COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

Twas the final day of 2015, and with it the final picks for the 2015 NFL season. Week 17 will feature games with plenty of significance as the playoffs are about to begin in little over a week. Seeding is still up for grabs in both conferences, NFC North, AFC West and AFC South titles are up for grabs, and there remains one wild card slot that has not yet been filled. A lot will go down this week, how will it play out? Here are my predictions. NY Jets @ Bills - 1 p.m. CBS . The Jets must win this game or their season is over. The Jets (10-5) right now are the potential number six seed in the NFL playoffs, and could rise as high as the number five seed if they get a little more help on Sunday. This is the most fascinating game of the week, considering the stakes for the Jets, and who they'll be up against: their former coach, Rex Ryan. While the Bills say that Ryan will be back for 2016, he would like nothing better than to destroy the Jets playoff chances in the final week of t...

The Philadelphia Eagles are mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore. The Eagles have fired head coach Chip Kelly. He will not coach in the Eagles final regular season finale against the New York Giants this weekend at MetLife Stadium; instead former Browns Head Coach, Pat Shurmur will be the interim head coach for one game.  There is no word if Shurmur has a future with the team as a head coaching candidate, but you never know.  Kelly's firing was stunning from the standpoint that it happened a week before the regular season ended. Many expected Kelly would finish the season, and the Eagles and Kelly would find either a way to part ways, or make plans to have Kelly remain for one more year.  That being said, it should be surprising that Kelly was fired. He ushered in a era of total unaccountability in Philadelphia, acting more like a pirate than a head coach. He won a front office power play against then GM Howie Roseman last January, taking full contr...

Only one week remains in the 2015 regular season, and just about every playoff slot has been filled except for one wild card slot in the AFC. Week 17 is always a weird week. It is both a chance for teams who have everything locked up to rest their starters, while those still jockeying for a higher seed will go all out to win the regular season finale. What did we learn in Week 16? Let's look back. 1) Bill Belichick outsmarted himself, plain and simple. If you listened to Patriots fans or even Bob Costas, you would think that the NFL tried to do the Patriots in during their 26-20 loss to the Jets. However, the only person to blame for coin toss-gate is Bill Belichick. Belichick instructed captain Matthew Slater to elect to kick, and Slater blurted out "we want to kick" before the official ever had a chance to ask him if the Patriots wanted to kick or receive.  Belichick gambled. He trusted a defense that shut down the Jets over the past four drives of regulation...

Tom Coughlin's days in New York might be numbered after all. Not that this comes as any surprise considering the horrific season the Giants have endured this year, and the fact that Big Blue will be playoff-less for the fourth straight season, but according to Giants101.com, who quoted an article from the Record, doomsday is coming. "Co-owners  John Mara  and  Steve Tisch  were ready to give head coach  Tom Coughlin  & Co. a pass if they could win their final two games, hoping that health and substantial cap space could resurrect the organization in 2016. But that didn't happen. Instead, the Giants were embarrassed by the Minnesota Vikings on National TV and it all but ensured Mara had to live up to his "win or else" mandate. Subsequently,  The Record reports  Giants brass spent the majority of Monday morning in conference calls as they evaluated the job status of not just  Tom Coughlin , but the entire team from top to bottom,...

With the Denver Broncos 20-17 overtime win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night, the New York Jets become the focus of the AFC playoff picture. While their win-and-your-in scenario was established after Sunday's win over New England,  Gang Green now has a clearer understanding of how they can get in, and where they might end up playing come the playoffs. 1) The Jets have to win on Sunday. There are no backdoors involving the Denver Broncos now. Had the Broncos lost on Monday, it would have created a scenario where the Jets could have moved up to the number five seed in the AFC playoff picture with the Steelers and Broncos battling one another for the number six seed. Now that Denver has won, the only thing the Broncos are worried about is beating San Diego on Sunday, and they will be the number two seed. The Jets have to win on Sunday, or get another Steelers loss to get into the playoffs. 2) The Jets most likely playoff opponent would be the Bengals in the wild card g...

The Yankees have been the stealth team of the Major League Baseball offseason thus far. Earlier this month they swooped into the middle of the Ben Zobrist deal to Chicago, and acquired second baseman Starlin Castro from the Cubs, giving New York a much needed answer at second base. On Monday they pulled off another swift trade, by acquiring closer Aroldis Chapman and his expiring contract from the Cincinnati Reds for four young prospects. Chapman clearly fills a hole in the Yankees pen after the club traded away Justin Wilson to the Tigers for minor leaguers Chad Green and Luis Cessa. More importantly he gives the Yankees a logjam for the ninth inning role. Obviously, Andrew Miller earned the right to start Spring Training as the Yankees closer, having saved 36 games and pitching to a 2.04 ERA. Yet, Miller had never been a full time closer until last season, and has been best known as a middle reliever who can come in a tight spot in the seventh and eighth inning. The Yankees thoug...

