COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

Well folks we have finally made it the holiday season! Thanksgiving is just hours away and with it, a full day of food, family and plenty of football to stuff your appetite this holiday season. Week 12 was a huge week in painting the postseason picture in the NFL with a number of teams falling out of contention and a handful of teams maximizing their postseason value at the same time. Of course the biggest game of the past week had to be New England's 34-31 OT triumph over Denver that not only shakes up the playoff picture, but becomes one of the many facts we learned about this week in the National Football League... 1) New England may have grabbed home field in the AFC:  No disrespect to the Kansas City Chiefs, but by losing to the San Diego Chargers on Sunday it made it even more obvious that home field in the AFC will come down to New England and Denver, and, on Sunday we got a clue as to who gets such a prize.  When the football bounced off the leg Tony Carter...

Rex Ryan won't back off his tough talk that Geno Smith is his new "guy." The now embattled head coach said that Smith would start the Jets next game on Sunday, saying the now universal language of Rex Ryan and his struggling QB's, "He gives us the best chance to win." Somewhere Mark Sanchez must be jealous. It is getting harder and harder for Ryan to continue to defend Smith just like it was getting harder for Ryan to defend Sanchez through his mediocre tenure as Jets' quarterback. And time will only tell if Ryan's defense of Smith will cost him his job. Smith has been woeful. In the month of November, Smith has completed only 39 percent of his passes with zero touchdowns and five interceptions. His 21 turnovers are one of the highest in the league, and he has had the leagues worst passer rating three times this year. The situation Ryan finds himself in is the same situation he was in the last two years with an underachieving quarterback. L...

COWBOYS 24 GIANTS 21 To all of the Giants fans who have been chirping that their beloved Big Blue football team was back in the playoff race, who do you want fired now that the team has finally lost?  After beating up four struggling football teams to keep their highly unlikely playoff hopes alive, the Giants couldn't pull this out of the fire as Tony Romo led an inspired final drive to lead Dallas to a 24-21 victory at MetLife Stadium, Sunday.  Romo as anti-clutch? Ha, not anymore. Romo was more than clutch for Dallas on arguably the most important drive of the Cowboys season.  After the Giants tied the game on a remarkable drive with 4:45 remaining, Romo picked apart the Giants on what turned into the final drive of the game. He was on target with his throws, some of which were just past the out stretched hands of a couple Giants. Yet, Romo always found his man.  Romo connected with Dez Bryant on three consecutive passes for gains of five, 19...

RAVENS 19 JETS 3  It's time to let the great fantasy come to an end. Those few and fleeting Jets fans who thought this team could be a serious playoff contender after the teams stunning 26-20 victory over New Orleans need not worry about playoffs anymore. The Jets season is over. And with it, Rex Ryan's career as Jets coach might be close to over with it. The Jets were listless, helpless and depressing to watch Sunday. Their anemic offense mustered only 137 yards, when the game was actually mattered with Geno Smith playing the roll of Mark Sanchez-redux for the fourth consecutive week. Awful doesn't do justice to describe Smith's performance. He was 9-of-22 for 127 yards, two interceptions and a rating of 22. It says a lot when the best quarterback on the field for the Jets was Josh Cribbs, who threw two gimmick passes. There was nothing to like about the Jets performance. They were uncompetitive in every phase of the game. Culprit number one and two has...

Who says that the Yankees are concerned about adding to their payroll? The Bronx Bombers made their first big move of the off-season by signing former Braves catcher Brian McCann to a five year $85 million deal, as was reported to me by Doug Rush of Yankees101.com. This is a huge move for New York. For starters it takes the most prized free agent catcher in this year's class off the market and away from possible suitors like the Red Sox and Rangers. It also gives the Yankees a much needed bat in the lineup. This past season, the Yankees were banged up, missing pieces like Mark Tiexiera, Curtis Granderson and Derek Jeter throughout the season. The signing also signals that the Yankees are not too concerned about what could happen with Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez is now waiting a ruling from an arbitrator in his appeal of MLB's 211 game ban. Rodriguez didn't do himself any favors by pounding a table and screaming in the court room before storming out, and running to his...

