Tag Archives: Marlins

December 7, 2011 · 12:57 pm

Daily Rounds 12/07/2011

A day after losing their franchise player the Mets went on the offensive and you may or may not like the moves. The Chris Paul sweepstakes got sweeter and the Dwight Howard sweepstakes got even weirder. Then there are those pesky Marlins who are making news during baseball’s winter meetings. Plus more in today’s links links links links!

The Mets decided to be aggressive on the trade and free agent front and made a few moves a day after officially losing Jose Reyes to the Miami Marlins. According to multiple reports, the Mets traded Angel Pagan for Andres Torres and Ramon Ramirez and signed Jon Rauch to a one year deal and Frank Francisco to a two year deal.

Ok, these aren’t earth shattering deals meant to make everyone forget that one of their franchise cornerstones just left for one of their division rivals. But the thinking, I believe, is to spread the money they would’ve allocated to Reyes on several parts which they need. The Mets don’t have depth on the major league level and in a move to address that they traded and got a two for one. They got pretty much the same player in Andres Torres for Angel Pagan. Torres can hit for more power and is more patient and will take walks and is a nice prototypical leadoff man while Ramon Ramirez is a hard throwing righty who instantly upgrades their bullpen. All three players in the deal are up for arbitration but the 31 year old Torres is under team control for another year beyond this one. The Mets meanwhile addressed the closer situation somewhat by adding two candidates who will evidently compete for the job. Jon Rauch is the former Washington National so Met fans will be familiar with him. Frank Francisco is the former Texas Ranger closer who famously threw a chair into the stands and went and attacked a fan.

Pagan was regressing last year after a breakout 2010 campaign which gave Met fans hope for a future that never was. Hear that Sandy? Hope that never was. But he is a very able lead off man but he doesn’t draw walks, isn’t patient at the plate and is very wild in his approach. Sometimes he takes weird angles at the baseball and its difficult to make a case that they absolutely had to keep him. Now, could the Mets have gotten a better offer during the year? Possibly. But you don’t bet on someone like Pagan to get better. I thought the front office did a great job here by getting a power relief arm and a comparable Center field option who most scouts believe is a better defensive solution there than Pagan with a bit more pop.

Look, it is what it is. The Mets are operating under a small market philosophy and business wise I get what Sandy is saying. If the Mets win and attract gate receipts the ability to expand payroll will come but they have to get out of the negative first and that’s a legitemate concern for an ownership group that is obviously bleeding money and need to save wherever they can. Of course the Mets have no wiggle room this season if indeed they hope to compete seeing what the Marlins are doing and what the Phillies are already doing and what the Nationals have in store for the future and beyond. The Mets are in trouble and had better fix this thing going forward.

As always for more analysis, you can go to Metsblog.com and read up on all the latest Met news as it relates to the Winter meetings.

Get ready for what I’m about to tell you. The Miami Marlins have made a legit 10 year offer to Albert Pujols which is rumored to be more than $200 million which he is mulling over as we speak. Joel Sherman of the New York Post says the Marlins have hijacked the Winter Meetings with their spending spree, but Ken Davidoff of Newsday is highly doubtful that the Marlins can sustain this model. Brian Burwell of the St Louis Post Dispatch says that the Cardinals are playing a dangerous game with the face of their franchise and Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald says that this offer to Pujols needs some perspective.

Most people were pretty curious as to whether the Marlins were for real after talking about making a splash this winter and boy have they been. After getting their closer Heath Bell signed to a 3 year/$27 million deal, they went and stole former New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes for 6 years/$106 million. The news making its rounds yesterday was that the Marlins had made a 10 year offer to Albert Pujols and had even went to the Commissioner’s Office to submit their proposal and perhaps run it by them to see if it worked under the parameters of the new CBA. The buzz was that Albert would decide last night but as of 7:30 AM EST, he had not decided on either club. This obviously forced the Cards to up their former 9 year offer to 10 and over the $200 million mark that they had not budged on prior to the Marlins major sales push. Also adding to the intrigue is that the Cubs have made a mystery offer which most folks speculate is not nearly as long as either the Marlins or Cardinals offer but offers more per year than both deals while a mystery team has also put in a deal north of $200 million which seems to be the market for the best slugger not linked to steroids of this generation.

