually living life as Joe Namath and also as Broadway Joe was going to take its toll.

Namath was genuinely pissed off when Mark Sanchez fumbled during the goal-line drill in the rain, and it set him off, causing him to tell the Jets and Sanchez that Sanchez needs to change the way he receives the ball at the line. Watching Namath speak so passionately about the proper hand technique on the snap and just taking the rest of the coaching staff to school in the film room was like watching Shooter draw up plays in Hoosiers while everyone stood around knowing that the man talking knew more than anyone else, but not being absolutely sure if the man talking was still all there.

When Namath said he “had a good time on the field, but off the field it was all work,” before uncontrollably laughing, he came close to breaking into my Top 5 Athletes I Wish I Could Drinks Beers With For An Afternoon And Listen To Stories While In Their Prime list. The Top 5 is currently Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Jim Kaat, Bobby Orr and David Wells, but Broadway Joe is right on the bubble and with another appearance before the end of the season, it’s going to be hard to keep him off that list.

Blogs • The Joe Girardi Show • Yankees

Aug 3, 2010

The Joe Girardi Show

The Yankees no longer sit atop the AL East alone, but it didn’t have to be this way. It didn’t have to be this way if Joe Girardi didn’t want it to be.

I guess it was only fitting that on the night the Yankees lost sole possession of first place in the AL East for the first time in 42 days, the two losing pitchers to cause this happened to be the Carl Pavano and A.J. Burnett.

From June 20 to August 1, the Yankees sat alone on top of the AL East Mountain. Now they don’t. But it didn’t have to be this way. It didn’t have to be this way if Joe Girardi didn’t want it to be.

Somewhere between going to Tampa Bay with a two-game lead and losing to the Blue Jays on Monday night at home, Girardi decided to shake up a good thing. He decided that cruising through July was too easy, and he decided he needed to fix something that wasn’t broken.

Back in May, I wrote a piece as if I got to host The Joe Girardi Show instead of Michael Kay. With the Yankees enduring their first slump in over a month, I think it’s time for another episode of My Joe Girardi Show. Here are my questions for Joe:

What were you doing that was so important during the fifth inning on Monday that it took you as long as it did to take out A.J. Burnett?

Note: If you don’t know the three grades of A.J. Burnett meltdowns, then please inform yourself for the purpose of this section.

A.J. Burnett is 33 years old. He is 109-94 in his career. It’s safe to say we know who he is and what he is going to be for the rest of his career at this point. And no matter how hard Michael Kay tried to get Al Leiter to admit that Burnett sucks during Monday’s broadcast, Al wouldn’t succumb to the pressure. Al wouldn’t throw a fellow pitcher and former teammate under the bus, so I will do it for him.

Burnett scares the crap out me. He scares the crap out of me in the way that it would be unhealthy for me to watch him start a postseason game right now. And he scares the crap out of me in the way that we are only in the second year of his five-year deal, and I’m wishing I had the remote control from the movie Click so I could fast forward through the next three-plus years of his career with the Yankees.

On Monday night, A.J. Burnett started off on fire, and then quickly entered the early stages of a Grade 1 meltdown before being downgraded to a tropical storm. But after putting up zeroes in the third and fourth, the night quickly escalated to a Grade 3 meltdown. It all happened so fast in typical A.J. Burnett meltdown fashion: from 0 to 60 in a matter of seconds.

In June, when A.J. was going as bad as you can go in the majors leagues as a starting pitching without getting traded, sent down or designated for assignment, I created a system of measurement to determine which Burnett would show up on any given fifth day.

Here is my definition of a Grade 3 A.J. meltdown from that June piece:

“You think A.J. has had his bad inning for the night and that he will enter cruise control, only to have the game unravel in a matter of pitches – and once that second crooked number starts to take shape, there is no stopping it until he is removed from the game.”