It didn't have to come down to this, but when Rex Ryan decided that chilling out at Dave & Buster's in Buffalo the night before his club's game in western New York was more important than defensive and offensive meetings, he put himself back on the hot seat. For nine weeks Ryan had basically taken himself out of the hot seat conversation with a team that had overachieved with a 5-4 record and wins against Atlanta, New England and New Orleans; three teams that everyone thought the Jets would lose to. Now one mistake and one horrific performance by the Jets in Buffalo has New York reeling. The Jets (5-5) have let everyone into the race for the final playoff spot in the AFC, and it is fair to say that the next two weeks for the Jets will go a long way in determining their playoff fate. While New York could still make the postseason, the disturbing fact is that if this team should fail to qualify, it could be curtains for the coach. Ryan came into this season on a s...

We are now a a week away from Thanksgiving and the official stretch run of the 2013 NFL season. This has been a pretty strange year from the standpoint that mediocrity has truly rained supreme this year with 17 teams that are either a game over, or, a game under the .500 mark. This has created a log jam for wild card slots in both conferences and division titles in both the NFC East and North. But that is why the stretch run is so much fun; chances are someone is going to come out of the muck and make a serious pre-January statement. So without further adieu, let's take a look at a few key games in week 12. NY Jets @ Baltimore (-3.5): Unless Rex Ryan feels the need to take his team to the Hooters of   Baltimore, there won't be any late night-before-the-game trips to go bar hopping this time around. But why is it that Ryan has to realize this now? (More on that in the next article). On the field, the Jets come limping into Baltimore, a city where they have never won a regul...

Maybe it is because it came from a tabloid, or maybe it is because the Wilpon's need the attention, but speculation has gone crazy Tuesday that the Mets are in the Robinson Cano sweepstakes. ... Now that you have stopped laughing, continue reading ... According to the report, Jeff Wilpon and Sandy Alderson met with Cano's agent the famed rapper/mogel/now agent and Nets part-owner Jay-Z about Cano's free agency and the Mets interest in signing him. Last time we checked, Jay-Z and Cano were looking for a deal worth $300 million, and last time we checked the Mets were not willing to break the bank on any free agents this winter. Outside of Cano, the free agent class doesn't contain a lot of sure-fire franchise players, but a lot of solid players. Would the Mets buck their current trend of cutting as much payroll as possible and going cheap for the Yankees second baseman? I find it hard to believe. The Mets have been a stubborn group when it comes to spending, and...

GIANTS 27 PACKERS 13 In their most convincing performance of the season, the Giants put together a total team effort in dismantling the battered Green Bay Packers, in turn, thrusting Big Blue back into the conversation for the playoff picture. By no stretch of the imagination does New York's 27-13 thumping of Green Bay mean that Big Blue is a serious playoff contender. At 4-6, the Giants still have an uphill climb with almost no margin for error, but they look like a much different team than what they were five weeks. On this day it was the Giants defense that took the lead for Big Blue, forcing the Packers into three turnovers, en route to victory, as New York was plus-2 in the turnover margin. Bottom line the Giants defense made big plays when they needed to. When the Giants offense went into a collective funk after jumping out to a 10-0 lead, it was the defense that stepped up. They held the Packers to two field goals in the second quarter, when it looked like Green...

BILLS 37 JETS 14 If the Jets season falls apart and they miss the playoffs, the events that led up to and including the 37-14 embarrassment will weigh heavily in the minds of the decision makers at the end of the season. It could weigh heavily on the future of the head coach, and oh, by the way the Jets have another quarterback controversy to boot. The Jets were in control of their own destiny; in the lead of the sixth seed in the AFC playoffs, needing a victory over the Bills to set up a crucial two game stretch against the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins, the two teams the Jets are competing with for that wild card slot. Instead the Jets came out flatter than flat. It was their most listless performance since the Bengals disaster earlier in the year, and to think a move by the head coach could have prevented it. Reports surfaced late Saturday night that Jets head coach Rex Ryan ditched the clubs defensive and offensive meetings and took the entire team to a night of wi...

According to New York Post's Brian Costello, during an interview with WFAN, the Jets have signed former Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed. Reed will join a Jets secondary in desperate need of some veteran talent. Reed who spent much of his career with the Baltimore Ravens, and winning a Super Bowl last season, signed with the Texans before the start of 2013, and was a total bust for the Texans. He was released earlier this week after he had some choice words for the Texans organization. For the Jets this is an all Rex Ryan type of move that speaks volumes about Ryan's standing in the organization to this day. For an entire year, people have been pondering the future of Ryan and his status in the front office, and a move like this shows that he still has clout. Ryan spent seven years with Reed in Baltimore from 2002 - 2008. He often called Reed the best safety in the NFL, and has long been his number one fan. Now he gets to have him back now with the Jets. The question...