Look, in the end I think he resigns with the Cardinals because he understands that his legacy would take a hit by leaving St Louis and doing it for the money. The Marlins and Cardinals share the same spring training facility which would make things pretty dicey and interesting come February if he were to switch teams. I think the Marlins have to outbid the Cards by atleast $20-30 million for Pujols to ever realistically consider their offer which is what most think he’s doing. I think the Cardinals offer isn’t that much better and may be feeling a bit peeved that he’s even in this position. He’s helped this team win two World Series, 3 MVP trophies and had a better first ten years to his career than any player in baseball history. Are we all surprised that he even made free agency? Yes. But the fact that he was looking at Alex Rodriguez’s 10 year/$275 million contract for comparison may have scared off the Cardinals who probably could play within that framework but don’t want to. And if its a will issue then the representatives for Pujols, Dan Lazano may tell Pujols that maybe his services would be better appreciated in a warmer climate with a much bigger Latin fan base and a team that is clearly making an all out push.

Here’s the thing that will ultimately hurt the Marlins. They did not offer Pujols a no-trade and as per company policy will NOT do so for any player. Even Albert Pujols. Which given their history should be troubling to any free agent. There is no certainty that they will be able to draw in that market and so the possibility that they will have to sell off parts is very high considering that this is a franchise known for doing so. They did it in 1997 after winning a World Series and did it in 2003 after using those parts received in 1997 to win. But again, they wound up winning the World Series so there is SOME good news if you are a Marlins fan. You can expect a World Series, pending all these acquisitions, in about two years max. But I think Pujols won’t go, and I think he stays in St Louis but begrudgingly.

The Cubs are there to drive the price up obviously as I believe their main focus is Prince Fielder who has a history with their new manager Dave Sveum and is atleast four years younger than Albert Pujols and is very sturdy. Sources however indicate that the Mariners may be in the lead to acquire Prince. Their GM Jack Zrudineck drafted Prince originally in the Milwaukee system. The mystery team in the Pujols sweepstakes is rumored to be the Angels who have denied that they are despite reports indicating the opposite. Meanwhile within Joel Sherman’s news and notes he indicates that the Yankees are unlikely to move one of their major prospect pieces for either John Danks (whom officials close to trade negotiations with the White Sox believe are asking for a Ubaldo Jiminez like package) or Gio Gonzalez who suddenly have new suitors in the…you ready for this? The Phillies.

Day two of coverage of the Winter Meetings can be followed on the usual websites or MLBTradeRumors.com

The NBA schedule for all 30 franchises was released and obviously the Knicks are a front burner team who will appear nationally 27 times. Chris Sheridan of Sheridanhoops.com lays out the entire schedule while Howard Beck of the New York Times dissects the schedule for the Knicks.

The Knicks will open the season of course on Christmas as part of the NBA’s national opener with the Celtics at noon. They go out west and play teams with losing records from last year 7 out of the next 8 including Los Angeles after Boston. The Knicks one back to back to back features a meet with the Chicago Bulls on February 2nd, a trip to Boston on the 3rd, and back home against the Nets (who may have Dwight Howard alongside Deron Williams at that point). The Knicks play four games in five nights four times and appear nationally a healthy 27 out of 66 times which should feed the consensus that the league is very top heavy and friendly towards the big markets.

There are ways to go about this free agent process if you are the Hornets or Magic. One way is to explore all trade options and according to Adrian Woj of Yahoo Sports the CP3 trade talks are heating up with Stephan Curry’s name, Eric Gordon’s name and Rajon Rondo’s name being thrown as possible chips being dangled. Another is to have your now former CEO drunk dial your superstar center in the hopes of convincing him to stay.

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Ok what? As deals are pretty much finalizing before making them official on Friday, teams with superstars are holding on to them for dear life. The rumor mill is buzzing that the Lakers make a play at both CP3 and Dwight Howard. My thinking is that they get Dwight Howard after offering Odom and Bynum and a number one pick which I think the Magic would take. The CP3 sweepstakes is a bit tougher to understand because now stories are coming up that he will think about signing an extension if a team that acquires him signs Tyson Chandler. That would take a long term commitment which I’m not sure any team would be willing to do. Don’t get me wrong Chandler is a great defensive presence to have and obviously he and CP3 are close from their New Orleans days but how can any team go in blindly on Chandler without securing the services off CP3 who is destined to explore the free agent market and sign with a team of his choice. No matter what, I don’t believe his lust to go to New York has died down, but if its true that Eric Gordon is off the table for the Clips and the Warriors are not willing to trade Stephan Curry those teams don’t stand a chance and it may come down to taking an offer from New York which would be considerably worse than an offer from Los Angeles who could give them Pau Gasol. Here’s why I believe the Lakers have a small chance at landing both. The Lakers are motivated to make a move and I think if Magic GM is realistic, he will see that he has less than a 5% chance to keep his star center so he had better get another one now. Don’t let them lose Dwight for nothing like they did with Shaq a generation ago.

