Open Mike Program: Giant Mess After Eli Manning Benching

On this edition of the Open Mike Program, hosts Michael Cohen and Karen Vankat talk about the Giants insidious decision to bench Eli Manning, putting the blame for the 2017 season on the Super Bowl MVPs shoulders. We take the Giants to task. Listen here!!

Benching Eli Manning is one of the Dumbest Moves Ever

Eli Manning's career with the Giants is over. It just isn't official yet. The Giants decided to bench Manning for their Week 13 game at Oakland and start former Jets flame out Geno Smith instead, because embattled head coach Ben McAdoo believes that Geno Smith gives his team the best chance to win. At 2-9.

I don't know what is more disturbing? The fact that Eli Manning got screwed over by the very franchise that he helped carry to two Super Bowl titles? The fact that McAdoo and GM Jerry Reese continues to show their utter incompetence? Or the fact that it sounds like John Mara and Steve Tisch signed off on Manning's benching?

Eli Manning deserved a better fate than what he got on Tuesday from the Giants, a franchise that should be indebted to him for all the work he has done over the past 14 years. No player in the history of the franchise has gone through more, and has done more than Manning has. He overcame a locker room that looked down on him when he was a rookie to becoming one of the sports great winners. And this is the thank you the Giants give him?

Nothing could be more cruel.

Sure the Giants are 2-9 and Manning has played a role in that, but this season was never his fault. Not when the talent around him is one of the worst in the National Football League. He played the last three seasons behind a patch-work offensive line that couldn't stop a nosebleed let alone pass protect. He hasn't had a decent running back behind him since Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs left town, and is without his star wide receiver, Odell Beckham Jr. In short, Eli Manning had no help this year.

Instead Tuesday's benching was a tall tell sign of a secret we all knew, McAdoo hates Eli Manning. He has ripped him publicly in the media all season, and now finally had enough after the Giants 20-10 loss the Redskins last Thursday that he decided to pull the trigger as a way to save his own hide. Unfortunately for McAdoo, he doesn't seem to realize, or care for that matter, that the fans are in Manning's corner on this one. What exactly has McAdoo done in his coaching career to warrant benching a potential Hall of Famer for one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL?

And why Geno Smith? Smith has been an underachieving failure for his entire NFL career. If the Giants were to bench Manning, wouldn't it make more sense to play the rookie, Davis Webb? Geno Smith proves nothing here. He's a free agent who has no future with the team.

And speaking of Webb, the Giants are sending the message that they do not believe in Webb either.  Which means that Jerry Reese did his best Mike Maccagnan impression last April when he waisted a third round pick on a quarterback the team doesn't believe in.

If anything this lays groundwork for the Giants to potentially draft a quarterback with next year's first round pick. Recently the Giants had scouts at the USC-UCLA game to watch both Josh Rosen and Sam Darnold. But there is a no guarantee that either player will ever match the accomplishments of Eli Manning.

In fact there is no guarantee that either will come out of college.

Rosen is rumored to be a quarterback with a strong personality issue. His teammates do not like him. And he had an injury riddled season this year.  He has a good arm, but way too many red flags. Darnold might be the most overhyped prospect in NFL history, with many comparing him to Andrew Luck after his solid effort in the Rose Bowl last year. But, Darnold has followed that up with a mediocre season where he's turned the ball over 20-plus times. Not to mention, he has shown an aversion to wanting to be drafted by the Browns, Jets and anyone who isn't good. Do the Giants want to invest in someone like that?

The Giants completely botched this. They handled Manning's departure from this team almost as badly as they handled Tom Coughlin two years ago. Remember the Giants made Coughlin announce he was retiring, when in fact we all knew he was fired. Remember the icy moment when Coughlin brushed by John Mara after his exit press conference?

Manning deserved better. He deserved to finish this season out as a starter and play, presumably his last game as a Giant against the Redskins on December 31 and ride off into the sunset. That might still happen, but it will happen under the guise of hatred and contempt between Manning, the Giants and his head coach.

