Tag: New York Jets (Page 30 of 59)

NFL Week 16 COY Power Rankings

Upsets galore and crazy outcomes have forced us to look a bit harder at the Coach of the Year rankings, but most of our contenders are hanging tough.

1. Jim Caldwell, Indianapolis Colts—The poor guy is still dodging proverbial rocks being thrown by Colts’ fans, who wanted their team to continue its pursuit of perfection instead of rolling over against the Jets. Being that the Colts were still in position to go to 15-0 when Caldwell did that, we have to cut him some slack and remember that his team is still the top seed in the AFC and would be in the NFC as well.

2. Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints—Payton surely did not want to back into the #1 seed in the NFC, but after losing two games in a row, his team did just that when the Vikings’ loss Monday night let the Saints snag the top position. And once again, we have to consider the entire season’s body of work.

3. Norv Turner, San Diego Chargers—When you consider that Turner’s Chargers always play lousy in September, only to win when it really matters, that’s far better than it being the other way around. It’s time we started to give Turner his due.

4. Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals—The Bengals are another team not playing well, but they have dealt with two tragedies this season—the death of player Chris Henry, and the passing of the wife of D-coordinator Mike Zimmer. And still, the Bengals are 10-5 with an AFC North title. Raise your hand if you expected that.

5. Brad Childress, Minnesota Vikings—Yes, the Vikings are floundering and in danger of losing the #2 seed to Philly or Dallas, but I’ll keep mentioning two players who Childress sought in the off-season that made this a championship caliber team—Brett Favre and Percy Harvin.

Honorable mention: Ken Whisenhunt, Cardinals; Mike McCarthy, Packers; Andy Reid, Eagles; Bill Belichick, Patriots; Rex Ryan, Jets; Wade Phillips, Cowboys; Josh McDaniels, Denver Broncos

NFL Week 16 MVP Power Rankings

It’s been two weeks since we last did these rankings, and while not much has changed at the top, the teams our top two guys play for have been very shaky. In fact, Philip Rivers’ Chargers are the only one on a roll heading into the postseason.

1. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—If Jim Caldwell benching his starting quarterback in the third quarter against the Jets proved anything, it’s that Manning is clearly and unequivocally valuable. His numbers (4405 yards, 33 TDs) don’t suck either.

2. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—There is no question that Brees hasn’t been the same since DeMarcus Ware terrorized him two weeks ago in the Superdome. But the MVP race is not based on a few games and Brees still has a league-high 109.6 QB rating, and leads the NFL with 34 touchdown passes.

3. Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans—This guy was racking up yards even before the Titans started winning games this season. And he’s so far ahead of the pack right now, with his sights on 2000 yards and even Eric Dickerson’s record of 2105 yards for a single season. That’s saying something.

4. Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers—Yes, he has numbers — 4155 yards, 27 TDs to 9 picks, second to Brees in QB rating with 104.5. But here is why Rivers belongs on here—because all he does is win games.

5. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings—Let’s not lose sight of the fact that Favre brought his Vikings back from a 17-point deficit in chilly Chicago before losing in OT. His season has been and continues to be bordering on magical.

Honorable Mention— DeSean Jackson, Eagles; Aaron Rodgers, Packers; Cedric Benson, Bengals; Reggie Wayne, Colts; Jared Allen, Vikings; Vince Young, Titans; Elvis Dumervil, Broncos; Darren Sharper, Saints; Wes Welker, Patriots; Darrelle Revis, Jets; Andre Johnson, Texans; Dallas Clark, Colts; DeMarcus Ware, Cowboys

Edwards guarantees victory for Jets

Braylon Edwards told the media on Thursday that the Jets won’t lose to the Bengals this Sunday at the Meadowlands.

From the New York Post:

“We won’t lose this game,” Edwards boldly declared, standing in front of his locker.

“We want it too bad. I don’t think we can lose this game knowing the way our mindset is. Guys aren’t talking about New Year’s Eve. Guys aren’t talking about family. All guys are talking about is the playoffs. All guys are talking about is beating Cincinnati.

“Were all dialed in. We’re all focused on this week. We know all we have to do is win and we’re in. Guys are very, very serious and are approaching this as a Super Bowl.”

Wow Braylon – why to go out on a limb there. Guaranteeing a win over a Bengals team that has already clinched and might not play its starters is as worthless as guaranteeing a win over the computer while playing Madden on your PS3.

Edwards should try concentrating on catching the ball and leaving the guarantees to Joe Willy Namath.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

When it comes to Brett Favre, Gregg Easterbrook is a revisionist historian

In his TMQ rant against Brett Favre and Brad Childress, Gregg Easterbrook participates in a little revisionist history…

This should hardly come as a surprise, since Favre’s past two teams melted down late in the season. In 2007, the Green Bay Packers lost the NFC Championship Game at home, and Favre had so worn out his welcome in Green Bay — he had his own dressing area so he wouldn’t have to interact with other players — that coaches and management couldn’t wait to get rid of him. In 2008, the New York Jets were outstanding early, but lost four of their final five games and missed the playoffs. The coaches were all fired and Favre was given the boot. Basically, in a single season, he blew up an entire team. Now things have started well at Minnesota and are declining late. This is not a surprise, this is Brett Favre’s recent pattern. Don’t marry Zsa Zsa Gabor and think she really cares about you. Don’t hire Favre and think he cares about anything but Favre.

Hmm.

Let’s start with the ’07 Packers — if a team loses the NFC Championship Game in overtime to the eventual Super Bowl champs, it’s considered a meltdown? Since when? He threw for 236 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in that game. That’s a meltdown? Easterbrook claims that Packer management “couldn’t wait to get rid of him,” yet Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy stated publicly at the end of the season that they wanted him back, and when Favre wanted to unretire the first time (in the spring of ’07) they were all set to fly to Mississippi to talk it over before Favre called it off at the last second. Only then did they decide it was time to hand the keys to Aaron Rodgers.

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Colts hand away perfect season, lose to Jets

The Indianapolis Colts just answered the question of whether or not an undefeated season is more important than resting their starters: It’s not.

By benching Peyton Manning early in the second half on Sunday, the Colts surrendered their chance at a perfect season and subsequently lost to the Jets, 29-15. It was Indy’s first loss since October 27 of 2008.

After the game, head coach Jim Caldwell noted that a perfect season was never the Colts’ ultimate goal – a Super Bowl is. Some may argue that the Colts have an obligation to the fans (and to the Ravens, Broncos, Steelers, etc.) to leave Manning and the starters in, but what would have happened if Manning snapped his ACL in a meaningless (meaningless for Indy) game late in the season? What’s the point of going 16-0 or 15-1 and watching Curtis Painter lose in the Divisional Round of the playoffs?

I felt bad watching Manning on the sidelines, I really did. He’s a warrior and a competitor and the guy wants to be in every game. That’s why he wins and that’s why the Colts have had so much success over the past couple years.

That said, he can be mad on the sidelines all he wants because at least he’ll be healthy in three weeks when Indianapolis is playing for a chance at a Super Bowl. An undefeated season would have been great, but in one week nobody (not even Colts fans) are going to give a crap. This might be a story for the media, but it’s not to the Colts franchise. Again, in a week, nobody will care about this so hopefully the mainstream media doesn’t make an issue of it over the next week.

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