During halftime of the the Sunday night shellacking of the New York Giants, Bob Costas decided to go on a rant about overtime rules in light of the Patriots 26-20 loss to the New York Jets earlier in the afternoon. Costas sounded like a jilted Boston fan by demanding that the NFL change the rules of overtime because it was not "fair" that the Patriots never got a chance to possess the football. Costas' reasoning being that if the Super Bowl were determined by a coin flip that it would be unjust. While I agree that a Super Bowl determined by essentially a "coin flip" would leave a sour taste, the overtime rule now is better than it used to be. Does it make it perfect? No. But it's better. The old rule didn't require teams to drive the length of the field to score a touchdown. Teams essentially could drive to their opponents 40 yard line and kick the game winner, in other words, the winner would be determined on the flip of a coin. The current rule...

VIKINGS 49 GIANTS 17 There is not much to say about this game, in fact there is not much to say about the Giants, period. The Giants got manhandled by a Minnesota Vikings team that had everything to play for. A playoff berth was a stake for the Vikes, and they got the W they needed in order to set up a dinner date with the Green Bay Packers for the division title next Sunday night. The Giants? They played like they couldn't wait for the season to be over with. They couldn't do anything right. Their offense was nonexistent, with a horrific 1-for-11 on third downs, seven penalties and an ejection. Eli Manning was putrid, throwing three interceptions, including one by Harrison Smith who brought it back to the house for a 35-yard touchdown. He almost threw two Pick-6 interceptions, but Captain Munnerlyn was tackled at the Giants four yard line. Didn't matter, because Adrian Peterson finished it off with a score to make it 29-3 in the third quarter. Minnesota never re...

JETS 26 PATRIOTS 20 - OT A week ago it appeared that the Jets would be on the outside looking in at the playoffs come mid-January. With the Jets playing the Patriots this week, and needing wins by the 4-10 Ravens, or 3-11 Browns, or the Andy Dalton-less Bengals, it looked highly unlikely the Jets would find a nice gift under their tree for Christmas. That ... is why they play the game! The New York Jets who have crafted one of the best stories in the NFL this year, a story has gone somewhat unnoticed at times around the League, had perhaps their best win of the season by stealing victory from the jaws of defeat in a thrilling overtime battle against the hated Patriots, while getting their wish with a Pittsburgh Steelers loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The Jets now control their own fate as they head into Buffalo for Week 17. A win next week and the Jets are in the postseason. The Jets thoroughly dominated this game, even though the Patriots came from behind the tie the game an...

REDSKINS 38 EAGLES 24 The Giants 2015 season is over, and they didn't even get a chance to take the field to keep it alive. The Giants needed the Philadelphia Eagles to defeat the Washington Redskins on Saturday night in order to give Big Blue a chance to capture the division IF they won their final two games of the regular season. Now it doesn't matter. The Redskins manhandled the Eagles 38-24 on Saturday behind another big night by quarterback Kirk Cousins and tight end Jordan Reed to capture the franchises first division title since 2012. Cousins, who will best be remembered for screwing up a spike play just before the half, threw for 365 yards and four touchdowns in the win. Meanwhile Reed was a monster, hauling in nine balls for 129 yards and two scores. Even former Indianapolis Colt receiver, Pierre Garcon got into the act with 80 yards receiving and touchdown. For the Giants this is a lesson learned. Never rely on other teams to do your dirty work. The Giants ...

The Mets will see Daniel Murphy a lot after all this upcoming season, and it won't be in their uniform. The former Mets second baseman has signed with NL East rival, the Washington Nationals on Christmas Eve with a three year contract. The dollars were not disclosed immediately. Murphy heads to D.C. riding an incredible ride in the postseason last fall, in which he homered in six straight games, setting a new Major League record and earning him NLCS MVP honors after the Mets swept away the Chicago Cubs. Murphy has always been a pretty decent hitter. A lifetime .288 hitter with 62 home runs and 402 RBI, Murphy hit .281 in 2015 with a single-season high 14 homers. Murphy has tremendous pop from the left side of the plate, and is adept at pulling the ball down the line. When going well he get knock the ball out of the ball park, or line doubles off the walls in right and right-center. He also provides some steady veteran leadership for a Nationals team that desperately needs lea...

Week 15 may have ended a couple days ago, but there is still plenty of fallout from this insane week in the National Football League thanks in large part to the antics of Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and Carolina cornerback Josh Norman. So much so that it once again brings up the integrity of the league into question, something that is becoming an annual and weekly occurrence. More on that in a minute. Meanwhile, Week 15 provided us with a handful of answers to the playoff picture as things begin to crystalize for January. Let's look back and look forward. 1) The Beckham Fiasco Highlights the NFL's Dying Credibility: By now everyone knows what happened on Sunday at MetLife Stadium between Odell Beckham Jr. and Josh Norman. The two spent much of the afternoon trash-talking and pushing and shoving one another that it took away from what was a really excellent game to watch between the Giants and Panthers. Beckham was suspended for his actions, justly so, since no...