Didn’t get time to put up all the links so get ready for part two later on today.

Daily Rounds 12/6/2011

We’ve got Jose Reyes reaction, and some NBA and a brand new title for the daily blog posting, here goes:

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Like any morning after something major happens people begin reflecting and beginning the phase of ~~rebuildi~~ patching up what’s left. That’s what Met fans are left to do and mostly what Sandy Alderson and co. will be left with as they face a new era minus Jose Reyes. Joel Sherman of the New York Post says the time is right to deal David Wright. Meanwhile John Harper and Andy Martino of the Daily News say that money issues have put Sandy Alderson in a tough position to find results while being limited in what the front office can spend. Ken Davidoff of Newsday wants to cut a deal with Mets management: if the Mets aren’t contending by July, start selling off assets like a rockstar in bankruptcy court. Then there’s Mike Vacarro of the New York Post that asks the question that I’ve been asking Why believe anything the Wilpons are pushing Sandy Alderson to say?

There isn’t a good way to spin this Jose Reyes deal. In fact, Sandy Alderson said ALL the right things because they were the only things to say. In New York, like it or not, the word rebuilding can NOT appear anywhere close to the vicinity of your team otherwise its like a black mark that won’t go away. The Mets have been going down this road for the last few years so it was no surprise that Jose Reyes was sent out with nothing, not even an offer because well, the fact is that the Mets didn’t have the money to give him that offer. You can even say that if this was the plan all along, to just wait for the market to play itself out for Reyes and hope against hope that there wouldn’t be some hard pressed fool willing to give Jose Reyes the Carl Crawford money, it was a stupid plan. In fact, it hurt the franchise more than anything. Sandy Alderson played the market wrong just like the Wilpons have done for so long. And you know what? Not for a minute do I believe Sandy was that dumb.

Last season prior to the trade deadline rumors circulated that the Tampa Bay Rays contacted the Mets about Jose Reyes. They would’ve had to offer them some kind of gravy boat offer, much better than Victor Zambrano for Scott Kazmir anyway, that would’ve netted the Mets something in the vicinity of decent prospects to work with. But the Mets held on because there was some faint hope of a playoff run. Then they got this deal for Carlos Beltran for a top prospect that the front office drooled over and pulled the trigger. The Mets may have never gotten such an offer for Reyes, but you have to believe that the Wilpons put a kibosh on any Reyes trade talk because they hoped the Mets would make a run deep into September that would’ve given them a few extra dollars. You know. To pocket for the long term. Because every single article pertaining to the Wilpon finances are right. The Coupons are facing a cash crunch and moves like allowing your homegrown player to leave without nary a call to check in leave you wondering exactly HOW these guys are even running a New York franchise.

I would appeal to Bud Selig to put an end to this reign but Selig is the Coupon’s biggest enablers. The Coupons have been milking Selig’s favor into interest free loans that by the way they STILL haven’t paid Major League Baseball back on. They have pending litigation in the Madoff trial that will force them to pay some kind of settlement but not in the hundreds of millions that Met fans had hoped that would’ve left them in no other financial position except to sell.

The Mets are a profitable team if run the right way. In fact, if the Coupons sold the franchise today to someone say the reputation of Mark Cuban the gates would be pouring in with new customers and a revived fan base; confident that ridding the Wilpons would be the equivalent of getting a star franchise player. Yesterday I woke up resigned to the fact that Reyes was gone, today I woke up angry. Angry that the franchise I love is run by a bunch of ass clowns that hold on stubbornly to a team they should’ve let go of a few years ago. A whole family of morons who blindly invested in a guy that gave them hand written statements but only when they asked for it because they thought he was good for it. A family of idiots who built a shrine, not for the team they own, but for a team that left 50 years ago and relocated to Los Angeles. That is if the Coupons even recognize the existence of the LA Dodgers.

