Tag: Rex Ryan (Page 18 of 23)

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

Several people had long days in East Rutherford yesterday

There were so many fails in the Falcons-Jets game yesterday that I had to put them all into one collective post. So here it is!

– After Matt Ryan found Tony Gonzalez in the end zone with just under two minutes remaining to give the Falcons a 9-7 lead, play-by-play announcer Dick Stockton immediately uttered, “And Atlanta comes within a point of tying the score with 1:38 in regulation.” Uh Dick, the Falcons are the ones that are up.

– The best part is, Stockton’s partner Charles Davis never corrected him. Instead, he broke down the replay of the Gonzalez’s touchdown and never went back to Stockton’s gaff.

– As kicker Matt Bryant lined up for the extra point, Stockton then said, “And this is a very important point after by Matt Ryan.” I know the Falcons have had kicking issues this season, but I didn’t realize things were so bad that they had Matt Ryan attempting extra points.

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Rex Ryan to stick with Mark Sanchez

According to a report by the New York Daily News, Rex Ryan won’t bench struggling rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez in favor for Kellen Clemens.

Sanchez has followed poor outing after poor outing the past couple months and is now only two interceptions behind league-leader Jay Cutler. Sanchez has also seen his completion percentage drop to 52.1 as the Jets have lost six of their last seven games.

But wasn’t all this expected? Just because Sanchez and the Jets got off to a hot start doesn’t mean that it was going to last all season. After all, he’s a rookie quarterback that didn’t have a ton of experience in college and is struggling in his first year. That’s not uncommon.

It’s important that Ryan stick with Sanchez and see him through the rest of the year. If Sanchez can get through this season, then he’ll see that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that he can play in this league. But he needs to learn from the mistakes that he’s making or else he’ll never develop. It’s Ryan’s job to do everything he can to help Sanchez transition to the next level, which includes supporting him when he isn’t playing well.

Confidence is everything to a young quarterback. Ryan chose Sanchez to be his starter in preseason and unless the young signal caller turns into Ryan Leaf over the next couple weeks, then he should remain the starter. Don’t forget that Peyton Manning struggled in his first season with the Colts, yet he remained the starter the entire season. I’m not trying to compare the two players, but the situations could wind up being similar in the end if Ryan allows Sanchez to suffer through his growing pains.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

2009 NFL Week 11 Point Spreads & Odds

Along with a complete list of point spreads for this weekend, here is a quick-hit look at some of the marquee matchups in Week 11 of the NFL.

Colts (9-0) at Ravens (5-4), 1:00PM ET
After earning a win Sunday night thanks in large part to Bill Belichick’s decision to go for it on 4th and 2 on his own 28-yard line, the Colts head to Baltimore to take on a Ravens team brimming with confidence after shutting out Cleveland (not like that’s hard to do) on Monday night. The Ravens’ offense hasn’t been as good over the past month as it was earlier in the season and they might have trouble moving the ball against a stout (although injury-plagued) Indy defense. Last time the Colts traveled to Baltimore was during the postseason three years ago when Indy eventually went on to win the Super Bowl. The Colts beat the Ravens 15-6 that day, but Peyton Manning was picked off twice and finished with just 170 yards and no touchdowns.

Chargers (6-3) at Broncos (6-3), 4:15PM ET
Josh McDaniels, Kyle Orton and Knowshon Moreno weren’t around last year when Denver coughed up the AFC West title to San Diego after taking a decent lead late in the season. But that has to be on the minds of the Broncos who did play in the Denver last season. The Broncos already went into San Diego and beat the Chargers earlier this season on Monday night, but that was before the Bolts’ defense started playing better and Philip Rivers wasn’t winning games on his own. Rivers has been outstanding over the past couple of weeks and the running game finally showed a pulse in last week’s win over the Eagles. The Chargers are playing with a ton of confidence right now, while the Broncos have lost three in a row. A loss this weekend and the Denver faithful will start thinking, “Here we go ago.”

Falcons (5-4) at Giants (5-4), 1:00PM ET
Something has to give between these two teams; the Falcons have lost three of their last four, while the Giants have lost four in a row. Atlanta will be at a major disadvantage without running back Michael Turner (high ankle sprain), plus New York is coming off its bye so it had two weeks to prepare for this matchup. Both Matt Ryan and Eli Manning have struggled over the past month with poor decision-making, interceptions and inaccuracy. Both of these teams are desperate for a win to stay within the NFC Wild Card hunt.

Jets (4-5) at Patriots (6-3), 4:15PM ET
A lot has changed since Week 2 when the Jets upset the Patriots in East Rutherford: Rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez isn’t playing with as much confidence as he had been and now there are cracks in Rex Ryan’s vaunted defense. Bill Belichick and the Pats are angry after giving a win away in Indianapolis last Sunday night and will certainly look to bury a New York team that was so boastful about wanting to beat the New England earlier in the season. This game could get ugly in a hurry.

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Hey, there’s Ted Ginn Jr.!

For much of his short career, Dolphins’ receiver Ted Ginn Jr. has been a ghost. While he remains a threat to take it to the house every time he gets his hands on the ball, the problem is that he can’t get open. He can’t beat jams off the line, he doesn’t have good enough technique to shake defenders and despite his speed, he’s slow getting in and out of his routes.

But for at least one game, Ginn found a way to be useful.

Ginn failed to record a single reception and was targeted just once, but he returned two kickoffs for touchdowns to spark the Dolphins in their 30-25 win over the Jets in Week 8. His 299 total kickoff return yards rank him second behind Tyrone Hughes (who compiled 304 yards in a 1994 game for the Saints) for the most return yards in a single game in NFL history.

Ginn’s first touchdown came after the Jets had taken a 6-3 lead early in the third quarter and the second came after Mark Sanchez had cut Miami’s lead to 17-13 with a 1-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter. He set the Dolphins up with great field position as Miami went on to score 27 points in the second half.

As for the Jets, I think this is the team many expected them to be with a rookie quarterback and a first year head coach. There’s a lot of season left, but this is probably a .500 team at best and there’s nothing wrong with that. Under Ryan, they’ve played with more of a swagger and the defense has been more aggressive. Sanchez has a long way to go in his development, but he has flashed promise in his rookie year and has proven on some levels that he can handle being a franchise quarterback.

Both the Dolphins and Jets will remain competitive throughout the year, but the playoffs seem unlikely for both teams. They just don’t have enough overall depth to challenge the top teams in the AFC.

But hey, at least Miami found where Ted Ginn has been hiding. He remains a massive bust, but a bust that has electrifying return abilities.

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