COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

Happy New Year 2017! Just like that 2016 is about to come to an end in just hours -- leaving us with a period of reflection of what was and foresight of what is to be. 2016 was a crazy year, both in sports and in life. To some it was a rough year -- we saw a lot of well known celebrities pass away -- such is life. It was also a year where the impossible became possible. The Cavs won their first NBA title. LeBron James actually delivered on his promise to the city of Cleveland. The Cubs won the World Series. Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton to win the presidency, and the Cleveland Browns actually won a game! Yes, 2016 will never be forgotten -- it was a historic year no matter how you slice it. The question is what does 2017 hold? Let's make 17 fun sports predictions! 1) The Jets won't fire Todd Bowles next week. Sorry Jets fans, you won't get your wish. The reports will hold true and Todd Bowles will return to coach your team in 2017. Here's to 2018 Jets fa...

What's a pending Jets off-season without a little drama from Darrelle Revis. Seriously, throughout the career of the Pro Bowl cornerback, drama has followed him like a bad dream. So I find it rather interesting when Revis tells the media that it is time for the Jets to respect him with class and make sure he retires a Jet, when one considers it was Revis who has never handled anything with class when it comes to his rocky relationship with the Jets. Here is the quote: " Would I love to be here? Yes. Will I be back? That's a great question. My thing is this: Do the New York Jets want to treat my situation with class or no class? With me being one of the best players in the history of the franchise, do they want me to retire here or not retire here? " Revis said. It doesn't sound like Revis is saying that he loves being a Jet. It sounds more like a guy who is still full of contempt for the franchise, and is more concerned about getting his money. Whether...

Tom Coughlin will not be the next head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars . For Coughlin's sake, thank goodness! Coughlin and the Jaguars met this week, but neither side found the necessary chemistry and will move on. The Jaguars are looking for a coach to replace Gus Bradley. Coughlin is still deluding himself in thinking that at 71, he can still be a productive head coach. The Buffalo Bills are also interested in Coughlin. For Coughlin it is a good think that he is not heading back to Jacksonville. As I said, he's 71-years old, and is too old to coach in a league that doesn't employ 70+ year-olds as head coaches. The Jaguars need a young voice that can handle the slings and arrows of a rebuild. If Coughlin were to coach again, he would need to be on a team that is ready to win NOW! Truth be told, the best situation for Coughlin at this point in his life and career is to be home and accept retirement. He had a great career as a coach both in the NFL and in colle...

With Woody Johnson likely to keep Todd Bowles as his head coach heading into 2017. New York Sports radio had a field day, specifically Joe Beningo on WFAN. Beningo ripped into his "friend" Ira from Staten Island, claiming that he is buddies with members of the Jets front office, and that he wants to keep Bowles. Beningo, in case you didn't know, is the leader of the anti-Bowles movement. He has even said he wants the Bills to blow out the Jets in order to get Bowles fired. This is classic stuff take a listen. :) Later in their program --- which by the way is actually Mike Francesa's time slot, but Mike is on vacation, Beningo goes on a rant during a call from New York Post writer Brian Costello. Costello's reactions to Beningo are classic. Oh the pain!

Inspite of a 4-11 disaster of a season Todd Bowles is likely safe as head coach of the New York Jets, according to multiple news sources this week. The story initially broke from Gary Myers of the New York Daily News , who reported that a trusted source doesn't expect any changes to be made. If that is the case, one would have to assume that even if the Jets get blown out by the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Bowles isn't going anywhere. Neither is GM Mike Maccagnan. The 2016 season has been a total dumpster fire. Bowles has taken and deserves his fair share of criticism. He has shown little interest in developing a quarterback with Bryce Petty getting only garbage games to play in, and Christian Hackenberg never stepping onto the field. Instead he, and even Maccagnan, allowed Ryan Fitzpatrick to dictate things from his contract to his time on the field. And Fitz was a total stinker. He allowed in-fighting to develop inside the locker room, which boiled over last weekend when S...