If the Giants are truly done with Manning, they should just release him from his contract. They do that he'll be on the market for all of 30 seconds before someone like Tom Coughlin, who is enjoying a nice resurgence as the general manager of the Jacksonville Jaguars, signs him for the stretch run. In fact, don't be surprised that the next time you see Eli Manning on the field will be in Jacksonville teal and black next August.

Thank you for the memories Eli, you deserve better.

Jets season up in flames after hideous loss to Panthers

PANTHERS 35 - JETS 27

In what has become a disturbing pattern this season, the New York Jets once again proved they are the best team in the NFL when it comes to finding ways to lose in excruciating fashion. Mistakes, penalties, more mistakes and misfortune spelled doom for Gang Green on Sunday in a game that looked ripe for a tremendous upset, the Jets found a way to let the Carolina Panthers slip from their grasp in a disheartening 35-27 loss.

At 4-7 the Jets playoff hopes are all but dead. While the expectations were not for this team to get to the playoffs this season, it doesn't change the fact that this season has spiraled into utter disappointment.

The bottom line is the Jets blew another fourth quarter lead, and when they had an opportunity to stage a comeback, the flushed that down the toilet on more dumb penalties. All of this falls on the shoulders of head coach Todd Bowles, who once again demonstrated he can't get his team ready to play a full 60 minute football game.

Here are some of the lowlights revisited:

1) Austin Seferian Jenkins dropped touchdown in the first quarter. This was as bad as it gets. Jenkins was wide open in the end zone with nobody around him. All he had to do was haul in the pass and the Jets would would have a 7-3 lead. But, no, Jenkins drops the pass from quarterback Josh McCown. What made matters worse for the Jets was the drop resulted in a fourth and one at the Carolina 13. Let me repeat, the Carolina 13-yard line.

The obvious call was to go for it. Instead Bowles settled for the field goal. Being conservative was the wrong thing to do in that situation.

2) Penalties killed the Jets all day. New York leads in the NFL in penalties, and it seems like no team in the National Football League has hurt itself more with dumb mistakes than the Jets. Take for example the roughing the passer penalty called on DeMario Davis with 13:20 to go in the first half. Instead of the play resulting in a first and ten at the Carolina 31-yard, the 15-yard penalty pushed the ball up close to mid-field. Of course Carolina scored a touchdown on this drive to take a 10-3 lead.

If that wasn't bad enough, perhaps the most egregious penalties came much later in the game. First, Jordan Jenkins was called for offsides on a critical fourth and two at the Jets' 32 yard line. Instead of the Jets defense getting off the field, the penalty gave Carolina a fresh set of downs. Oh, and of course, the Panthers scored a touchdown to go up 18-17.

Finally the killer came late in the fourth quarter with the Jets down 32-27, needing a stop to get the football back with just over two minutes to go in the game, and lineman Mike Pennel gets flagged for roughing the passer, as dumb a mistake as any player could make in a critical situation.

3) Josh McCown. A lot of people want to keep talking about how great McCown has been for the Jets this season, and I beg to differ. He has been a turnover machine when it comes to fumbles and critical game-killing interceptions. Sunday's loss was no exception. With the Jets leading 20-18, and with the football after Carolina went three-and-out, the Jets had a golden opportunity to put the game away in the fourth quarter. But no, McCown fumbled the football while trying to throw it away on a sack. Luck Kuechly picked up the loose ball and rumbled home for a touchdown to give the Panthers the lead back at 26-20.

4) Special Teams: The Jets gave up an inexcusable, 60-yard punt return to Kaelin Clay to blow the game open. There is not much more that needs to be said there.

5) Play-calling: As I addressed earlier with regard to the Jets decision to not go for it on fourth and one at the Panthers 13, the Jets play-calling at the Panthers 1-yard line, when still trailing 18-17 was absolutely inexcusable. Instead of running the football up the gut with either Bilal Powell or Matt Forte, the Jets decided to pull plays out of Pete Carroll's playbook. Three plays on the one yard line, all three passes. What in the heck was that? And even after the Jets got hosed on the Austin Seferian Jenkins touchdown that wasn't, they still tried to throw into the end zone. Why wasn't Todd Bowles telling his offensive coordinator to run the ball? Another poor example of Bowles prowess as a head coach, and his lack of understanding of the moment.

