Big Apple Big-Mouths
Conference Championship Preview
Come one, come all, to the official preview of the AFC and NFC Championship games. You can't escape the Giant excitement here in New York. Listening to sports talk radio, you'd
likely hear about 30% of the conversation about the potential San Francisco forecast on Sunday, and the other 70% about how the Giants are about to make mincemeat out of the 49ers. The
confidence is brewing, and the G-Men have certainly backed it up over the last month.
But before the local game, the AFC Champion will be crowned up in Foxboro. The Ravens and Patriots are two worthy candidates, and they will settle it all at about 3pm. Should be real
fun, so let's just get down to it...
Baltimore Ravens (12-4) at New England Patriots (13-3)
The Line: Patriots by 7
Former Jets Involved: S. Ellis/J. Ihedigbo/D. Woodhead/B. Belichick (Patriots)
Blog's Preseason Excerpt About the Ravens:
"Many folks favor Pittsburgh due to their franchise's unparalleled stability in this post-lockout situation. Call me a psychopath...but this is the storybook ...
Divisional Round Wrap Up: Post-Holiday(s) Edition
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
-Martin Luther King Jr. on August 28, 1963
I had that written down on Monday. With so much to write concerning football over the previous two days, I was more in the holiday mindset. January 16th was to be a day of rest in
America, honoring the life of King. I thought about trudging on and still writing the column, but then I realized that MLK's birthday wasn't the only anniversary for me to celebrate that
day...
"To all the non-believers. TO ALL THE NON-BELIEVERS! Especially you, Tom JACK-son. Way to have our back, Keyshawn.... ANYBODY CAN BE BEAT!"
-Bart Scott on January 16, 2011
With these two celebrations in play, it was abundantly clear that Monday was to be a day of reflection, not labor. So when Tuesday rolled along, I was revved up and ready to go. That
was, of ...
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Monday Mash: Three Favorites...and a Tebow
The perfect storm was brewing.
Saturday football was a bit of a bust. In the 'only people outside of Cincy and Houston who care are gamblers' matchup, the Texans were able to pull away from the Bengals. Sure, the
game was a bit more competitive early on than the 31-10 score indicated. And J.J. Watt made a ridiculously athletic
play to swing the game. But in the end, 31-10 speaks for itself as Houston was just plain superior.
After that came the shootout in New Orleans. Both for picking reasons and rooting interest, I was on Detroit for the upset. For the life of me, I don't know how they didn't cover.
The first half could not have gone any better. 7-0 at the end of the first (that's 17.5-0 in Vegas terms) and the Lions looked even more unstoppable on offense than the Saints!
Maybe they wouldn't win, but the cover looked to be in the bag. Sure, New Orleans scored right away in the second quarter to tie it up. But when the Lions responded right
back with an 87-yard drive, I ...
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Wild Card Preview Part II: This One Actually Has the Giants
Hello football fans! The NFL Playoffs get underway in a few short hours. Before the Bengals and Texans kickoff in Houston, it's best to get out the rest of the weekend picks. The
tri-state area is abuzz (both positive and negative) about the Giants matchup on Sunday. Atlanta will bring a solid team into the first ever playoff game at MetLife Stadium, and Big Blue is
peaking at the right time. It should be a fun one. Let's dive right in.
Atlanta Falcons (10-6) at New York Giants (9-7)
The Line: Giants by 3
Former Jets Involved: Kareem McKenzie/Steve Weatherford (NYG) John Abraham (Atl) Advantage: Falcons
How the Falcons Can Win:
Considering Atlanta has the better record, these Falcons sure are flying in (poor pun) under the radar. The offense is stacked in the passing game with Matt Ryan, Roddy White, Julio Jones,
Tony Gonzalez, etc. But their attack runs through (decent pun) Michael Turner in the backfield. He opens things up rather nicely for the downfield pass. On defense, the Birds are
spotty against the pass and good ...
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Wild Card Weekend Preview: It's Up to You, Blue York, Blue York
Week 17 has come and gone. For the first time in over two years, me and all Jets fans feel impossibly, helplessly irrelevant. Well, not completely irrelevant of course. There's
always stuff like this. Sprinkled in with a little of this. Topped off with a little bit of
that. And Stephen
A. Smith is always looking to jump into the fun with things like this.
...a typical start to the offseason, right?
We all knew this was coming. Well...maybe not this. But there was eventually going to be a year where Rex Ryan's team couldn't back up all the talk and everyone would be red
in the face. Sitting at 8-5 with the playoffs on the horizon, most thought that it wouldn't be this year. The Jets finished at a collapse-worthy 8-8 and embarrassed themselves right out
of the 2011 campaign. It didn't help matters that one of the losses in the collapse was to the big brother Giants, who made mincemeat out ...
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2012: The Pursuit of Picks Perfection
Hello, all readers. And a very happy new year to everyone! This gorgeous day marks the final NFL Sunday of the regular season. Some teams are playing for nothing, some teams are
playing for all the bananas. 2011 was an unmitigated disaster in terms of the blog picks. Hopefully 2012 brings an itty bit of success.
