| What's
important.
This is not just your
ordinary preseason game, It will be the first time a football game will be played
in the New Meadowlands Stadium. It is a 'home' game for the Jets who will be playing
against the 'visiting' Giants. It will be the first time that most fans will get
to try out their new seats and hopefully enjoy their view of the field. Maybe
less important to the excited fans attending and those at home is the fact that
this game will be the weakest played by both teams this season, just by the very
nature of it being the very first preseason game. On
the field.
While no preseason opening game
will ever be the game of your dreams, it does afford the players a chance to get
a taste of real football action for the first time in a season. All the organization
and feel of a real game will affect the veterans and the overstock of rookie players
currently on the roster. The stands will have cheering fans, messing up plays
suddenly becomes more important in this area and they can finally hit opposing
players with much less regard than in training camp where they have to add a measure
of judgment to their aggressiveness.
Jets.
The Jets, while breaking in a rookie quarterback coached by a rookie head coach,
managed to get themselves into the AFC Championship game. Quarterbacks get a lot
of attention from the press, and Mark Sanchez sure got his, but his passing wasn't
one of their big strengths last year and they ranked next to last in the NFL in
that area.. However, the Jets running game was ranked 1st and Rex Ryan had his
defense notched up to be the first against the run and the pass making them the
top rated defense in the NFL. Beating the Colts in the AFC championship game would
have sent the Jets on to play in the Super Bowl against New Orleans, but it wasn't
to be. Jets
- What happened?
The Jets were up
by 11 points over the Colts with about 2 minutes to go in the first half, but
Peyton Manning needed only a minute to pass for a touchdown and cut that lead.
The Colts scored twice more in the second half to win the game 30-17. Sanchez
was used sparingly but effectively in the first half to complete 5 of his 7 passes
for 124 yards and 2 touchdowns, but he could only muster completing 12 of his
next 23 passes for 133 yards and 1 interception. Perhaps the Jets were jinxed
from the onset by the ref mistakenly calling the Jets the Giants on the coin toss
- and they weren't even playing this game in the Meadowlands. Giants.
The Giants closed out last season missing the
playoffs for the first time since 2004. That outcome was hard to envision after
the first five games which included two division wins and had the Giants sitting
undefeated at 5-0. Game six was a loss to New Orleans, the team that went on to
win the Super Bowl. That was followed by three more losses moving the Giants to
5-4 at the bye week, and everyone was wondering what happened. The Giants managed
to come back with an overtime win over Atlanta, and then traveled to Denver to
play in just four days for their 26-6 Thanksgiving day loss. Giants.
- What happened?
Sweeping division rival
Dallas for the season raised some hopes and got the Giants to 7-5, but losing
to Philadelphia and winning over Washington put them at just 8-6 with only two
games left to play. Then everything really fell apart with a 41-9 loss in the
last game ever played in old Giants stadium, followed by a 44-7 trouncing in Minnesota
to end the season. Giants
- Offseason Fix.
Starting off the season
with five straight wins and ending up missing the playoffs for the first time
in five years means something needs to be fixed. Looking closer, in both winning
and losing games last season, the Giants gave
up lots of points in many games. Overall it was enough to be ranked 30th in the
NFL in that area, which would normally see a team end up with a losing record
for the season.
The Giants 8-8 finish can be attributed to an offense which
was ranked 8th overall and also 8th in scoring points. So the first fix was on
defense. Defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan couldn't quite handle the reigns
turned over to him from former successful coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and he was
let go, replaced by Perry Fewell. This
game.
The starters won't see much action.
The Giants are more banged up than the Jets and their starters will come off the
field earlier. Tom Coughlin has said, "I want our guys to want to win, but
you're not going to sacrifice the ability to evaluate personnel for that because
that's what preseason is." The game probably means more to the Jets who have
been featured on HBO and it does count as their first home game of the season
in the new stadium even though it's a preseason event. The Giants get to open
the regular season here against Carolina. 
Next
Preseason Games
Aug 21 - Pittsburgh
at Giants 7:00PM
Giants Tickets -
Buy or Sell
Aug 28 - Giants at Baltimore 7:30PM
Giants Tickets
- Buy or
Sell 470+
tickets! (as of 08/13) Sep 2
- New England at Giants 7:00PM
Giants Tickets
- Buy or
Sell 890+
tickets! (as of 08/13) First
Regular Season Game
Sep 12 -
Carolina at Giants
Giants Tickets -
Buy or Sell
960+
tickets! (as of 08/13)
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