Somehow baseball ran off Dodgers former owners the McCourts rather quickly citing concerns that he was using moneys gained from the baseball operation to fund his own wild lifestyle. But here the Coupons are, still plowing forward selling us on an impossible dream. Ready? The Mets think that Ike Davis and Johan Santana won’t regress following their surgeries and won’t see any DL time. They believe that Jason Bay and David Wright will hit 25-30 home runs each now that the walls have been brought in closer. They believe that Mike Pelfrey will get better in basically his last chance in a Met uniform. They believe that with $15 million to spend virtually they can fix the bullpen, get two quality back end of rotation starters and then some bench support including back up catcher.

I’m not kidding. That’s the Mets plans. Those are the lofty dreams that the Mets front office is pitching to Met fans. This may be coming from a place of anger. But don’t bother sending me offers to buy packages this season. I’m done. If you win, then I’ll come and partake but don’t bother selling Met fans on something that has NEVER happened. Is there a remote possibility that this all can play out? Sure. But these are the Mets. We know how this story will play out. The Coupons are playing us for fools. I won’t be played. I can’t be. I say after the third inning, Met fans stage a walk out of every single home game. That is, whoever still decides to support the franchise. Nobody believes for a second that whatever team occupies Citi Field next season will have any real hope of doing anything closely resembling productive.

I am in agreement with Sherman and Davidoff. I say start trading guys left and right. Screw it. You’ve given up on the season already. Don’t sell your fans hope that isn’t there. Don’t insult them with talk about optimism that isn’t there. I could understand if this were a team in Wichita, Kansas or Duluth, Mississippi. But it isn’t. This is a New York team. Unfortunately no matter where this franchise would be, I wouldn’t believe the Coupons to lead it.

As NBA free agency sure to heat up, the Knicks are still in on Grant Hill according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. Also within that report, Kurt Thomas and the Knicks (namely Assistant GM Allan Houston, his former teammate) talked and the game that was supposed to bring Carmelo back to Denver was not rescheduled within the context of this new 66 game schedule set to be released by today. Nets PG Deron Williams said he would guarantee a contract extension if the Nets were to trade for Dwight Howard according to Stefan Bondy. Zack Lowe of SI writes about how players will test the new CBA in many ways. In Bill Simmons second post to his twelve days of Christmas series of articles, he looks at the list of available free agents and who is destined to be overpaid. Then there’s Adrian Woj’s Yahoo Sports column about two GM’s making a race to trade for Chris Paul AND Dwight Howard. As reported in the Newsday blog Knick Fix, Alan Hahn says the Knicks are undeterred by reports that New Orleans will do no deals with New York because of their lack of assets believing they can pull off a trade to land CP3 and complete the trifecta that CP3 toasted about at Carmelo’s wedding prior to last season. Finally, a story that may interest only me, but the amnesty clause will NOT be used on Brandon Roy, one of my favorite non-Knick players according to Jason Quick of the Oregonian.

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Here’s the thing, I don’t think a Chris Paul trade to the Knicks is going to happen. I give it a less than 5% shot of actually occurring. Why? Because it doesn’t make sense. The Knicks have NOBODY to give up outside of trading the rest of their team for Paul which would leave them with 3 players making roughly all of their cap. Remember two players, by themselves will take up 40 million and if you’re reading this right, CP3 will probably opt out as a token thing just to reup with the Knicks for the max 5 year 100 million contract that Deron Williams was alluding to when he said he was definitely opting out. So you have three guys making 60 million and oh by the way, the cap will remain set at $58 million next season with the luxury threshold being at $70 million much like this season. So where exactly are the Knicks going to fill in the rest of the roster spots? No, the Knicks and its fanbase have to be patient and I for one am willing to do that. We can not throw all our money at three players as great as that sounds.

But I’ll give you another reason why a trade to the Knicks or a super team forming in Los Angeles isn’t realistic. Its not good business. If the labor deal pushed to prevent big market teams hoarding small market teams for talent then you have to understand that a Knick trade for pennies on the dollar OR the Lakers getting BOTH Dwight Howard and CP3 will not look good in any way. What makes it worse is that the NBA owns the Hornets and you can believe that every small owner will NOT push for EITHER trade to EITHER coast which ultimately leaves the Hornets in a no-win position. I think you allow CP3 to make it to free agency and no matter what kind of influence CAA has over the process and getting Paul traded the fact is, I believe CP3 will not sour on the Hornets and he will play his hardest and play out his time with the Hornets and give an honest effort. He’s been class his entire time in the league and will not allow trade rumors to negatively deflect from his purpose which is to win a championship.