5) The officials just hate the Jets: Ok, even as the Jets did everything in their power to lose this game, and succeeded in doing so, the one play a lot people will remember is the Austin Seferian Jenkins touchdown that wasn't. Wait, you mean the one from the Patriots game? Nope, this was a whole new episode of Replay Madness at the Meadowlands. On second and goal from the one yard line, McCown heaved a pass toward the corner of the end zone that Jenkins caught with his fingers and brought into his body for the touchdown. Jenkins rolled on his back with the ball pressed to his stomach, and the officials still called it an incompletion. That is right, even with full control of the ball, the officials called it an incompletion because of some slight movement.

Whoever is reviewing these plays in New York should be removed from his position, because he clearly isn't doing it very well. The horrible reversal marked the third time this year that Jenkins got completely jobbed by the referees on a touchdown catch. While the catch in the Patriots game was at least debatable, there was no debate that Jenkins had a touchdown on Sunday against Carolina. The NFL has to review its protocol for catches, because nobody knows what they are calling anymore.

At the end of the day, it was another horrendous loss for a football team that just doesn't know how to win. Yes, the Jets won more games this year than anyone expected, at least for those who expected 0 to 1 victory this year, but it leaves no excuse to the fact that Todd Bowles can't get this team ready to finish games off. That is a huge indictment, and one that should weigh against him when this season is over.

Giants Offense Stinks It Up on Turkey Day

REDSKINS 20 - GIANTS 10 

Don't pass the gravy to someone in a Giants jersey this Thanksgiving, they might just drop it.

The 2017 Giants have been a lot of awful things this year, but one thing is for sure this offense is just awful. Big Blue managed only seven first downs and a measly 170 yards of offense in a 20-10 meltdown in the Nations Capital on Thanksgiving night, giving their fans indigestion as the Giants record fell to 2-9. More importantly they wasted a tremendous effort from the defense that gave this woebegone football team a shot to avoid total humiliation. 

A lot of Giants fans have been quick to blame Eli Manning for this debacle of a season, even rooting for the Giants to lose out so they can get their hands on one of the over-hyped California quarterbacks coming out of next year's draft. But here are some cold hard facts on this chilly November night. This is not Eli's fault. And Thursday night's 20-10 loss wasn't his fault at all. 

Yes, Manning had only 77 yards passing before he hit Tavarres King on a 27-yard pass in the final minute of the game. And yes, he was sacked four times. But the fact is Manning threw 27 passes on Thursday night and only 13 of them were complete. Why? Because his corps of young receivers couldn't hold onto the football if their lives depended on it. And when they weren't dropping catchable passes, they read the wrong route and Manning missed them entirely. It was the same comedy of errors that has befallen this Giants team all season; the quarterback can't get on the same page with his receivers. It should come as no surprise that Manning leads the league in dropped passes along with Derek Carr of the 4-6 Oakland Raiders and DeShone Kizer of the infamous 0-10 Cleveland Browns. 

Knowing the kind of workaholic Manning is, there is a good chance he had spent plenty of time working with the talent he has around him to get this season turned around. But talent is what the Giants lack on the offensive side of the ball.  The Giants depth at wide receiver and running back is just hideous. Manning was supposed to have Odell Beckham Jr., Brandon Marshall and Sterling Sheperd, not King and Roger Lewis. 

Evan Engram, who was supposed to be the lone savior for this passing attack with all of the above mentioned on IR, was once again non-existent with three catches for 18 yards. Engram had only one catch for six yards last week against Kansas City. What happened to this budding superstar? 

Then there is the offensive line which again failed to pass protect when it needed to, and failed to create the necessary push up front for the Giants to do anything with their running game. 

As a result, the Giants managed only 52 yards and one first down for the entire second half. 