After a week filled with the now infamous Richie Incognito/Jonathan Martin story taking up both front and back pages, on the field, the NFL probably had its best week of the season in Week 10. Many questions were answered, and others were created after a competitive slate of games on Sunday and Monday. As we head into Week 11 here is a look at where things are at in the National Football League. 1) Carolina is for Real: Nobody thought the Panthers would waltz into San Francisco and dominate the 49ers the way they did on Sunday. An impressive 10-9 victory was highlighted by the Panthers tenacious defense led by Luke Kuechly who had 11 tackles, two for a loss, a sack and a pass defended. The rookie sensation was incredible, as so was the rest of the Panther defense, which allowed only 91 yards passing by Colin Kaepernick. The Panthers are one of the best teams in the NFL in defense, ranked fifth in passing and second in rushing. They have adopted the style of their head coach Ro...

Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson made it very clear to fans and reporters that he will not spend big money recklessly on big ticket free agents. In short, the days of spending $100-plus million on one player are over for the Mets. "It would be difficult to duplicate that again -- not from a financial standpoint, but just in terms of team building..." Alderson told reporters before the GM meetings. And for the first time in his four year tenure with the Mets, Alderson is right on. The blueprint of recent World Series winners like the Cardinals, Giants, and Red Sox has been to build a team by spreading the wealth throughout the team with short term/financial stable contracts. That is why the Mets are probably not players for Shin Shoo Choo, who is asking for a insane $100 million contract. That is why the team has set its focus on the likes of Curtis Granderson, Jhonny Peralta, Corey Hart, and Rafael Furcal -- all good veteran players who could bring instant credibil...

Curtis Granderson's days in pinstripes might be numbered. Granderson was one of three Yankees to reject Brian Cashman's qualifying offer, which would have paid the right fielder $14.1 million next season. The others to reject the offer were Robinson Cano and Hiroki Kuroda. While not surprising to Cashman, and also a bit of a relief since he won't have to fork over $14 million for one season, in the case of Granderson he could be done as a Yankee. The Yankees main focus this off-season is finding a way to retain Robinson Cano, who is going to be asking for a steep price in free agency, and making a decision at third base with Alex Rodriguez. Before the season ended, Cano and his representation, led by rapper and Brooklyn Nets part owner Jay-Z, asked for $310 million over 10 years. The Yankees are looking in the neighborhood of $161 million if not a little less. Meanwhile, Rodriguez remains in the riptides of the biogenesis steroid scandal that could cost the form...

GIANTS 24  RAIDERS 20  MetLife Stadium may be the host of Super Bowl XLVIII later this year, but on Sunday it was host to Dunder Bowl X-tra Cheese as the Giants beat the Raiders inspite of beating themselves for much of the afternoon. A game that featured a combined two blocked punts and five turnovers, the Giants managed to make one less mistake than Oakland in Sunday's slop fest at the Meadowlands. The Giants won this game solely on the play of their defense down the stretch of this football game. An interception by Terrell Thomas with New York down 20-14, set the stage for the second half surge. Raiders quarterback Terrell Pryor telegraphed a pass right to Thomas, who picked it off and brought the ball all the way back to the Raiders three-yard line before he was tackled. Two plays later, Andre Brown dashed into the end zone for the touchdown to make it Big Blue 21, Black Hole 20. Later Eli Manning engineered New York's best drive of the day, a 13 play 65-...

PACERS 96  NETS 91 The most expensive team in the NBA is now 2-4.  A week into the season the most expensive team in the NBA is in last place in the Atlantic Division. Time to panic? Not yet. A team with very high expectations after a monster off-season that saw the franchise add old stars like Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry, and tapped their former superstar from a decade ago, Jason Kidd, as its next head coach is off to a rough start. As I mentioned in a earlier article, the Nets will soon come to the forefront, and on a cold November Saturday in New York where they were the only show in town, the Nets were at that forefront against the best team in the Eastern Conference, the Indiana Pacers. Result: the Nets had no answer for Paul George, David West and the Pacers. At times overmatched, at times outplayed, and most of the night outsmarted, the Nets never recovered from a Pacers third quarter surge as the Pacers improved to 7-0. Even though Brookly...