Speaking of success, that term would be the complete opposite of the Jets the last 12 months. In a year of so much aspiration and hope, today will likely be the final game for Gang Green.
That is, of course, barring a miracle that I won't stop believing in until the very bitter end. One hour til kickoff, here is the final pick section of the regular season. Home
team's in bold. Correct picks will be on the left.
Eagles (-7.5) over Redskins
Philly has gone into 'We're better than everyone else' mode that is sure to have people scared in 2012. Washington needs help everywhere, and would like as high a draft pick as possible.
LeSean McCoy and Mike Vick may very well put on a show in front ...
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Ho! Ho! Ho-liday Picks (Week 16)
'Twas the day before Christmas, and all through the league.
Teams were fighting for the playoffs, and fighting fatigue.
The day is put on hold for the fans that really care.
With hopes that next week their team will still be there.
Fans of this blog are nestled and snug on their couch,
Hoping for a good week of picks, and that I stop being a slouch...
-Author Unknown
Building off that ancient poem, it's time to kick things into high gear. Living in the tri-state area, you'd have to a football Scrooge/Grinch not to know about the big game this week.
The Jets-Giants matchup will ensure that some of New York will wake up tomorrow with an invisible gift of victory already secured under the tree, while the other will feel like they got a
healthy dose of coal from Football Santa.
Of course, there is oh-so-much more going on in football today outside of Metlife Stadium, too. With just two weeks left in the regular season, there is a ridiculously-high 21 teams
still mathematically alive for ...
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NFL Picks- Week 14
Hello all. Week 14 is sure to separate the contenders from the pretenders. The Jets and Giants are both looking to enhance their playoff chances, while several other teams are trying to hold on with
a late-season 'charge' (pun intended.) With plenty of intriguing games on the slate, we best get to the picks. As always, home teams are in bold.
Redskins (+6.5) over Giants
In the Big Blue 2nd half schedule house-of-horrors, this was seen as the one 'light' game. Unfortunately, these 'Skins have been frisky of late. Sure they keep losing, but Washington brought Dallas to overtime, were right there with the Jets until the last five minutes, took New England to the last 30 seconds, and defeated Seattle. Eli Manning has played out of his mind of late, but the Giants defense has been just terrible. Just a hunch that this one is close.
Packers (-11) over Chiefs
The last game of meaning for Green Bay if they win, as they can lock up home field advantage. Kansas City has been non-competitive lately, and it led to the firing of ... << MORE >>
Redskins (+6.5) over Giants
In the Big Blue 2nd half schedule house-of-horrors, this was seen as the one 'light' game. Unfortunately, these 'Skins have been frisky of late. Sure they keep losing, but Washington brought Dallas to overtime, were right there with the Jets until the last five minutes, took New England to the last 30 seconds, and defeated Seattle. Eli Manning has played out of his mind of late, but the Giants defense has been just terrible. Just a hunch that this one is close.
Packers (-11) over Chiefs
The last game of meaning for Green Bay if they win, as they can lock up home field advantage. Kansas City has been non-competitive lately, and it led to the firing of ... << MORE >>
NFL Picks- Week 13
Picks are coming in at the buzzer today....Santacon 2011 required extra sleep to de-toxify. No further adieu...
Colts (+16.5) over Ravens
Packers (-12) over Raiders
Chiefs (+10.5) over Jets
Lions (-10) over Vikings
In the double-digit spread games, gimme two favorites and two 'dogs. The Colts were wonderfully frisky in their game against New England last week. Baltimore will be content to put
things in cruise control if/when the lead hits 14 or so. The Packers will come with a purpose after last week game made them feel a little...vincible. Detroit will bully their way over
the Peterson-less Vikings. The Jets are the Jets.
Saints (-3.5) over Titans
Patriots (-7.5) over Redskins
Chargers (-7) over Bills
49ers (-3.5) over Cardinals
In the four moderately-sized spreads, I'm going under the logic of not-overthinking things. Lock in the Saints for my lock of the week. The Chargers look like a good play, too.
The Pats and Niners scare me a tad on the road, but their opponents are crappy, decimated, or both.
Bengals (-2.5) over Texans
...
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A Farewell Letter to Jose Reyes
Dear Jose,
As you can imagine, I was hoping this letter would never be written. And just a few short years ago, nothing could be further from my mind. I had to write one of these to Carlos Beltran a few months back, and that was pretty rough, too. In
that letter-that-he'll-never-see, I just wanted Beltran to know that his haters were way off base and he was always better than his reputation suggested. But that's not the case with you, Jose.
You weren't some high-priced free agent that came aboard just when things started picking up for this franchise. It's very different for you. Thinking about the Mets without Jose, I
can't help but shake one thing.
Damn, I must be getting old.
Not that I could have noticed at the time, but Wikipedia tells me the Mets signed you all the way back in August of 1999. As a 12 year old, I was far too busy watching Piazza and Ventura
hit the long ball. Roger Cedeno and Rickey Henderson stealing bases. Armando Benitez being ...
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