COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

BENGALS 49  JETS 9  The Jets are who we keep saying they always were: a mediocre to average team that has gotten lucky on a couple of calls this season. The Jets were once again exposed as nothing more than a mere fraud in 2013. A team that has played in over its head for half the season.  On Sunday the Jets were vanquished by a Cincinnati Bengals team that is not only poised for the playoffs, but is making the case as one of the top two to three teams in the AFC. The Bengals sliced and diced the Jets early and often, jumping out to a huge 14-0 lead on their first two possessions before anyone could settle into their seats.  Everyone figured that the Jets weak secondary would have issues with receiver A.J. Green, which was the case, but no one would have guessed that Marvin Jones would have a fantasy day to remember. Jones had eight catches for 122 yards and four touchdown receptions, including the games opening score.  Jones had three touchdo...

GIANTS 15 EAGLES 7 This much was made clear in Philadelphia when the Giants and Eagles did battle on this final Sunday in October, both teams stink with a capital S. Anyone watching or attending this farce of a game probably was best suited watching it with a clothes- pins on his nose and a paper bag over his head. While the Giants defense gets credited with pitching a shutout for the second straight week, let's be honest, they don't deserve the credit. This game was more about how poorly the Eagles played offensively than how the Giants dominated on defense. Michael Vick was woeful. He left the contest early after re-injuring the already tender hamstring he hurt in the first Giants meeting three weeks ago, leaving the game in the hands of rookie Matt Barkley. And the former USC product looked the part of a rookie quarterback from USC. In short, he stunk. Barkley couldn't handle the Giants blitzes; New York knocked around the rook for four sacks and even stripp...

Leave it to the Mets to find a way to screw things up. A scathing article published in the New York Post , Saturday, revealec that the Mets considered drafting pitcher Michael Wacha, only to pass on him because the organization felt they had enough pitching depth and didn't need him. Well, how do the Mets like Wacha now? Wacha has gone on to be a solid number two starter for the Cardinals with a 4-0 record and a 1.00 ERA in the postseason. Just the other day he helped lead St. Louis to a much needed Game 2 victory over the Red Sox in the World Series. Meanwhile, the Mets know that they will be without Matt Harvey for ALL of 2014 with Tommy Johns Surgery. Like they old saying goes, you can never have enough pitching. But don't tell that to the Mets and Sandy Alderson. Instead the Mets drafted Gavin Cecchini, who spent an injury-riddled year for Single-A Brooklyn this past summer. While it is easy to second guess the Mets on this pick, keep in mind that 17 other teams...

Brett Favre has been many things over the course of his long career. He went from American hero and icon during his days in Green Bay to vilified zero with the Jets and Vikings at the end of his career. But through it all, Favre was always great theatre for the NFL and its fans.  Now, Favre might be paying the biggest price for his service to the game he loved so much.  Days after telling the St. Louis Rams that he had no interest in coming back to the field at the age of 44, Favre admitted that he has been experiencing memory loss since his final retirement after the 2010 season.  "This was a little shocking to me that I couldn’t remember my daughter playing youth soccer,” Favre said. “It was just one summer, I think. I could remember her playing basketball, I could remember her playing volleyball, so I kind of think maybe (I thought) she only played a (soccer) game or two. Well, I think she played like eight. So that’s a little bit scary to me. So for the fir...

GIANTS 23 VIKINGS 7 It was a match-up of two teams who probably would have preferred to watch Monday Night Football, rather than play it. Both the Vikings and Giants played 60 minutes of mistake-filled, miserable football; confirming to the nation that both teams are indeed the dregs on the NFL. Fortunately for the Giants, the Vikings were far more dreadful than they were on this day. The Vikings offense was atrocious. They managed only 13 first downs and 206 yards of offense. Last year's league MVP Adrian Peterson was held to only 28 yards rushing on 13 carries, and quarterback Josh Freeman, making his first start as a Viking, looked overwhelmed. In a lot of ways it was like Minnesota coach Leslie Fraizer was playing to lose the game by not removing Freeman from the game for back-up Christian Ponder, and NOT going for a couple field goals when Freeman actually got the Vikings deep into Giants territory. That being said, the Giants were equally putrid offensively. Thei...