It is hard to believe that the Giants actually had a chance Thursday night, which makes this loss that much more excruciating. For the second straight week the Giants defense played with high intensity and passion. They controlled the line of scrimmage for three quarters of the game, and were all over Kirk Cousins, who was sacked six times. Heck, the Giants led 3-0 at one point, and were even tied at three mid-way through the third quarter. 

With 2:52 to go in the third, and with Washington trying to go up two scores, embattled cornerback Janoris Jenkins stepped in front of a Cousins pass, picked it off and dashed down the sideline for a 53-yard touchdown to tie the game at 10. 

That was the only offense the Giants would see all night --- from the their defense. 

Call it a wasted opportunity. The Redskins would rebound, with Cousins engineering a nine-play, 65-yard drive in over five minutes for the go-ahead touchdown on a tight sideline pass to Josh Doctson to make it 17-10. After the Giants turned the ball over on downs when Manning was sacked on a critical fourth down, the Skins put the game on ice with a short field goal to make it 20-10. 

Just like that the Giants were heading home on a cold Thanksgiving at 2-9. With a season in total disarray every time a player in a Giants uniform steps on the field they are getting a shot to prove they belong here long term. And with each passing week, they continue to prove that the Giants must have a complete overhaul come January. 

Open Mike's NFL Picks for Week 11

Mara and Tisch to Keep McAdoo ... for now

The New York Giants will keep Ben McAdoo around as head coach of the football team.  The Giants are 1-8 and starring at a likely top-5 pick in next spring's NFL draft. The Giants could also be looking at the worst season in franchise history. As poorly as the Giants have played this season, it is not enough for  the Giants to fire McAdoo now.

Plus, this is a franchise that has never liked the idea of firing coaches in-season. They let Ray Handley, Dan Reeves and Jim Fassel all twist in the wind during their final seasons in New York. It will happen again here with McAdoo. The only way the Giants part ways with him is if this team gets totally embarrassed before the end of the month.

Here is the statement below.

Ben McAdoo is our head coach and has our support," the statement reads. "We are in the midst of an extremely disappointing season. Our performance this year, particularly the past two weeks, is inexcusable and frustrating. While we appreciate that our fans are unhappy with what has occurred, nobody is more upset than we are.

“Our plan is to do what we have always done, which is to not offer a running commentary on the season. It is our responsibility to determine the reasons for our poor performance and at the end of the year, we will evaluate the 2017 season in its entirety and make a determination on how we move forward.” 

Ben McAdoo Job At Risk After Giants Plunge to 1-8

49ERS 31 - GIANTS 21 

Put a fork in em. Ben McAdoo's tenure as Giants head coach might be over tonight. In fact, by the time we all wake up Monday morning McAdoo might be cleaning out his office at the Giants Timex Center. Losing is one thing. Losing to a winless 49ers team with C.J. Beathard at quarterback is quiet another.

The Giants once again looked like a team that didn't care. Down 17-13 in the third quarter they played like a team that quit on their coach when he needed them to play at their very best. All of sudden the Giants forgot how to tackle as Beathard did as pleased for most of the day. Later in the third, he sliced and diced the Giants on an 11-play, 61-yard drive that culminated in an 11-yard touchdown run by Beathard himself to give the Niners a 24-13 lead.

Now it was starting to feel like the game was escaping from the Giants. A three-and-out was quickly followed by another Niners score, this one on a 33-yard rush by Matt Berida, who went untouched into the end zone for the score to push San Fran to a 31-13 lead.

Overall the Giants allowed Beathard to tear them apart for 288 yards and two touchdowns through the air. Moreover, Big Blue allowed 186 yards on the ground to a Niners team that was ranked 21st in the NFL in rushing yards. Just embarrassing. Just humiliating.

Want to blame Eli Manning? Go ahead. All he did was throw for 273 yards and two touchdowns inspite of the fact that the team was imploding around him. Yes, Eli had a bad fumble early in the game, but the guy is not the reason this team is playing like a bunch of quitters. He's the only out there trying.

