That was easy. Plaxico Burress shooting himself in the leg was no distraction for the Giants, as they handled their division rival down in DC (or Maryland, wherever), 23-7. Big Blue has now won seven straight games, and the last six have come against teams with winning records. They’re steamrolling right through the tough part of their schedule.
The Good
Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg. (Are the Giants covering something up, by the way? He only played three downs last week. Maybe he shot himself when he was reaching for that pass right before he left the game in Arizona.) He wasn’t going to play anyway with his bad hammy, but his absence just paves the way for more playing time for Domenik Hixon. The Redskins defense keyed in on the run all game long, forcing the Giants to try and beat them by passing the ball. Didn’t they watch the game last week against the Cardinals? Stop the run? No problem. Eli Manning will beat you …
He is not Mark Teixeira, but the New York Yankees recent trade for Nick Swisher from the Chicago White Sox is a very good trade that the Yankees quietly pulled off.
Not only will the deal allow the Yankees to fill a void at 1B or a possible need in CF, but it also allows the Yankees to allocate the majority of their available money to pitching which is their biggest need.
Additionally, the trade allows the Yankees to bring in three players as opposed to only two if the Yankees were able to sign Teixeira. Having Swisher, C.C. Sabathia and either A.J. Burnett or Derek Lowe is more valuable than just Teixeira and Sabathia.
This trade also allows the Yankees to not only gain three impact players possibly but also to save money long term due to the current details of Swisher’s contract. Swisher will be paid $5.3 million in 2009, $6.75 million in 2010 and $9 million in 2011 with a club option for 2012.
Despite Swisher’s manageable …
Here is the second in a series of superteams smackdowns (click here to see the first). It’s the battle of the ultimate underdogs. The 1968 Jets defeated the mighty NFL champion Baltimore Colts. And the 2007 Giants upset the unbeatable New England Patriots. Joe Namath made The Guarantee. David Tyree made The Catch. If these two teams matched up, who would win? Would they out-underdog each other? Would anybody even be favored?
Weeb Ewbank’s Jets finished in first place in the AFL East, with an 11-3 record. They were, of course, led by Joe Namath. He usually had a drink in one hand and a broad in the other. Somehow he found the time to throw for 3,147 yards, 15 touchdowns and 17 interceptions, though with only a 49.2% completion rate. The Jets offense racked up 419 points (in a 14 game schedule), good for 29.9 per game, ranking …
The Baltimore Ravens had the #1 rushing defense in the NFL. But they hadn’t seen anything like Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward, Ahmad Bradshaw and the Giants offensive line before. When Big Blue got done smashing them in the mouth and ripping them apart, the Giants walked off the field with a 30-10 rout.
The Good
On the Giants second play from scrimmage, Jacobs bounced off the vaunted Ravens defense, rambled 36 yards up the sideline and finished off the run with a stiff-arm to a defender’s neck. Game over. Right there. Baltimore gives up an average of 65.4 rushing yards per game, and had only allowed one rushing touchdown all season. But it only took one quarter for Jacobs to stomp over the Baltimore D like Gozilla destroying Tokyo, and make it into the end zone twice and take their rushing-yards-per-game average and tear it apart. He ended up with 73 yards on 11 carries, all in the first half (he had to leave the game with a minor …
Brett Favre and Leon Washington weren’t the only people who had to work on Thursday night. I had a performance which started at 8:00. Yeah I know, an actor who lives in New York - go figure. Anyway, from about eight fifteen on I was a pacing, fingernail-biting mess backstage. The Pats and Jets had kicked off and I had no idea what was going on. There’s no cell reception in the theater so I was stuck clueless except the one score update I got from one of the actors in the dressing room at the end of the first quarter. “10 to 3 Jets,” he told me. I entertained the idea of running out at intermission and grabbing a quick look at the bar across the street but deemed it a dumb idea. If it’s a close game I might miss the opening of the second act and I don’t think that would go over too well. We took our bow at 10:02 and by …
Another division game, another win. The Giants took care of business again. With their 36-31 victory, they remain undefeated against the NFC East (3-0), and stay atop the conference with an 8-1 record. They made some mistakes that kept Philadelphia closer than they should have been, but the Giants just keep on winning, no matter what way they do it.
The GoodÂ
The rushing game won this one for the Giants. No matter who was carrying the ball for the Jints, the Eagles couldn’t stop him. Brandon Jacobs ran over, through and around the Philly D. It usually took about six defenders to bring him down. He bulled his way for 126 yards on 22 carries, and made it into the end zone twice. Derrick Ward bounced off would-be tacklers for 53 yards. And Ahmad Bradshaw ran for 38 yards in the fourth quarter. Madison Hedgecock and the offensive …
Bye: Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati Bengals, Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Quarterbacks
 Start
Chad Pennington (Dolphins) vs. Seahawks- Pennington has thrown for at least 280 yards over his past four games. The Seahawks defense allowed Eagles QB Donovan McNabb to throw 349 yards and two scores against them last week. On the season the Seahawks defense has allowed 2064 yards which is 31st in the NFL. Pennington is seventh in the league with 1991 passing yards and should shred the soft Seahawks secondary.
