Sports Then and Now

Are the New York Jets a legit Super Bowl contender in 2010? The media seemed to fall in love with the Jets story last year. But do you remember the beginning of the story? Let me remind you.

The Jets started off 3-0, beating the New England Patriots in week 2. They looked as if they had some promise. They lost in week four to the Saints (understandable), but then suffered two bad losses to the Dolphins and Bills. After beating the Raiders, they lost three in a row to the Dolphins, Jaguars, and Patriots. They lost again in week 15 to the Atlanta Falcons before the Indianapolis Colts let the Jets into the playoffs. Now look at the teams they lost to… They lost four times to teams with only seven wins or less, and ended with a record of 9-7. They didn’t even win their division.

Everyone fell for the hype of the rookie, Mark Sanchez, and forgot the numbers that he actually put up. Read the rest of this entry →

Tom Brady and the Patriots are in for a dogfight in the AFC East.

It looks like the Patriots will be in a dog fight this year in the AFC East, the division that New England has dominated over the last decade. The Pats have captured the AFC Crown seven of the last ten seasons, but a changing of the guard is looming on the horizon.

The Patriots are looking more like the least than the beast of the AFC East.

The New York Jets are getting better every day it seems. The team that went to the AFC Championship last year on the shoulders of rookie quarterback, Mark Sanchez is loading up their arsenal.

On the offensive side of the ball they acquired disgruntled Cleveland Browns wide out, Braylon Edwards last season. A talent for sure, but has consistency issues and a chronic case of the drops. However, he showed sparks of what he is capable of when he is focused. In 12 games with New York, Edwards caught 35 catches for 541 yards with 4 td’s.

This off season the Jets have been very busy signing former San Diego and fantasy football stud, LaDainian Tomlinson. Tomlinson replaces the productive Thomas Jones who was unsigned before landing with the KC Chiefs. A puzzling signing considering Jones was more productive than LT. Jones had 1400 yards and 14 touchdowns in comparison to Tomlinson’s 730 yards and 12 touchdowns.

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Will cosmic forces decide which teams will play in Super Bowl XLIV?

Something cosmic is about to happen.

The New York Jets, a wild card team, continued to play over their heads, lead by a gangly, tall, brown-eyed, brunette quarterback, a strong running game, and a punishing defense, they surprised everyone winning two playoff games on the road in order to play the Colts.

Does that sound about right? Of course. It is the 2010 New York Jets.

Wrong. And right. It is also the 1969 New York Jets. Same description: wild card, tall dark and young quarterback, strong ground game, strong defense, wild card, playing over their heads as momentum builds.

In 1969 the quarterback was Joe Willie Namath. While lounging on Miami Beach in the week leading up to Super Bowl III, the kid couldn’t keep his mouth shut. He guaranteed a Jets victory.

In the first two super games, the NFL, represented by Vince Lombardi’s Packers, totally dominated their AFL opponents: Kansas City the first year, Oakland the second. Everyone just assumed that the Baltimore Colts would make it three in a row. This, especially because the Jets were a wild card. Most of the pundits had them at either the third or fourth best AFL club. Everyone expected the Jets to be dragged across the field and trampled at the Orange Bowl. Read the rest of this entry →

Sunday will be the biggest game between the Colts and Jets since Super Bowl III.

Okay, be honest. How many people had the New York Jets reaching the AFC Championship Game in their preseason predictions? Other than maybe ESPN’s resident Jets cheerleader Mike Greenberg, I seriously doubt there were many folks giving the Jets much of a chance.

The general consensus is that their improbable playoff run will end this weekend in Indianapolis, but the more I look at this Jets team the more I think they might have karma on their side.

First off, can you pick a more appropriate opponent for the underdog Jets to beat and earn their first Super Bowl trip in 41 years?

When the Jets beat the Big, Bad Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III it forever changed the game of professional football.

A win by the current Jets over the Indianapolis Colts wouldn’t have quite the impact to the history of the sport, but it would certainly make the short-list of all-time playoff upsets.

That game represented the changing of the guard with young and boastful Joe Namath taking the reins from aging veteran Johnny Unitas.

In the quarterback battle of 2010, Jets youngster Mark Sanchez is not as loud and glamorous as Namath, but he has the same kind of dark good looks that made Namath a star. Sanchez has yet to display the same kind of passing ability as Namath, who was the first quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in a season, but he has made a great start and has time on his side. Read the rest of this entry →

After 33 years, the final games have been played at the Meadowlands.

Some called it Giants Stadium.

And some (namely, Jets fans) called it the Meadowlands.

Come April, you can call it rubble.

The former home of the Jets and Giants (and Generals and Knights and Hit Men and Red Bulls, too), a concrete monolith in an asphalt jungle, and a beacon to New Yorkers and New Jerseyans traveling State Routes 3 and 120 and the New Jersey Turnpike, is slated to be torn down the spring (but is living long enough to see this year’s impressive, improbable Jets playoff run). The Jets and Giants will remain New Yorkers as New Jersey tenants when Meadowlands Stadium opens just next door in East Rutherford.

Opening in 1976, it was the first “major league” venue built in the state of New Jersey, and the last of a wave of “multi-purpose stadiums” erected in the era that included Three Rivers Stadium, Veterans Stadium, Riverfront Stadium and Busch Stadium. Appropriately, it is the last of that group to remain as it awaits the wrecking ball. (And when they dig it up, there’s been no confirmation that they’ll look for Jimmy Hoffa.)

When the Jets moved from Shea Stadium and across the Hudson River into New Jersey after failing to negotiate a new lease, the Meadowlands, thanks to hosting two teams for over 25 years, passed Wrigley Field in 2003 for the most NFL games hosted. Read the rest of this entry →

Until the fourth period of the final game of the weekend, it appeared that the four top seeds were going to hold serve in the second round of the playoffs.

Then, the upstart New York Jets sparked the most hope among their fans in more than 40 years with a shocking comeback to defeat the San Diego Chargers and advance to the AFC Championships Game.

Ironically, the Jets will face the team that was their opponent in the greatest game in franchise history, the Colts (the Baltimore Colts in 1969 and now playing in Indianapolis).

With the exception of the upset by the Jets, the divisional round games were surprisingly void of excitement or competition. The three top seeds claimed victory by an average of 26 points.

Entering the weekend, there had been an over abundance of discussion about whether the teams with the best records would be hurt by playing conservatively during the last weeks of the season and then rusty following a bye. Surprisingly, that really didn’t seem to be much of an issue.

Instead, the Cardinals looked worn down following their track meet with the Packers a week ago while the Cowboys and Ravens were dominated by superior teams.

With the NFC title game matching the top two teams in the conference and the upstart Jets looking for their second win over the Colts in a month, the conference title game promise to be very exciting and intriguing. Read the rest of this entry →