With that being said, the Knicks pursuit of Grant Hill? I love it. I’ve been a fan of his for quite some time since his days on the Pistons when I thought he was going to become Scottie Pippen 2.0. Hill’s injury history are no doubt a part of his legacy but this second life in Phoenix has been revelatory. Now if the Knicks can somehow get the Phoenix training staff along with Hill in that deal, it would be fantastic. As far as the trade rumors go, it makes for good business but the fact is until December 9th, anything and everything in a fan’s mind is fair game including Dwight Howard and Deron Williams in NJ or Dwight Howard and CP3 in LA alongside Kobe OR alongside Blake.

Last note before I go, like I said, one of my favorite players will not be amnestied. Brandon Roy will be a Blazer this upcoming season. Makes sense, given that they don’t know how his legs will react and one would argue that this shortened season could be worse on his legs given the back to back to back that the Blazers will likely have to sit him in atleast one game and then rest him up in two of those games for extended periods of time. Tis a shame since I wanted to see him on the Knicks. Ahh well, dream another dream a different time.

More news coming later in the day as I give you a daily double dose today with some NFL notes and thoughts regarding week 13 and some important fantasy news. Stay tuned sports fans.

Sports Round up 12/05/2011

So many stories to begin with but to start it all off, a New York superstar is now leaving his nest for beachier pastures:

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The Jose Reyes era in a Met uniform is (un)officially over. According to reports that began popping up last night, the former Mets shortstop had apparently agreed to a 6 year $106 million contract. And here are the opinions flowing in first from John Harper of the Daily News who says the Mets were justified somewhat in letting Reyes go. Joel Sherman of the New York Post says now the job of Sandy Alderson will be to repair the image of the Mets. Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald says move over Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes is here. Finally the voice of Met fans, Matthew Cerrone of Metsblog.com gave his opinion about why this sucks.

They say its always darkest before dawn. Ok fine, so that was a line from the Dark Knight. But it holds true. Here are the facts:

1. The Mets knew him better than anyone else.
2. They were never going to guarantee that sixth year so the Marlins knew what it would take for them to absolutely score Jose Reyes.
3. The Mets were virtually transparent throughout this whole process about their lack of immediacy to move on resigning their superstar.
4. The Mets are broke and this was eventually going to happen and the Met front office played this perfectly to reflect on that.

Those are the indisputable facts of this. I disagree with Harper who believes that Jose will NEVER be better than he was last year. I think he has the potential to be the guy everyone was gushing over from 2006-2009 and then again last season. He’s a speedster capable of stealing 60 bases a season. He’s the prototypical top of the order bat. He can hit for average and has shown flashes of power.

But that injury bug had to worry Met officials and no longer is Omar Minaya and staff involved in negotiations where they would’ve certainly pushed for a Reyes resigning. But Joel Sherman is right, in baseball senses, this is absolutely the right move. Could the Mets have gone to $100 million? Not likely. So the Marlins knew that he wanted a $100 million deal and a 6 year commitment something that everyone knew the Mets were never going to guarantee. Stories are coming out that some officials within the Met organization were scared to even guarantee 5 which apparently would’ve been the Met offer. Of course we don’t know that because the Mets never gave him an offer which I find is the only indefensible thing about this whole process. The Mets were never involved. They never got up to make an offer. They practically pushed him out saying they didn’t want to set the market. They told him to come back with the best offer and then the Mets would then tell him if they were willing to compete with it. All the Marlins had to do was put a desperate deal together that fit the rumored parameters of what he wanted and they knew they had their man. This was so easy that the Marlins couldn’t have botched such a thing and they didn’t. You knew they were desperate to make a splash with their new stadium being built. The Mets and the front office never had any intention of matching any crazy offer. Even the first 6 year $90 million deal that was reported, was probably something the Mets would not have matched had Reyes come back to them with that offer but Reyes and his agent never did, knowing that if they got over $100 million from practically the only team that was offering him a contract he would take it. Now Reyes joins his homie in South Florida, Hanley Ramirez, who will not be thrilled to be shifting positions though it is the right move in baseball senses. Ramirez is way too big to be playing shortstop anyway and a corner infield position is probably best for a guy losing his lateral movement. You put Reyes who has a cannon of an arm and the ability to make huge plays.