JETS 30  PATRIOTS 27  Overtime  Leave it to the Jets to have a victory that will forever have an asterisk on it. A third quarter comeback from a 21-10 halftime deficit that had New York up 27-21 was erased by a Patriots fourth quarter comeback that sent these arch rivals into an overtime that neither side will ever forget. Instead of earning the victory cleanly, the Jets had to rely on a horrible call by the officials just to have a chance to win this game. After lackluster play calling by Marty Mornhinweg set the Jets up with a ridiculous 56-yard field goal attempt. Nick Folk, who hadn't missed a field goal this season, missed the kick badly. Right after the play ended a flag was thrown onto the field for unsportsmanlike conduct on defensive tackle Chris Jones for pushing his teammate into the Jets offensive line. It was the first time in the history of the NFL that such a rule was called. It was a horrible call, because replay showed that Jones didn't push h...

It's week 7 in the NFL and there is plenty of good action coming up this week. Taking a look around the league, and one can see that the divisional races are really up for grabs this year. There is no single team, other than Denver, that looks like a world beater this year. Take a look at the AFC North for example, the Steelers were 0-4 and left for dead two weeks ago. Now if Pittsburgh wins on Sunday, and gets some help from the Lions (who host Cincinnati) and Green Bay (who hosts Cleveland), the Steelers could be a game and a half out of first! That is how nutty this season has become. Of course the biggest headline of the week in Denver invading Indianapolis. Peyton Manning meant so much to the Colts franchise, and is single-handly the reason that franchise is considered one of the top teams in the sport. But don't tell that to Jim Irsay, who had some choice words for Manning this week; saying that the Colts had to move past Manning, because he wasn't a winner. Rea...

It's no secret now that Knicks star Carmelo Anthony wants to be a free agent, he even declared as much the other day. With the regular season just two weeks away, this couldn't be a worse time for the Knicks best player to declare he wants more money, and his answer defending his claims did little to put out flames and debate about whether he will return in Knicks blue and orange. Anthony said:  "It's definitely an opportunity that I'm willing to explore and experience," Anthony said Thursday morning. "That not whatsoever means that I'm not coming back to New York or I don't want to be here in New York. So I don't want nobody to get that impression."  While Anthony says he doesn't want to leave New York, he never mentioned the Knicks. There is another basketball team in town in New York in the Brookyln Nets. Now, with all of the money the Nets have spent the past two off-seasons, adding Anthony in 2014-2015 makes very little sen...

It's now week 7 of the 2013 NFL season, and one of the more disturbing trends in football nowadays is the coaches hot seat. Seemingly a peak meter that fans and media alike keep consistent track of from the word go is at full tilt this week. Plenty of teams have underachieved this year, and there are others who have coaches who knew, coming into this season, that they had to win or else.  So who's on the hot seat? What's the temperature? Take a look below: Team Coach Seat Prediction New York Giants Tom Coughlin (0-6) Projection: (3-13) Luke Warm Giants will win 2-3 games, but Coughlin will come back. New York Jets Rex Ryan (3-3) Projection: (6-10) Luke Warm They said his relationship with GM was better, but if things go south toward a 6-10 finish, he’s out. Buffalo Bills Doug Marone (2-4) Projection: (5-11) Cool ...