It's that time of the year again where NFL owners and front office executives make the difficult choice in firing their head coach. Fair or not, this annual purge takes out about a half dozen coaches and it looks like 2016 will spare no expense on its head coaching victims. As much as I hate compiling this list, because these are regular people we are talking about, these are the teams and coaches likely to part ways. Already Gone:  Todd Bowles might be next. Gus Bradley, Jacksonville Jaguars: The Jaguars made the decision to fire Bradley two weeks ago. He compiled a record of 14-48 in four years on the job. It was not all his fault, but not winning games isn't going to make any friends with the front office. Doug Marone is the interim head coach; he could be a candidate to replace Bradley full time. Jeff Fisher, Los Angeles Rams : The Jeff Fisher era ended weeks ago with the Rams at 4-9, ending a rocky 4-1/2 year tenure with the LA/St. Louis franchise. Fisher went 31...

Well, Sunday's season finale between the Jets and Bills will not have Rex Ryan involved at all. The Bills made it official on Tuesday firing both Rex Ryan and his brother Rob from their positions of head coach and defensive coordinator, respectively. Offensive coordinator, and former Jets running backs coach, Anthony Lynn will be the "interim" head coach for Sunday's game. Ryan was on the hot seat for an entire calendar year in Buffalo. When the Bills missed the playoffs last year after Ryan professed (as he usually does) that his team would be a Super Bowl contender, the pressure was on Ryan to deliver this year. Instead it was a flame out season as Buffalo stands at 7-8. The hot seat really heated up on Ryan after the Bills dropped a 27-20 decision to the Pittsburgh Steelers at home a few weeks back, with many speculating that Ryan was going to be fired shortly after that game. Instead Terry Pegula decided to keep Ryan around and let him finish the season. That ...

The AFC Playoff picture is nearly complete as the final three teams that needed to clinch spots in the tournament did so on Christmas night. The only thing left to determine in the AFC is playoff seeding. The NFC is still to be decided with two spots to determine between three teams. In the playoffs:  Pittsburgh Steelers: The Steelers earned their way into the playoffs with a huge fourth quarter comeback against the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas night. The Steelers trailed 20-10 before Ben Roethlisberger led two huge touchdown drives to put the Steelers up 24-20 with a little over two minutes to go in the game. After Joe Flacco and company responded it was up to Big Ben again, this time down th ree with 1:18 to go in the game. The Ravens couldn't stop the Steelers who drove 75 yards in 10 plays for the winning score as Antonio Bryant just got the ball over the end zone line for the winning touchdown. The win gives the Steelers the AFC North crown and the number 3 seed. The...

We learned a lot about the 2016-17 NFL postseason brackets on Christmas Eve, with three spots firmly clinched, and one other spot just about clinched after Miami's overtime win in Buffalo. It was incredible interesting theatre. Not only did we see playoff berths formalize, but we also saw two young franchise quarterbacks go down that could alter the state of both franchises. New to the Playoff Picture:  New York Giants: The Giants punched their ticket to the postseason thanks to the Buccaneers losing 31-24 to the New Orleans Saints on Saturday. The Giants needed either Tampa Bay, Green Bay, Detroit or Washington to fall on their sword this week after their debacle in Philly on Thursday. Thanks to the Saints, the Giants get the biggest Christmas gift they could ask for. Now New York plays a meaningless game in Week 17. Big Blue is in the playoffs and cemented as the NFC's number 5 seed. The game will mean a lot to Washington; more on that later.  Atlanta Falcons: The...

PATRIOTS 41 / JETS 3 It was the equivalent of a preseason game for the New England Patriots on Saturday afternoon as they ran over the New York Jets 41-3. The lopsided loss was the third such defeat in four games for Gang Green. Let's recap this mess. Bryce Petty is brittle : While it isn't totally fair to put any label on Bryce Petty after just four starts, one thing is for sure, he is quiet brittle. When Petty was sandwiched by Cameron Wake and Ndamukong Shu last week, one could understand why Petty had to leave the game. This week's injury was odd. Petty tried to dive at a Patriots defender on a fumble, and slammed his hand against his helmet and left the game. Next thing we know he has a shoulder injury, after admitting he head a pop in his shoulder and was last seen with his left arm in a sling. It doesn't look good for Petty next week in the season finale, and for all we know his chance at being labeled the starter heading into 2017 seems in serious doubt. The...