This is why I hate Twitter. Ok, I like Twitter, but I also hate for moments like this. Around 2:30 this afternoon former Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes tweeted out that Odell Beckham Jr.'s suspension would be overturned. About an hour or so later, ESPN's Ron Jaworski said that he found out from a source in NYC that Beckham will not be suspended. Of course Jaworski has since taken that Tweet down. Beckham's suspension will be upheld . He will remain suspended and will not play on Sunday night in Minnesota, a game that might be meaningless to the Giants, who could be eliminated before the game ever takes place. If the Redskins beat the Eagles on Saturday, then Washington will have won the NFC East.  This display by both Tynes and Jaworski is journalism at its worst. Someone starts a rumor on Twitter and it catches fire. Both should be ashamed of themselves. In fact, anyone who bought into this garbage should be ashamed of themselves.  As for Beckham, he is ge...

Here is a link to my radio show on BlogTalk Radio as I discuss the Odell Beckham news with my colleagues Daniel Feuerstein of Jets Beat on Fan Favorites.com) and Doug Rush of SportsMedia101.com.  Enjoy! Michael Cohen  ‏ @ OpenMikeNJ     23h 23 hours ago Getting set to talk about the Jets, Giants and the Odell controversy on Open Mike. Tune in at 5:30 p.m. http:// tobtr.com/s/8171153  

The Mets have a very simple formula. Inspite of tremendous on-the-field success last season they will stay to their guns of not spending much money on free agents in the offseason. Tuesday the Mets made the curious decision to sign journeyman outfielder Alejandro De Aza to a one year, $4.5 million deal. Why? I have no idea. This is a signing that reeks of the Wilpon's and their cheap ways. Remember Chris Young a couple years ago? How about John Mayberry Jr. last off-season? De Aza is not an upgrade, even though the Mets will trump this as the beginning of a platoon situation in centerfield between De Aza and the light hitting, and severely overpaid Juan Lagares. This is a total shame. De Aza has never hit better than .281 in a season, and hasn't hit more than 17 homers in a season, which he did back in 2013 for the Chicago White Sox. He's average, in fact, maybe more like below average offensively. How is this a benefit to a team desperately in need of a power bat? Th...

Odell Beckham Jr. got exactly what he deserved from the NFL, a one game suspension for his antics on Sunday afternoon that not only put himself at risk of injury, but put his opponents and teammates at risk as well. However it is the developing story that came with news of Beckham's suspension regarding the Carolina Panthers and baseball bats that is raising a lot of eyebrows late Monday night. First of all, Beckham had to be suspended. While he will appeal the suspension to the best of his ability, his behavior on Sunday against Carolina was beyond unprofessional. He pushed, punched, wrestled and taunted his opponents to the point it became a distraction to the team. What's more his antics were purely selfish. Instead of trying to be a professional and ignore any taunts that were coming his way from Josh Norman and company, he let it get the better of him, and instead put more energy into seeking vengeance than trying to help his team win. No greater example of Beckha...

PANTHERS 38 GIANTS 35 Were it not for a poor effort for three quarters chuck full of mistakes, missed opportunities   and Odell Beckham Jr. making out like the biggest thug in the NFL, the Giants could have pulled out the upset against the Carolina Panthers.  It wasn't so much that Big Blue ran out of time during their improbable 28-point comeback from a 35-7 deficit, as it was the feeling of what could have been. With a loss to the Carolina Panthers, the Giants playoff fates are virtually over, considering they have to win their final two games and hope that Washington loses out. A great comeback in the fourth quarter can't erase that fact. And that great comeback can't erase the fact that the Giants looked ill-prepared once again, and looked like a team that didn't care that its head coach is likely to get fired after this nightmare of a season ends. However, the story of the day is not going to be how the Giants' playoff hopes may have gone down i...

JETS 19 COWBOYS 16 Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. The Jets won a game they should have won against a dreadful Dallas Cowboys team, but did so while trying their best to hand the Cowboys an early Christmas gift. There were so many things that went wrong for the Jets, it is amazing that the final result came out right in the end. As they say with another cliche, good teams win bad games, sometimes. Well, on Saturday the Jets didn't look like a playoff team for 3/4 of the game. They shot themselves in the foot with costly penalties; failed to convert on a huge fourth inches deep inside Dallas territory; watched their kicker, Randy bullock, miss both an extra point and field goal. They allowed a fourth string quarterback with a noodle of arm, who barley reaches six feet, drive Dallas into the field goal range for the game-tying kick. Yeah it was ugly.  Had the Jets been playing the Dallas Cowboys that broke camp in August, they probably would have lost this game...

GIANTS 31 DOLPHINS 24 It was not pretty on Monday night. Call a match-up of two teams who did everything in their power to lose a football game, and at the end of the day it was the Dolphins who made more bone headed plays than the Giants as New York pulled away with a 31-24 win in South Beach. The Giants (6-7) now find themselves in a three-way tie for first place in the NFC East. How many people want Tom Coughlin fired now? Didn't think there would be too many after Monday's win. Give a lot of credit to the Giants in this one. For a team that has seen far too many leads late in games disappear, the Giants mounted three different comebacks against the Dolphins on Monday Night Football, and pulled away in the fourth quarter thanks to incredible heroics by Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. The Giants trailed by scores of 7-3; 14-10; 17-10 and 24-17, and never wavered. It wasn't pretty either. The Giants allowed two rushing touchdown's to Dolphins running back ...