COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

The Jets have finally dropped the hammer on embattled head coach Todd Bowles. Bowles was relieved of his duties Sunday night some four hours after the Jets listless effort in a 38-3 season ending loss to the Patriots in Foxboro. Bowles finished his Jets career with a record of 24-40, including three straight years of 11 or more losses. The writing has been on the wall for Bowles for almost two months. In November the Jets suffered one of the worst losses in franchise history losing to a 2-7 Buffalo Bills team that, at the time, was the worst scoring team in football. They lost that game by a score of 41-10, with Buffalo resorting to its third string quarterback in Matt Barkley. Many called for Bowles to be fired in the aftermath of that loss, but CEO Christopher Johnson refused to make the decision that quickly. Instead he let Bowles remain as coach for the final six weeks of the season, where the club went 1-5. Bowles's tenure will be remembered for fielding teams that l...

Was this the last time we will see Eli Manning in a Giants uniform? If you are sick of hearing this question, we can't blame you. For the second straight season finale, the question about Manning's future again dominated Week 17, and the answer is the same this year as it was last season, "we'll see." Manning is entering the final year of contract next season, and is said to count $23.2 million against the Giants salary cap. The Giants could recoup $17 million of it if the release him this off-season. It is a heady decision that General Manager David Gettleman has to make, and one that is going to be incredibly polarizing. Moving Manning has not been easy for this team. In fact it cost the previous regime their jobs. Last season, coach McAdoo had to bench Manning after the quarterback refused to sit the second half  of the Raiders game so they could see how the other quarterbacks on the roster (at the time Geno Smith and Davis Webb) would do. Because Man...

COWBOYS 36 - GIANTS 35 There have been times this season where the Giants showed tremendous heart, even in defeat. Sunday was no exception. With little to play for except pride the Giants gave the Dallas Cowboys everything they could handle as Dallas needed a miracle touchdown catch and a two point conversion just to beat the Giants 36-35. The back-n-forth affair certainly didn't look the part early on with Dallas building a 14-0 lead on a pair of Dak Prescott touchdown passes to Blake Jarwin, yet the Giants caught fire thanks in major part to quarterback Eli Manning and running back Saquon Barkley. Manning's 17-yard screen pass to Barkley on first and ten from the Giants' own 38-yard line seemed to get momentum moving in the right direction. A few plays later Manning found Sterling Shephered from 17-yards out for another key first down at the Dallas 21. Two plays later, seldom used Cody Latimer made his presence felt with a 21-yard touchdown reception to pull the Gia...

PATRIOTS 38 - JETS 3  Want to send someone out right? Try not getting incinerated. That is exactly what happened to the Jets on Sunday as they were flat out dominated by the New England Patriots 38-3 in a lopsided loss that was both emblematic of a 4-12 season, but a perfect example of the Todd Bowles era in New York. The Jets had no shot from the word go. If you got a screen shot of the scoreboard before kick-off that was as close as the Jets would get in this game. As he has done throughout his 19-year career, Tom Brady tore apart the Jets , tossing four touchdowns on 250 yards passing as New England improved to 30-1 against AFC East opponents at home in their last 31 attempts. It didn't take long for New England to set the tone as Brady engineered a nine-play 59-yard drive that ate up five minutes, culminating in a six-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Phillip Dorsett to give the Pats a 7-0 lead. After the Jets answered with a field goal, Brady marched the Patriots aga...

Todd Bowles will become the former head coach of the New York Jets following the season finale in New England according to NFL's Ian Rapoport. After a disappointing 4-11 season, that is expected to be 4-12 come Sunday afternoon, the Jets will officially part with Bowles who has managed to lose 40 games in four season with the Jets. New York never made the playoffs in Bowles' tenure, and lost at least 11 games in each of his final three seasons at the helm. While Bowles's teams have been bereft of talent the last two seasons, his teams have been one of the least discipline and poorly coached units in the sport. In 2015, Bowles had the Jets at 10-5 heading into the season finale at Buffalo. All the Jets needed to do was win in Buffalo and they would be playoff bound. Instead the Jets lost 22-17 in a game that became a microcosm of Bowles' stay with the Jets. Two years ago, he allowed a Week 3 sideline dispute between divas Darrelle Revis, Brandon Marshall and Sh...

Inspite of spending the latter part of the season on the sidelines with a high ankle sprain, Quincy Enunwa knows he will be a Jet for a very long time to come. The free-agent-to-be is a free-agent no more. The Jets signed Enunwa to a four-year deal that will pay him $36 million over the life of the contract, with $20 million guaranteed. It has been a rough the last two years for Enunwa. Last season he missed the entire 2017 season due to neck surgery to remove a bulging disc. This season, he played 11 games before aggravating an ankle injury against the Tennessee Titans early in December. He hasn't played since. He finished the season with 38 receptions for 448 yards and a touchdown. The lone touchdown came way back in Week 1. Even with the limited action, the Jets wanted to get Enunwa into the fold moving forward. Two years ago he was a break out performer, posting 857 yards receiving and four touchdowns. Earlier this year he was well on his way to putting up big numbers, ...