Jets head coach Todd Bowles was admitted to a hospital on Friday evening and didn't travel with the team to Foxboro for their game with the Patriots this afternoon at 1 p.m.  There has been no word as to what caused Bowles to fall ill, but according to Rich Cimini on ESPN NY , a source said that Bowles was tired, but didn't seem sick at the time. Mike Caldwell will coach the team if Bowles doesn't join the team in the morning.  It is anyone's guess as to what is ailing the Jets head coach, but stress might be playing a role here. Bowles has been under fire all season for his perceived lack of innovation with the defense, lack of accountability with the offense, and clear mishandling of the quarterback position.  Not to mention he's had to hear about his job security all season long.  On top of that he has dealt with a defense that has badly underachieved with many players who look like they have checked out long ago. He also had to deal with the behavior...

EAGLES 24 / GIANTS 19 It was not a good night Thursday for the New York Giants as Big Blue blew their shot at clinching a playoff berth in Philadelphia. Not only was the game disappointing, but it ended any thought that this team is a truly serious Super Bowl contender, at least for the moment. The Giants can still get into the playoffs if they get one of four teams to lose on Saturday, but the opportunity was there for the Giants to make a statement and they failed totally. Let's recap: Eli Manning was a disaster : It has been a horrible year for Manning. Take the stats and throw them out the window, because Manning has been horribly inconsistent all season. Whether it has been overthrowing his receivers, lacking the appropriate timing with his wide outs or turning the ball over, Manning did that and more on Thursday. He threw three interceptions, with none bigger than the one he threw to Malcom Jenkins for a 34-yard Pick-6 that gave the Eagles a 14-0 lead. This right off th...

The Jacksonville Jaguars are looking for a new head coach after the dismissal of Gus Bradley on Sunday. Now the woebegone franchise is looking to possibly go back to the future by contacting former coach Tom Coughlin for the job. While Coughlin might feel a bite of nostalgia being contacted by the team that he helped create in 1995, and has said publicly and privately that he still wants to coach, it would be in his best interest to just say thanks but no thanks. Coughlin was part of the Jaguars inception in 1995. If anyone knows about starting from scratch it is he. He made the Jaguars relevant with two trips to the AFC title game, and four seasons at or near the top of the AFC Central.  Like I said, a reunion of sorts would mean a lot to him -- that franchise is still close to his heart. Coughlin even has a home down in the Jacksonville area. However, Coughlin is no youngster. He would be 71-years-old in a league that doesn't employ head coaches over age 70. In his last...

The NFL playoff picture is starting to crystalize as we approach the Christmas holiday. Throughout the weekend we have seen some teams clinch spots in the playoffs, while others put their hopes in dire straits. Let's take a look. In the Playoffs: New England Patriots (12-2):  Patriots clinched the AFC East with a 16-3 smackdown of the punchless Denver Broncos. This game was a snoozefest, but the Patriots won because their defense was too much for the battered Broncos. Trevor Siemian was under siege all day, and the Broncos had no running game. While it wasn't a great day for Tom Brady, the Pats ran for 136 yards with 95 yards coming from Dion Lewis. Yes, Bill Belichick continues to find guys we never heard of, and they still win games. Oakland Raiders (11-3):  the Raiders punched their postseason ticket with a comeback win over the San Diego Chargers. They trailed the Chargers 16-13 in the fourth quarter before Derek Carr led a couple of field goal drives to send the Raid...

GIANTS 17 / LIONS 6 This Giants defense continues to put up scary numbers in the NFL. The league's Number One ranked defense over the previous five weeks, the Giants dominated the Detroit Lions on Sunday 17-6. With the win the Giants move a win shy of clinching a playoff berth -- a feat that seemed so unlikely weeks ago when this team was struggling to find an identity when they were beating up on bad football teams. Let's break it down! The Giants D is for real: Obviously. The Giants defense has been one of the best units in the NFL this season, especially in the second half. The Giants held the Lions to only five yards per play, and totally flustered quarterback Matthew Stafford. While Stafford was dealing with an injured middle finger, it didn't stop the Giants from pounding the quarterback. He was hit five times, sacked once and under siege for much of the afternoon. Whenever he put up a pass that looked destined for a Lions reception, a Giant defender would st...