Matt Ryan (Falcons) vs. Saints- Ryan has thrown for at least two TDs his past two games and has become a low end QB1 fantasy starter. On the season he has a near 2-to-1 TD to INT ratio which is impressive for a rookie. The Saints are 25th in the NFL in passing yards allowed …
Can you tell how dramatic I’m capable of being by that title? Heroic. Right now it makes me think of Jason and the Argonauts or the Lord of the Rings or some really epic movie with swords. Yesterday though, after watching our defense pretty much play for an entire half without a break that’s the word that came to mind. At one point Gang Green was on the field for 27 straight plays without allowing any points to be scored. When the Bills elected to go for it on 4th down from the Jets 8 yard line I have to admit I was nervous as hell. Fred Jackson got stuffed hard and the Jets defense made a huge statement that this team sorely needed. Oh yeah, and Kris Jenkins is an absolute beast. His Kung Fu is strong and if anyone wants to run up the middle they have to somehow get by his awesome enormousness. He’s like Moby Dick but well, you know…
This was a …
With seven minutes and 24 seconds left in the game, the Rangers were winning 2-0. I went to get a beer… yada yada yada… they were losing 5-2. Wow. Just wow. (And that’s not a good wow.)
A funny thing happened on the way to a routine victory. A goal in the first period. A goal in the second. Stephen Valiquette shutting out Toronto. Five for five on the penalty kill. Sounds like a 2008 Rangers game to me. Everything was going according to plan. The first goal was a thing of beauty. Nigel Dawes took the puck behind the Leafs’ net and banked a pass off the boards to Dan Girardi at the point. He threaded the needle across the ice to Ryan Callahan who rifled it in for a 1-0 lead. Blair Betts scored his second goal of the year in the second, matching last year’s season total. In fact, the Betts/Sjostrom/Orr line was the best line for the Rangers in the game.
In the third, the Blueshirts …
The Giants and Steelers slugged it out in an old-fashioned, blue-collar, black-and-blue smackdown. And Big Blue smashmouthed their way to a 21-14 victory.
The GoodÂ
The Giants defense pressured Ben Roethlisberger all game long. They sacked him five times. They knocked him down 16 times. They intercepted him four times. They deflected numerous passes. And they told him if he ever shows his face in Jersey, there’s more where that came from. They held Pittsburgh to 249 total yards. And just over half of those came on five plays. The Steelers went through the Giants like Swiss cheese on their first drive of the game, going 60 yards on four plays for a touchdown. And in the third quarter, Pittsburgh had a one-play scoring drive, converting on a 65-yard TD pass. That’s two scores on five plays, and a total of 125 yards. The rest of the …
While the World Series is being played out in “Tampa” and Philly, the New York Yankees are making their offseason plans in Tampa, Florida this week. Yes, their offices are actually in Tampa, unlike the Rays who don’t actually play there, but that’s a story for another day. According to Mike Lupica of the Daily News the Yankees are ready to break the bank open to get back to the promised land. With about $80 million coming off the books this winter, it’s almost certain that they will add that right back and may even surpass that.
“I’m not saying (the huge spending) won’t happen,” Brian Cashman said. “I know people expect us to go crazy. Even when we don’t go crazy, people still look at whatever we do and say, ‘There’s the Yankees being the Yankees.’ We’re the Evil Empire even when we’re not.”
This is true. The one MUST this winter is getting C.C. Sabathia no matter the cost. We learned that not going …
The Mets off-season reshuffling has begun. They started with their coaching staff. Jerry Manuel announced that Sandy Alomar, Sr., Sandy Alomar, Jr., (how many Alomars does it take to coach a team?), Howard Johnson and Dan Warthen all would be back for 2009.
Gone are Guy Conti, Luis Aguayo and Ken Oberkfell. All three will be reassigned within the organization. The new third-base coach will be Razor Shines. Yes, that’s his name. And the bullpen coach is old-friend Randy Niemann. There’s no word yet on who will take over at first base.
With Conti leaving it looks like the Mets won’t make an attempt to bring back Pedro Martinez. Conti was Pedro’s mentor, so it’s doubtful they would get rid of the coach and then try to re-sign Pedro. Oberkfell may end up as manager of new Triple A affiliate Buffalo. And jettisoning Aguayo was a no-brainer. He …