While everyone is getting ready to sip on some Eggnog tonight on Christmas Eve, Jets CEO  Christopher Johnson   is busy playing damage control after rumors his football club has a strong interest in Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh got out to the press.  Johnson, who has been in charge of the franchise the past two years since his brother Woody became the United States Ambassador to England under  President Donald Trump,  said Monday, " Todd Bowles is our head coach . There is no truth to the report of our interest in  Jim Harbaugh ."  What does this quote mean? Is it an endorsement of  Todd Bowles ? Does this mean the Jets really have "no interest" in Jim Harbaugh?  Honestly the answers are very likely: no, it's not an endorsement of Todd Bowles. And yes, the Jets do have an interest in Harbaugh, but they aren't going to publicly flaunt it with Bowles still under the title of Head Coach.  Although it is odd that an ow...

PACKERS 44 - JETS 38 - OVERTIME  It was the tale of two games. For three quarters, this game between the New York Jets and Green Bay Packers was about the maturation of Jets rookie Sam Darnold. The other quarter was an execution in ineptitude as the Jets couldn't slow down Aaron Rodgers, who single handedly brought the Packers all the way back from a 15-point deficit to beat the Jets in overtime 44-38. And to top it off, Jets head coach Todd Bowles had one group to blame: the refs. "I thought we played two teams. I thought we played the Packers and the stripped shirts." Those are comments that almost certainly will get Bowles fined by the NFL, but honestly you can't blame him for being upset. The Jets got absolutely hosed a couple of calls in the overtime period as Rodgers was picking apart the Jets secondary. The first penalty of the overtime came on third and ten at the Green Bay 40, when Jets cornerback Trumaine Johnson was called for pass interference ...

COLTS 28 - GIANTS 27  Only the 2018 Giants could find a way to lose. With leads of 14-0, 17-7 and 24-14, the Giants still found a way to give away a game to the Indianapolis Colts as Big Blue fell 28-27 in the next to last week of the season, allowing a desperate Colts team to escape with their playoff lives still intact. For a Giants team that didn't even show up last week against Tennessee, they got off to a sizzling start with a 14-0 lead right out of the gate. But of course it wasn't enough. The momentum started to turn when Colts quarterback Andrew Luck hit TY Hilton on a 55-yard catch-and-run to set up the Colts second touchdown of the day to cut the Giants lead down to 17-14. After the Giants quickly responded with an eight play, 85-yard drive, culminating in a one-yard Eli Manning run to give Big Blue a 24-14 lead, the Colts stormed right back. A seven play, 74-yard drive by Indy was highlighted by a hideous holding penalty on Janoris Jenkins, erasing a fu...

On this edition of the Open Mike Program, I welcome back John Pielli of the Passed Ball show to talk about the Yankees chances of landing slugger Manny Machado this Christmas season.

Jets fans hoping that John Harbaugh would coach their team next season can now forget that pipedream. To really nobody’s surprise, the Baltimore Ravens announced Friday night that Harbaugh will remain with the franchise for the 2019 season and beyond. The Ravens plan on working out a multi-year extension with Harbaugh, whose current contract runs out at the end of next season.   Harbaugh, who is the winningest coach in Ravens history with a record of 112-77, and a victory in Super Bowl XLVII, was rumored to be fired as recently as mid-November when the team was standing at 4-5 after a 23-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Then Harbaugh embraced change and went with rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson over the oft-injured and ineffective Joe Flacco. It had to be a tough decision for Harbaugh, because Flacco has been his guy their entire time together in Baltimore. The Ravens responded extremely well with Jackson under center; they are 4-1 in their last five games, with a ...

Giants rookie running back is running to the Pro Bowl in Orlando after a spectacular 2018 campaign, becoming the first Giants' rookie to appear in the game since 1965. It has been an unbelievable year for Barkley, who was drafted second overall in last spring's draft. He is third in the NFL in rushing with 1,155 yards, and leads the Giants in all-purpose yards with 1.809. He is just 403 yards away from tying Hall of Famer Erik Dickerson's record from his rookie year in 1983. That is how special Barkely has become for the Giants.  In a lost year, he, along with wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., is a human highlight reel. Ever the gentleman, Barkley took the nomination in stride, sounding like the complete opposite of Jamal Adams across town who bragged and whined his way to his first Pro Bowl nod this year. "It's an honor to be up there," Barkley said. "But at the end of trendy, that doesn't really matter. It only matters how many wins you get, ...

Jamal Adams has finally got one of his wishes. The Jets safety is heading to the Pro Bowl. Adams was one of three Jets that were nominated to the AFC-NFC contest, along with kick returner Andre Roberts and kicker Jason Myers.   It’s the first time the Jets have had multiple Pro Bowlers since 2015 when Darrelle Revis, Brandon Marshall and Muhammad Wilkerson got the nod. Leonard Williams was a Pro Bowl replacement in 2016.   The Jets sent no players to the Pro Bowl last season. Adams made no bones he was upset he got “snubbed” last year when he vowed on social media that he will “never again” miss the Pro Bowl. “I won’t miss another Pro Bowl. Believe that,” he Tweeted a year ago . Let’s hope for the Jets sake, Adams one day can make an exception for "missing" a Pro Bowl if the Jets EVER become a really good team, since teams that go to the Big Game never send their Pro Bowlers, which is held the week between the Conference title games and the Super Bowl...