DOLPHINS 34 / JETS 13 Another home game, another blowout of the Jets. Believe it or not for one half of football the Jets were actually playing well, and had a chance to win this game, trailing only 13-10 at the break. Then Dolphins back-up quarterback Matt Moore turned into Dan Marino when he lit up the Jets putrid secondary for three touchdowns in the third quarter and the Dolphins waltzed to their ninth win of the year. Bryce Petty looked pretty good on Saturday: For once the Jets problems last night had nothing to do with the play of the quarterback. Let's call that progress. For the most part, Bryce Petty looked pretty good under center for the J ets on Saturday night. He had nice touch on many of his deep throws, and early on was doing a nice job withstanding the Dolphins heavy blitz. He lead the Jets to a game opening touchdown drive on a 40-yard completion to Robbie Anderson. Think about this with a horrible offensive line, he was still able to complete 20 of 36 for...

GIANTS 10 / COWBOYS 7  As has become commonplace for the New York Giants this year, their win versus the Dallas Cowboys was not pretty. But considering some of the nail biters the Giants have played this year, and considering they were going up against the best team in the NFL, Big Blue's 10-7 win was their best performance of the season. Giants D was HUGE: This game was about one thing and one thing only, the Giants defense. After giving up a first quarter touchdown to Terrance Williams, the Giants completely shut down one of the most potent offenses in football. New York held the Cowboys to just 260 yards of offense, and held Dallas to a putrid 1-for-15 on third down. More importantly they made Dak Prescott look like a rookie, and neutralized the effectiveness of Ezekiel Elliot. The game was clearly won upfront on the line of scrimmage. The Cowboys have prided themselves this year as having the best offensive line in football, but the Giants made them look second rate on S...

JETS 23 / 49ERS 17 - Overtime Give it to the Jets, down 14-0 after the first five minutes of this game in San Francisco, they could have easily packed it in, and turned up the heat on their head coach Todd Bowles. Instead, behind a spirited effort by their young quarterback, Bryce Petty and some tremendous running by Bilal Powell, the Jets pulled out a 23-17 win over the listless 49ers (1-12) in Santa Clara. While the Jets playoff hopes have been dead for weeks, this was a big win for a franchise that needed to show something after last Monday's 41-10 drubbing to the Indianapolis Colts. Let's break it down. Todd Bowles: Make no mistake Bowles needed this win. Earlier on Sunday, CBS reported that Woody Johnson plans to commit to Bowles and Mike Maccagnan unless the Jets continue to perform ineptly down the stretch. Down 14-0 in the first quarter, those thoughts were on their way to changing quickly. We have seen owners say one thing and do another many times. Even Johnso...

The Jets got crushed on Monday Night 41-10 by the Indianapolis Colts.  But it wasn't so much the game itself as much as the full display of a lack of effort on the part of the Jets that was so disturbing on Monday night. So disturbing that many are wondering if Todd Bowles is the right man for this job. The Jets never tired on Monday. Colts wide receivers like T.Y. Hilton and tight end Dwayne Allen were open all day, and in some cases, so wide open that the closest defender was at least five yards away. Andrew Luck, who has been beaten to smithereens this season with sacks, was only touched once by the Jets defense. Frank Gore who has looked older with each passing game, looked spry on Monday night. And don't forget the Jets lackluster offense. Ryan Fitzpatrick was plan awful. He was 5-of-12 for 81 yards and a pick. The man who single-handedly held the Jets hostage during the offseason over a contract dispute, piloted the Jets into the 2017 off-season, and with it, piloted ...

STEELERS 24/GIANTS 14 The Giants six-game winning streak turned into a pumpkin on a cold Sunday evening in Pittsburgh. The Steeleres walloped the G-Men 24-14, and it wasn't even that close. The Giants were totally slapped around by a Pittsburgh team that gashed the Giants defense for 389 yards, and was 7-for-15 on third down. By halftime the score was 14-0, Steelers. The lead soon ballooned to 24-7 before the Giants got a garbage time touchdown to make the final score somewhat respectable. Still it was a horrible loss that puts the Giants in a situation where they have no choice but to settle for the wild card. Inconsistent Eli Manning : Manning wasn't great on Sunday. He failed to lead the Giants stagnant offense, especially in the first half where they were shutout for the second straight week. Manning threw a costly interception at the Steelers nine-yard line that eventually led to a Pittsburgh touchdown before the half. Overall, Manning threw for only 195 yards on 3...