STEELERS 19  JETS 6  So after a huge victory on Monday night that left Jets fans delirious over the prospects of their football team, New York came crashing back to earth after the Pittsburgh Steelers smacked the Jets in the mouth in a 19-6 defensive slugfest. If nothing else, the Jets loss to Pittsburgh proved one thing: this is a team that is still too young, too raw, and, still not ready to handle prosperity. Some called this game against the 0-4 Steelers a "trap game." Not the case; not against the PITTSBURGH STEELERS, a franchise that defines success in every syllable of their name. Sure the Steelers were winless, but this is still a team filled with champions from the quarterback to the coaching staff, and the defensive secondary. There are too many guys who have been there and done that, something that the Jets have not done. The Steelers dominated this game. They held the ball for almost 36 minutes, and Ben Roethlisberger withstood the Jets front seven pres...

BEARS 27 GIANTS 21 There is not much left to say about this 2013 Giants team. A season that many thought could end with the Giants hosting the Super Bowl in their own building, is, and has been DOA for well over two weeks. On Thursday night, the Bears were the next in line to kick the carcass. Right from the onset things were looking bleak for the Giants after Eli Manning threw two costly interceptions in the opening minutes, one of which was a miscommunication between he and receiver Ruben Randle, as Tim Jennings stepped in front of the Manning pass and took it to the house to make it 7-0, Chicago. Even with that the Giants played probably their best game of the season. The ran the ball with efficiency from Brandon Jacobs, who turned back the clock to rush for 106 yards and two touchdowns to keep Big Blue in the game. And after the two costly interceptions, Manning played well, engineering some huge drives to keep Big Blue alive. However, the Giants defense was once again...

Take a hike Chicago, Joe Girardi is not going anywhere. After taking his time the past two weeks to think about either a return to the Bronx or bolting for the Chicago Cubs managerial job, Girardi made the smartest decision of his professional career, he will remain in pinstripes. The Yankees who wanted Girardi back and waited until the manager was ready to make a decision, inked a four-year $16 million deal with Girardi Wednesday afternoon. The contract makes him the second highest paid manager in baseball behind the Angles' Mike Scioscia. Many thought that Girardi was interested in the Cubs job since he is from Illinois, went to school in Northwestern, and was drafted by the Cubs. However the idea of winning now with the Yankees instead of possibly winning at some point with the Cubs was too good of an offer to pass up. Granted the 2014 Yankees have their issues, but Girardi did an excellent job managing an injured and aging ball club in 2013. He earned the right to come...

Get your handkerchiefs ready folks, it's the end of an era. Mark Sanchez's career as quarterback of the New York Jets is O-V-E-R, Over! Over! Over! The bumbling signal-caller had his Jets career basically come to a close on Tuesday when he went under the knife to have shoulder surgery on a torn labrum that he suffered seven weeks ago in a preseason game against the Giants. Sanchez had been advised for weeks to have surgery, but balked in hopes that he could return to the field and take his job back from Geno Smith. That wasn't happening, and it wouldn't have happened even if Sanchez were healthy. Thus ends a five year nightmare (not officially, since the Jets are still on the hook for $8.25 million) for the Jets and their fans who had to suffer watching Sanchez struggle and buttfumble his way to national infamy. It was his running into the backside of guard Brandon Moore during a humiliating 49-19 loss to the Patriots on Thanksgiving that became the trademark ...

JETS 30  FALCONS 28  This is the kind of game that Jets fans have been waiting for. Ever since the Jets beat the New England Patriots in 2010 divisional playoffs, the Jets have never come close to playing as complete a game that resulted in an all around solid, satisfying victory as they did on Monday. No, for the past 37 games since the AFC Divisional Playoff, the Jets have been mired in buttfumble-land, with Mark Sanchez playing the lead role as the joker. Keeping the faith heading in 2013 was asking a lot of anyone who has rooted for this franchise for years on decades. Through four games in 2013, the Jets were lucky to be 2-2. Geno Smith played ok at times, and Sanchezian other times, with the shadow of Sanchez looming. Rex Ryan's head was still on the chopping block, and after a 38-13 smack-down at the hands of the Tennessee Titans, it looked like 2013 would unravel as most had predicted. That was until Monday night, in Atlanta, in the Georgia Dome -- a place...