| Giants
(7-7) vs Jets (8-6)
The Jets were enjoying
a three game winning streak, but the Eagles took them down hard last week. Philly
scored 21 points off three turnovers and had a 28-0 lead before the the Jets managed
to put any points on the board. The final score was 45-19 in favor of the Eagles.
Two weeks ago the Giants engineered an exciting comeback over the Cowboys and
that edged them into first place in the division. Last week the Giants couldn't
get much going against the Redskins and they dropped back into second place with
their 23-10 loss. NY Jets.
Rex
Ryan talks big and maybe has decided never to cut back on that because of what
happened in his first year as head coach in week 15 of 2009. They had won 3 games
in a row and then lost a game to Atlanta. Ryan declared his team dead and buried
in the race for the playoffs. Then the Jets beat the undefeated Indianapolis Colts
and Cincinnati Bengals in back to back weeks and they were in. Who knew the Colts
would sit most of their name players in the 2nd half of their game?
So
in each of his first two years as head coach, Rex Ryan has
gotten his team into the playoffs and as far as the AFC title game. The Jets lost
both times and those teams in turn lost in the Super Bowl (Indianapolis to New
Orleans, Pittsburgh to Green Bay). Now Ryan is trying for the playoffs for the
third year in a row, to push even further than he had before, and to get his Jets
team into the big game.
Jets
offense.
Mark Sanchez
was sacked four times and threw two interceptions in the loss at Philadelphia.
He completed 15 of 26 for 150 yards and had two touchdowns. Sanchez hasn't thrown
over 200 yards in the past four games. The line didn't play their best and right
tackle Wayne Hunter was a weak link. Hunter had his hands full with the Eagles
pass rush, committed two false starts and allowed two sacks on Sanchez. Hunter
has allowed 11 sacks on the year and the third-most quarterback hits according
to one report. Wide receiver Santonio Holmes sabotaged his team from the start,
fumbling his first catch which was returned for a touchdown. On the next drive
Holmes allowed Asante Samuel to snare the ball, which led to another score.
In both passing yards and rushing yards, the Jets are ranked 21st in the league
although they do manage to put points on the board. They are ranked 7th in that
area, probably because they are real effective in the red zone, leading all teams
in scoring touchdowns, 68.1 percent of the time for 32-of-47. Add in the 10 field
goals and they have converted 89.4 percent of the time. Plaxico
Burress has eight touchdowns but had no catches the week earlier against Kansas
City, and just one against the Eagles, a diving 9-yard touchdown.
Shonn Greene has rushed for 941 yards and averages 4.2 a carry. The offense couldn't
take advantage of what he could do last week because they fell way behind and
needed the passing game to try to catch up. Jets
defense.
This defense is ranked 7th defending
against the pass and are 16th against the run. Last week they let LeSean McCoy
run all over them for over a hundred yards on only 18 carries and gave up 160
overall. They couldn't nail Michael Vick, who completed 15 of his 22 passes for
274 yards and one touchdown and also had one running. They did come up with 3
sacks once Vick left and Vince Young came in the game for fourth quarter mop up,
to give them 32 on the year. The defense forced 4 turnovers, but their offense
didn't turn any of those opportunities into points. They're probably eyeing the
fact that Eli Manning has thrown 10 interceptions in his last seven games after
having only five in the first seven.
Despite their overall good passing defense,
their glaring weakness is against tight ends, where they have given up the second-most
yardage in the league, about 70 yards a game. Eagles tight end Brent Celek actually
had 156 yards on five catches, the most receiving yards in one game for an Eagles
tight end since 1965. There was a season-ending injury to safety Jim Leonhard
the week before the Eagles game and that obviously hurts their game. Leonhard
usually makes sure the defense is in the right coverages before the snap.
Cornerback Antonio Cromartie takes chances and has 3 interceptions on the year,
but he can be had. Darrelle Revis has 4 interceptions on the year, is more dangerous,
and will likely key on Hakeem Nicks. Giants
offense.