But it doesn't matter who was and who wasn't putting forth the effort on Sunday, because McAoo's time is likely finished.

Principal Owner John Mara was seen pacing back and forth in the owners box. A large scowl could be seen on his face -- as he looked more frustrated than anyone. The Giants are not used to being in this position. Heck when given the chance to fire the likes of Ray Handley and Dan Reeeves, the Giants let them finish out the season first. Firing coaches in season is not the Giants way of business.

But that might change this time. McAdoo is totally lost. He can't motivate his team, his players hate him and bash him in the papers. When asked about Sunday's loss all McAdoo could muster was that he was out-coached and it is time to move on to Kansas City. You're no Bill Belichick, Ben. Give it up.

McAdoo's arrogant personality;
his abrasive way of dealing with players and the media might force Mara and Steve Tisch to make a call they normally don't like making, unless they made that call on the flight back from San Francisco.

If the Giants are to move on from McAdoo after a 1-8 start to the season, who will take over? Steve Spagnoulu has the coaching experience when he was with the then St. Louis Rams, but his defense has been horrible. One could argue that Spags should be fired along with McAdoo. Still, he's the most likely to finish out the string.

Mike Sullivan the offensive coordinator is another possibility. He's been mostly an assistant coach in his career, and has spent all but two years of the past 13 seasons in New York. He jumpstarted the team to its first win when he started calling the offense. Perhaps Sullivan is deserving of taking the reigns should McAdoo be dismissed Monday morning.

We'll find out soon enough.

Bowles back on Hot Seat after Jets meltdown in Tampa Bay

BUCCANEERS 15 - JETS 10

Embarrassing is about the only word that can best describe the Jets 15-10 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.

Inexcusable is another one. It is ironic that in a season where there were next to no expectations for the Jets this season, the one week where the Jets actually were expected to win and put themselves firmly in the playoff picture they spit the bit, playing every bit like the team everyone thought would be 1-15 this season.

The Jets played scared and careless on Sunday in Tampa Bay. They made a Buccaneers defense that is ranked 28th in the entire NFL shut them down over 60 minutes of football sans a Robbie Anderson 38-yard touchdown in garbage time.

While the score was 15-10, it wasn't even that close. It was really 15-3, and had the Buccaneers been piloted by Jamies Winston instead of ex-Jet flameout Ryan Fitzpatrick, it would have been more like 35-3.

The Jets stunk. The Jets offensive line couldn't create any holes for a ground game that was grounded, and held to just 56-yards on 19 carries. That is 2.9 yards per carry in case you were wondering. The offensive line couldn't even block, as Josh McCown was treated like a rag doll by his former teammates who sacked him six times and hit him over a dozen more.

This is not to say that McCown is blameless in the Jets loss. He wasn't accurate with his throws, and tossed a horrific interception in the second quarter; a few of the sacks he took were his fault. But consider this was a Tampa Bay front seven that had only eight sacks in nine games coming in, had six on Sunday, the Jets should be embarrassed.

Furthermore, for the Jets to allow Fitzpatrick to do just enough to beat them was a disgrace in itself. While Fitz wasn't good, he was accurate when he needed to be. He was nearly perfect on a 17-play drive in the first quarter that ended in the Bucs first field goal of the day. Later in the game, with the Bucs clinging to a 9-3 lead, he engineered a 15-play, 81-yard drive that ate up seven and a half minutes for Tampa's lone touchdown to make it 15-3 with 6:05 to go in the game.

Fitzpatrick wasn't spectacular, but he was better than McCown and that is all that matters.

The Jets hideous performance Sunday should rest at the feet of their head coach Todd Bowles, who once again showed why he may not be the right guy to lead this team when the stakes are high. The Jets were unprepared; they acted like a team that had arrived all week, and were falling in love with their press clippings of being an overachieving underdog.

Heck, there was even talk just a week ago that Bowles wold be a coach of the year candidate. Now, it is worth asking if Bowles will still have a job in seven weeks.