Why isn’t Girardi aware of this? How does he not know that there is no fixing Burnett mid-game? He either has it or he doesn’t, and he isn’t about to make an adjustment in the middle of a start or try to battle through without his best stuff. On Monday, he clearly didn’t have it in the fifth inning, but Joe stood in the dugout and watched a bonfire turn into a forest fire before he decided to put it out. The following happened in the fifth inning before Joe pulled A.J. …

Double
Home run
Walk
Double
Fielder’s choice
Double
Double
Strikeout
Double

It took six runs, six hits (all extra-base hits) and seven base runners for Girardi to say to step in and say, “Enough is enough.” By this point, the Yankees trailed 7-2, and it became 8-2 when Sergio Mitre came in and allowed a double in the gap. Burnett and Mitre made MLB history in the frame by becoming the third team ever to allow six doubles in an inning.

The Yankees are never out of any game with their offense, let alone a game at home, where they have won at an outrageous clip since the beginning of 2009. Does Girardi not know this? How does he not? The only logical explanation is that he bet the over last night, and he just wanted to make sure it clinched before he pulled A.J. from the game.

Why move Nick Swisher down in the order in Tampa Bay?

When Nick Swisher hit that second home run on Monday night – the mammoth blast that nearly grazed the top deck at Yankee Stadium – I desperately wanted him to turn around and give Girardi the middle finger or at least point in the dugout and scream, “That one’s for you, Joe!” to let Girardi know what was up.

The Yankees traded for Lance Berkman on Friday and on Saturday he was in the Yankees lineup. But the Yankees weren’t getting the Berkman that hit 45 home runs in 2006 or the Berkman that drove in 106 runs in 2008. This wasn’t even the Berkman that hit 25 home runs in 2009. Instead the Yankees got the Lance Berkman that was hitting .245 in the NL this year and the Berkman that had missed spring training because of knee surgery missed spring training.

Before we go any further, yes, I was and still am a fan of the trade for Berkman. If he can find what he has been missing all year, then the Yankees have a legitimate No. 3 major league hitter batting in the bottom of the order. But the part that gets me is that the Yankees have now had to use and pay Nick Johnson and Berkman and trade away Mark Melancon for a job that Hideki Matsui could have been doing for less money. But forget Johnson’s injured past, the guy is an on-base machine.

Back to my point … Where would you hit Berkman in the Yankees order in his first game with the team? Girardi decided he should hit second, where Nick Swisher is hitting .296 in 51 games this year with 14 home runs 38 RBIs. Joe thought it would be best to move his All-Star right fielder down to the bottom half of the order in favor of the ghost of Lance Berkman.

Berkman went 1-for-8 in his first two games with the Yankees. On Monday night in the Bronx, Swisher was back in the No. 2 spot and delivered an Eff You performance to Girardi by drilling two more home runs.

Why did you play the JV team against the Rays on Sunday?

You have a two-game lead in the division. You are playing against the team that is trailing you by two games at their stadium with a three-game series coming up against the fourth place team the following day. Which game makes sense to rest starters? According to Girardi, the most important game seemed like the best time.

No A-Rod. Mark Teixeira at DH. Berkman at first, hitting second. Ramiro Pena and Austin Kearns starting. Brett Gardner sitting. I would like to know what Derek Jeter’s mental reaction when he walked into Tropicana Field on Monday and saw the lineup that Girardi posted with the Yankees barely hanging onto first place.

My favorite thing about Joe Girardi is how he always seems to find the most inopportune times to try new stuff, and no one on his coaching staff talks him out of it. “Tony, Rob, Mick, Dave … we have a big game against the Rays. Let’s change the whole lineup. Let’s start the reserves and the reserves’ reserves. This is a good idea.”

Obviously players need their rest over the course of the season, and especially A-Rod who is just a little over a year removed from hip surgery. But how does it make the most sense to give every player that needs a day off, the same day off? Why not give Tex “Game A” off, and A-Rod “Game B” and Gardner “Game C?” Why would you dismantle your lineup as much as possible in the rubber game of the most significant series of the season to date?

I need a drink.