Its clear what the Marlins are doing. They are building a Latino-emphasized team for a Latino fan base to embrace. Their move to Miami was about the money but their success will be predicated on how much they can depend on that fan base to come out. Latin countries love their baseball, so fielding a team that caters to that fan base ONLY makes sense and financially they will need to begin filling up that park to justify their spending spree. Either way, the Marlins got an excellent corner stone player and now will have to win and sustain a winner for a long time for the first time EVER in their history.

As for the Mets, I think Sherman is way too judgemental on the Mets for my taste. Rebuilding their image? The Mets have an image problem yes but THIS is not something that would rebuild it. Met fans have to be realistic about their owners current financial situation. Sadly, the owners have to be realistic too. When I first heard about Reyes signing with the Marlins I was upset and ready to just blast the Coupons but I woke up calmer and with more understanding. I realized one thing about this whole mess: Alderson has to face all the blame and all the questions surrounding this mess. But the Wilpons, as long as their buddy Bud Selig is commissioner, has an enabler that will allow them to pay back their loans on their time and so financially they will be solvent for the foreseeable future. Alderson is also the right play at GM. He is a former Marine who can face all the questions about credibility with a stone face and give the politically correct answers back to a media who will want him to admit two things: the Mets are broke and the Coupon family is no longer able to carry the burden of fielding a big market team. Unfortunately the Coupons will stay in ownership for as long as they like. That Madoff judgement doesn’t look like it will leave them broke (in terms of rich people, so if the Madoff ruling took them for a large sum of money or whatever they were rumored to be paying, they wouldn’t be rich enough to own a sports team but rich enough to still be hundred times richer than you or me….isn’t that rich?) so they will be around and will expect you to come to the stadium and fill the seats.

Unfortunately if history is any indicator and if last season and the season prior are any kind of model by which to go on, believe you me, the Mets are in trouble more financially than anything Madoff could ever do. The saving grace? The Mets field a winner. But first they will have to build a team. Want to prove that you aren’t broke and that the Reyes decision was strictly smart baseball business? Fine. Spend that money you would’ve spent on Reyes back into the team. Lets see you do that. I doubt they will. Sigh, the life and times of a Met fan.

Speaking of disappointments the Giants ALMOST came away with the upset of the year when they took the defending Super Bowl champs and current undefeated team and current MVP of the season Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers to the wire . Unfortunately there was :51 left on the clock and Aaron Rodgers needing ONLY to get into field goal range to clinch it and that he did. Gary Meyers says the Giants gave their best effort and it wasn’t enough. Mike Lupica says, nice try Giants.

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In the end, they were the defending champs and the Giants were a reeling team fighting in desperation and showing their true colors. Lets face it, since losing their secondary and much of their depth throughout the season the Giants have fought and clawed and been the antithesis of the Philadelphia Eagles. They were not supposed to beat them and were not even supposed to be in the same league with them yesterday unless the Giants summoned a fight and resolve that had gone missing the last two weeks. Shows how important Michael Boley is to a linebacker unit that was pretty much decimated with injury and lack of experience. Then losing Osi Umeniyora and JPP for period of the game had to be troubling but the Giants kept fighting. I said it prior to the game, if the Giants could get stops they would win the game because their offense could put up points. But a killer pick six early on in the game came back to haunt them and then a phantom hands to the face penalty also kept a drive going for the Packers who eventually scored. Tom Coughlin used up challenges and the Giants were absolutely terrible with time management last night. He challenged two plays that had no chance of being over turned which left him with none. No play after that looked like it needed reviewing to over turn but the Giants were fortunate. However, this idea that the Giants were right to throw it on the first two downs when they were at the Packer goal to go situation in under two minutes to go is absolutely insane. You don’t leave QB’s like Aaron Rodgers time like that to go the length of the field to kick a chip shot field goal. The Packer offense is SO explosive and we all know that and yet the Giants mindset was to make sure they scored. Well, the Giants know that should they run would they have necessarily gotten it in on first down? No. Second down? Probably but not a certainty. Then on third down you throw it up for Nicks to make a play on it. That Nicks play was in their back pocket the whole time and yet Gilbride, the Giants OC, refused to go to it. Leaving Aaron Rodgers with the time to do what he does best.