Yes, the Jets offensive game plan was horrible, they didn't adjust and that is certainly at the fault of offensive coordinator John Morton. But who is the one who should be overseeing all of those decisions? Bowles. Not only did Bowles look disinterested on the sideline, his inability to take responsibility for this team's preparation speaks volumes.

And yes, Bowles did get something out of this team this season. They showed signs of life that they didn't show at all last season, and he united this locker room for the first time since he got here. But the fact is the Jets have to ask themselves at the end of the season, is Todd Bowles the right man for the job in the longterm. Sunday's loss doesn't help.

The Jets came into this game knowing full well a win put them at .500 going into the bye week. Now they stand at 4-6; their highly unlikely shot at the playoffs are now dashed. The Jets should stop kidding themselves and start looking toward 2018 and the draft. That means benching McCown and giving Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg three games a piece to prove who should still be here when the Jets do in fact sign or draft their "franchise quarterback" in the off-season.

The Jets season is over. Let the evaluation process begin to determine what fate awaits Bowles, McCown and the rest of this football team moving forward.

Cohen's Corner Week 10 NFL Picks

Ben McAdoo Era Must End After Gutless Effort Against Rams

RAMS 51 - GIANTS 17 

The Giants played like a team that didn't care. If that isn't an indictment of head coach Ben McAdoo, I don't know what is. The Giants were totally outplayed, outclassed and out-everything as the Rams blew away the Giants 51-17, in one of the most lopsided losses in Giants history.

Think of it this way, it was the worst loss by the Giants at home since 1964 when they got blown out by the Cleveland Browns 52-21 at Yankee Stadium. The lasts time Big Blue gave up 50 points in a game, you'd have to go back to 1999 when the Giants got blown away by Brad Johnson and the Washington Redskins 50-21.

That is how epically and historically bad Sunday's effort was.

Perhaps the biggest microcosm of the day came with the Rams facing a third and 33 from their own 48 yard-line. Rams quarterback Jared Goff dumped off a pass to Robert Woods in the flat on a simple bubble screen, and the wide out did the rest breezing by defenders like a hot knife through butter on his way to the end zone to give the Rams a 17-7 lead with 9:26 to go in the second quarter. That's right, a team not only converted on a third and 33, they scored a touchdown on the same play.

Like I said the Giants played like they didn't care. Before anyone could blink it was 34-10 after Goff led a seven play, 75-yard drive to get Los Angeles into the end zone again to start the third quarter. Blink again and it was 48-10.

There is plenty of blame to go around. The defense showed absolutely no effort against one of the top offenses in the NFL. Eli Manning was dreadful, overthrowing receivers and turning the ball over on multiple possessions. But, the one man who deserves all the blame for 51-17 is head coach Ben McAdoo. The same Ben McAdoo who said that the Giants had a great week of practice leading up to this game.

Most coaches are supposed to have the pulse of their team. McAdoo doesn't know what a pulse is if it hit him in the face and laughed. The Giants had a bye week before this game, more than two weeks to correct the ills of a 1-6 start and get the second half of the season on the right foot. Instead the Giants looked unprepared and unmotivated. What's more this was a week with another distraction as McAdoo suspended cornerback Janoris Jenkins for conduct detrimental to the team. That's right a suspension coming out of a bye week! Jenkins is the second cornerback to be suspended by McAdoo this year, earlier in the season Dominique Rodgers Cromartie was suspended for Week 6.

Yet, McAdoo thinks he's leading great practices.

When asked about what he said to the team at halftime of Sunday's meltdown, McAdoo was speechless. So much for being the fearless leader of the New York Giants.

Later in his post-game presser, McAdoo threw the entire team under the bus, suggesting that he would begin evaluating all the players to see which young players can contribute. When asked if Eli Manning was included in that evaluation, McAdoo emphasized "everybody." When asked about his coaches comments, Manning said he wanted to play. Yes, even Manning has had his issues with McAdoo this season. Sunday was the second time that the head coach and quarterback have publicly gone at it.