Manning is good at reading defenses
at the line and the Jets had trouble disguising theirs last week against the Eagles.
That's a big edge if that deficiency continues into this game. Covering the middle
of the field is a problem for the Jets, but unfortunately tight end Jake Ballard
won’t be playing. Bear Pascoe and Travis Beckum will try to pick up that slack,
and Beckum does have a 67-yard touchdown under his belt. Ramses Barden could be
effective in this area. Mario Manningham is listed as doubtful for this game.
Victor Cruz has 1,194 receiving yards and Nicks has 1,096. Nicks could have
had more, but he dropped two touchdown passes last week and allowed Redskins cornerback
Josh Wilson to rip one catch from his hands. Nicks can't play sloppy like that
around Revis and Cromartie. Eli Manning has been so good this year, he leads the
league in 40-yard-plus passing plays, that sometimes they forget the running game
even when it's working. They have been improving in that area, but ran the ball
just five times in the first half last week. Brandon Jacobs averaged 4.1 yards
per carry, but got the ball only 8 times during the game. That was coming off
a 5.3 average on 19 carries for 101 yards against the Cowboys the week before.
Giants defense.
Of
this unit, Jason Pierre-Paul has been the lone standout, but he can't do it all
and the miscommunication problems in the secondary have to stop. Justin Tuck has
been battling injuries and Osi Umenyiora will be out once again. The defense does
have 36 sacks and they will be playing against an offensive line that allowed
their quarterback to get beat up last week. Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez insists
he's fine but he had to come off the field at one point and did not look the same
once he returned to the game. The Giants need to pressure him early and make it
stick.
That said, the Giants are the league's
29th-ranked team in pass defense and are second worst in giving up 58 plays of
20 or more yards. In the past five weeks they have
allowed an average of 432.2 yards (293.8 passing). The secondary regularly sees
receivers running around completely free, but the Jets aren't really a big downfield
passing team so maybe they'll be able to get away with a few mistakes this game.
Overall.
The
Giants know that they control their own destiny just by winning these last two
games. That goal is easy to verbalize, but not so easy to carry out on the field.
In this game neither team wants to see the other on the field in their final possession
marching downfield for the go ahead score. Giants fans know that Eli Manning can
pull that off, but if you don't regularly follow the Jets, you may not realize
that Mark Sanchez has produced 8 fourth-quarter/overtime comeback victories over
the past two years. NFC
East.
The Vikings (2-12) are scheduled
to play in Washington against the Redskins (5-9) on Saturday at 1:00pm, the same
time that the Giants will be playing in their game with the Jets. Later in the
day, at 4:00pm, the Eagles (6-8) will be taking on the Cowboys (8-6) in Dallas.
The Redskins and Cowboys are the teams favored to win their games.
The Eagles
can only get in the playoffs by winning the division. They must win this week
at Dallas and then at home against Washington. Also, the Giants would have to
lose to the Jets this week and finish up with a win at home over the Cowboys.
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Notes.
NFL Week 17 start time changes could be decided
on 6 days notice to ensure a game with playoff implications. Be aware that NFL
games in flex weeks are subject to change 12 days in advance (6 days in Week 17).
Teams will be informed as soon as they are no longer under consideration or eligible
for a move to Sunday night. Giants have
won four in a row against the Jets since 1996. Giants
Eli Manning has completed 61.6 percent of his passes for a career-high 4,362 yards. Jets
Plaxico Burress will play against his former team for the first time in a regular-season
game.
Jets Plaxico Burress played four of his 10 seasons for the Giants and
had signed a one-year deal with the Jets. Jets
Santonio Holmes was fined $7,500 for his touchdown celebration vs Eagles last
week. Jets Santonio Holmes with eight
touchdowns is tied with Plaxico Burress for the team lead. Jets
backup quarterback Mark Brunell spent eight years with Tom Coughlin in Jacksonville.
Next Game
Jan 1 - Cowboys at Giants.
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