Those are the many negatives I take back from this game. The positives? Lets count them shall we? The Giants played toe to toe with the best team in football and almost won. The Giants finally showed some heart. They had a lot of calls go against them but they remained composed and kept fighting. Michael Boley and Ahmad Bradshaw reportedly stayed healthy throughout this game but we’ll know once the week progresses as to how they feel. This looks eerily similar to the last time the Giants won the Super Bowl in 2007? They will have to win out from here to ensure they win the division. Even though the Lions and Bears (who look like they will be without Matt Forte which should effectively end their season) are reeling, the Giants still have to handle business on their end beginning in Dallas which I can assure you is MOST realistic. Look, this was statistically and hypothetically the toughest schedule in the NFL in terms of games and the Giants were 6-2 heading into it. They beat the Patriots, hung in there with the 49ers and almost won that game. Played poorly against the Eagles and Saints and then looked rejuvenated against the Packers. If they take yesterday’s attitude into their remaining schedule, Antrel Rolle’s prediction that the Giants and Packers will meet again WILL come true. The Giants have to handle their business moving forward. The G-Men can do this and now is the time for the famous Jim Fassel speech. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ab2pnlWkd4

The Jets went into Washington in basically Giant territory of win-it all and came away with a commanding 34-19 victory over the Redskins who’ve lost 7 straight. Filip Bondy says Sanchize commandeered the Jets to victory. Mike Vaccaro believes this could be the start of something huge for Gang Green.

I’m not going to pretend like I saw this game from beginning to end. Unfortunately the rigors of married life throw a monkey wrench into those things. But what I did see, I saw Mark Sanchez and a game plan centered around trying to protect him. I saw a close game up until about 5 minutes left in the game when Sanchez led a drive that culminated in a TD pass to Santonio Holmes which was as beautiful a pass as you’ll see perfectly lobbed over the defender’s head who Holmes had beaten anyway. I saw the defense force a turnover immediately on hapless Rex Grossman. I saw the Jets punch it in for insurance.

But I also saw more miscues on special teams and an offense that somehow could NOT trust Sanchez with anything more than a quick slant pattern. The Jets are a terribly conflicting team but they have the elements of a defense that can be great. They have the elements of an offense that has weapons there to be great. Their special teams has been sloppy at best these last 6 weeks but they have the elements of a team that can make another run but they have the elements of a team that can and will give Jet fans heartburn and asthma attacks on the way. Do I think the Jets are a Super Bowl contender? No. Do I think they can beat the Patriots? OH YEAH. The Pats are NOT unbeatable. For that matter, the Pack are not unbeatable. The Jets HAVE to play on top of their game though. Giving teams like the Patriots those kind of turnovers will cost them. Be thankful they were ONLY playing the Redskins.

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And the Broncos just keep winning. Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post writes more so than the Tebow-factor, John Fox has quietly pulled ALL the right strings.

Look, I can’t begin to explain to you how this Tebow thing is going. I just know that its bigger than you, me, Denver or the great sport of football. Its in that grey area that nobody can quite put their finger on. The Broncos have now won 5 in a row and it should be written in the rulebooks of the NFL that if the game is close against the Denver Broncos and Tim Tebow is playing in that game, the game should be called because Tebow is going to do something that makes this liberal country get into the silly conversation about religion that has me tired even thinking about it. Tim Tebow is amazing. Tim Tebow is fantastic. He’s a great kid. You can say till your blue that his style of quarterbacking won’t get it done but the Broncos aren’t winning solely on the left arm and legs of Tebow. Or his heart. Its the defense and a coach, John Fox, that was given a QB that if you gave him a polygraph today would admit he didn’t want. Now the Broncos and Tim Tebow are linked and no matter what John Elways says or does, barring a collapse and Tebow completely blowing games down the stretch, John Elway will be hard pressed to find an immediate successor for the Broncos QB job which up until two weeks ago even was open for applicants.

I know that Elway believes that Tebow can’t be a conventional QB. But credit John Fox for realizing that early on. The job of the head coach is to put the team in the best position to win and he has done that. Fox’s coaching staff has protected Tebow within the confines of a system that he can win in while teaching Tebow the finer points of throwing the football and the system they are running. Some of the throws Tebow has made have been exceptional including that sideline throw to Demairiyus Thomas who had a huge day for the Broncos. BUT, the fact is that more than Tim Tebow, the Broncos have been putting together wins as a team. At some point all the detractors have to realize that and just give up this ill fated discussion UNTIL Tim Tebow gives us a reason to.

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