While Manning isn't blameless for the Giants 1-7 start to the season, it isn't all his fault. He has a skeleton of a football team around him, starting with a horrendous offensive line and ground attack. I am sure Manning wishes he was in a time machine to 2011 when he had Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw in his backfield. That was only six years ago, but it feels like a century ago with the way this 2017 version has played this season.

If the writing isn't on the wall now for owners John Mara and Steve Tish, it has to be soon. While a lot of fans wouldn't mind seeing the team tank the rest of the season to get a high draft pick, the goal of the franchise should be to win as many games as possible to avoid being in the conversation with the Browns and 49ers as one of the worst teams in football. If the Giants have any humility in them, they would fire McAdoo now, tonight, immediately. He should not be allowed to coach another practice or another game for that matter.

The Giants need to move on from McAdoo, they might as well get a head start on the coaching search before someone else does.

Jets Rumble Past Buffalo on Thursday Night

JETS 34 - BILLS 21

Behind a strong running game and suffocating defense, the Jets finally figured out how to close a game on Thursday against their division foes, the Buffalo Bills by the tune of 34-21.

In all honesty though it really was never that close. Gang Green had a lead as large as 34-7 mid-way through the fourth quarter before Buffalo scored a couple of garbage time touchdowns to make the final score look good.

Still the Jets sit at 4-5, well beyond anyone's expectations for this season, and with the way this team battles and competes every week it is hard not to think that the 2017 Jets could end up 8-8, or dare I say, 9-7. What a miracle that would be considering the talent on this team is not at an elite level.

Quarterback Josh McCown was solid again for the Jets. While his numbers didn't jump off the page, he threw for only 140 yards, he was deadly accurate, completing 70 percent of his passes, and, he continues to show why he is the perfect leader for this ball club. McCown isn't flashy, but the man gets this Jets offense and he has done a fine job making all the pieces come together.

The Jets wanted a quarterback who could help develop some of the young talent on this team, and McCown has done that. Early in the contest when a play wasn't available to him, McCown took off a ran for a 10-yard score to give the Jets a 7-0 lead. Coming out of the half with New York already leading 10-7, McCown dropped a dime to Robby Anderson from 25-yards out for a touchdown to give the Jets a 17-7 lead. The touchdown was the third straight game in which Anderson has hauled in a long touchdown score from McCown. Those two are clicking right now.

But beyond McCown's efforts, Thursday's win was all about the defense and running game. The Jets defense manhandled Tyrod Taylor, sacking him seven times, and forcing two fumbles. One of the fumbles was picked up Demario Davis at the Buffalo 10-yard line, which would turn into a Matt Forte touchdown just a couple of plays later to give New York a 31-7 lead. The seven sacks of Taylor were the most the Jets had on an opposing quarterback all season. The unit had been much maligned for its inability to get to the quarterback all season, that was not an issue on Thursday. The Jets truly exposed the Bills as a complete fraud from the quarterback to the offensive line.

Meanwhile, Forte got his wish. After the Jets disappointing 25-20 loss to the Falcons last week, he told the media, and offensive coordinator John Morton that he wanted the ball. The Jets fed him the damn ball on Thursday, and the former Pro-Bowler had his best game of the season, rushing for 77 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns. Even Bilal Powell, who had been M.I.A. over the past number of weeks made an appearance Thursday. He gashed the Bills on a handful of big runs, including one that went for 51 yards. Powell finished with 74 yards on nine carries.

The victory now gives the Jets two wins in the division. With some extra time to prepare for their next game in Tampa Bay next weekend, the remaining schedule for the Jets is indeed daunting, but with the way this team has played of late, nothing is impossible for them. That is just the way Todd Bowles had drawn it up all year. Give the man credit, he said he would change the culture of the team, and the man -- thus far -- has succeeded.

Astros Earn History, Capture 1st Ever World Series Title

ASTROS 5 - DODGERS 1
HOU Wins World Series 4-3

Well, Sports Illustrated got it right three years ago. The 2017 Houston Astros are indeed Wold Champions.

The incredible Astros squad that captured the imagination of the country with their gritty style of play during the early stages of this Fall Classic, earned their place  in history with a dominant 5-1 win over the Dodgers in Game 7. A series with so many highs and lows, and plenty of offense in between, it was fitting that Game 7 went back to the games roots, pitching.

It was the clever managing of Astros skipper A.J. Hinch, combined with a solid effort out of the Astros pen that delivered the first ever baseball world title to the city of Houston, a city that just eleven weeks ago was devastated by Hurricane Harvey.

Coming into Game 7, the Astros had a team ERA over 4.5 in the postseason. While Justin Verlander had been brilliant all month, the same couldn't be said for the rest of the Astros pitching staff, particularly the bullpen, but that all changed on Wednesday.

Right from the get-go, the Astros made it clear they would not be denied their place among baseball's greatest teams. George Springer, who had been at the forefront of the Astros rebuild four years ago, got the game started with a hard double down the left field line on the third pitch of the game by Yu Darvish. Springer would later score when Darvish was late to first base on a grounder by Alex Bregman to put Houston on top 1-0.

With momentum on their side, Bregman caught everyone by surprise when he stole third base; he would eventually score on Jose Altuve's soft grounder to the right side to make it 2-0.

Houston was not done playing small ball in the seventh game of a series where they dominated with the long ball.  A lead-off walk to Brian McCann and a double by Marwin Gonzalez was soon followed by a RBI groundout by pitcher Lance McCullers to make it 3-0. Finally, Springer reminded the Dodgers why he is the World Series MVP when he smoked a Darvish fastball into the bleachers in left-center field to make it 5-0.

Springer, who was 2-for-5 in Game 7, absolutely owned the Dodgers in the World Series. He hit .379 with an OPS of 1.471 in the seven game series. Five of his six post-season home runs and seven of his nine post-season RBIs came in this series against the Dodgers. Springer earned the Chevy truck.

Meanwhile, Game 7 starter Lance McCullers really didn't have good stuff. He wasn't giving up any runs, but hit four batters in two-and-a-third innings of work. With a 5-run lead in the third inning, Hinch wasn't going to fool around and wait for McCullers to get on track, not now in the final game of the season with everything on the line.

Hinch went right to the pen and brought out his best reliever, Bradley Peacock, who proceeded to jam Yasil Puig on a fly out to center, and struck out Joc Pederson swinging on a wicked curve ball to get out of danger in the third.

A series that had once been a display of two teams out-muscling each other with home runs, had now turned into a chess match between Hinch and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. Hinch knew that Roberts was going to use Clayton Kershaw in this game, and predictably the Dodgers ace came in to settle things down in the third inning, giving Roberts and LA four shutout innings of work. But Hinch was the one who gambled correctly each time.

Peacock gave the Astros two shutout innings, before Hinch gave the ball to Francisco Lirano in a tight jam in the bottom of the fifth against Cody Bellinger. After Liriano got Bellinger on a ground out, Hinch went back to his pen and brought out Chris Devenski, who was able to retire Puig on a hard liner to first.

Fastforward to the bottom of the sixth, and Hinch rolled the dice again, bringing out Charlie Morton who hadn't pitched since Game 4 in Houston. Most would think that Hinch would use Morton for only an inning or two before going to Dallas Kuechle and Justin Verlander to close it out. But, no, Hinch trusted his guy, even inspite of the fact that Morton gave up a RBI single to Andre Either in the sixth inning. And Morton rewarded his manager's confidence. He would retire the Dodgers in order in each of the final three innings of this ballgame, becoming more and more dominant with each pitch. The ninth inning alone, Morton needed only nine pitches. The final out he got on just one pitch.

The Astros poured out of the dugout onto the field to join in the celebration. 55 years in the making for the city of Houston, and for the Astros front office, it was five years in the making since the club's move to the American League West. It was worth the wait and all the losing, because now, anybody who talks about the Astros will refer to them as World Champions. And with so many young guys under control, they might be there for a while.