COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

The NFL playoffs are now set after a wild NFL Sunday that was highlighted by the Buffalo Bills return to the postseason. The Bills have not been playoff bound since 1999 when Doug Flutie and Rob Johnson were battling for the starting job in Buffalo. Heck, Bill Clinton was still president, and Bill Belichick was with the Jets when the Bills last made into serious January football. The Bills got into the postseason thanks to a 22-16 win over the Miami Dolphins and a stunning 31-27 victory by the Cincinnati Bengals over the Baltimore Ravens. The Tennessee Titans also made the playoffs with a 15-10 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Bills, Titans and Jaguars are all in the AFC playoff picture for the first time since that aforementioned 1999 season. Of course we all know what happened the last time the Bills were in the playoffs ... Here is how the playoff picture sets up. NFC 1) Eagles (13-3) clinched number 1 seed and home field. 2) Vikings (13-3) Number 2 seed, w...

PATRIOTS 26 - JETS 6  Guess Todd Bowles really earned that contract extension as the Jets stunk it up with a listless effort against the defending Super Bowl champions to end the regular season. Bowles, who was given a two-year extension on Friday, watched as Bryce Petty failed to move a bad offense and never once thought about putting Christian Hackenberg into the game. As it stands, the Jets learned nothing about the quarterback they drafted in the second round two years ago. Bowels decision to not play Hackenberg is a huge indictment of what the coaching staff thinks of the signal-caller. As for Petty he was bad. Inaccurate, inconsistent and inaccurate (I just said that). You get the point. Outside of a nice 46-yard pass to ArDarious Stewart, Petty was Captain Checkdown for the Jets, as New York managed only 14 first downs and failed to convert a single third down, going 0-for-12. The Jets haven't been shutout on third down in a game since 1996, A.K.A. The Rich Kotite Era....

GIANTS 18 - REDSKINS 10 In what could be the final time Eli Manning suits up for the New York Giants, Big Blue dominated the Redskins 18-10 at the Meadowlands among cheers of "ELI MANNING" from those who braved the bitterly cold conditions. The numbers didn't jump off the page for Eli. He was 10-of-28 for 132 yards, and was hurt by seven drops by his receivers, but Sunday's win was an affirmation that Manning is still the straw that stirs the drink for the Giants. He kept the team afloat, and managed the game to the best of his ability, considering the lack of talent around him. The biggest difference in the Giants 18-10 win Sunday was Orleans Darkwa and the ground game. For an entire season, the Giants have struggled to run the football. Sunday was different. On the second play of the game, Darkwa gashed the Redskins with a 75-yard touchdown run that gave the Giants a 6-0 lead and set the tone for the afternoon. Darkwa would carry the ball 20 times for 154 yard...

With Dave Gettleman now set as the Giants new General Manager, the search for Big Blue's next head coach begins in earnest. There are a number of potential candidates, and the Giants look poised to fill the position as soon as they can. Jim Schwartz - Defensive Coordinator, Philadelphia Eagles. Schwartz is the favorite for the job ... at least right now. He has done a great job rebuilding his resume in recent years as the D-Coordinator for both the Bills and Eagles. This season, the Eagles are ranked second in yards and points allowed. Schwartz has the head coaching experience that the Giants are looking for having coached the Lions for five seasons. While he is 29-51 all time as a head coach, the Lions were a better watch then they had been in the past, the team even made the playoffs in Schwartz's third season. Steve Wilks - Defensive Coordinator, Carolina Panthers. Wilks has been with the Panthers since 2012 and is very familiar with Gettleman. In fact, the Giants GM ...

Todd Bowles received a surprising extension from the New York Jets, while Dave Gettleman was introduced as Giants GM. Plus, NFL Playoffs are right around the corner. Listen to the podcast below!

Dave Gettleman was introduced to the Big Blue Nation for the first time as General Manager on Friday. He was candid, personable and honest in his answers. He came across as a someone who fits the Giants mold, which is exactly what John Mara was looking for in a leader of the franchise. Here is the press conference! 

The Giants will name David Gettleman as their new General Manager, a move that is not really surprising since he had 15 years of experience in the Giants front office prior to taking the Carolina GM job in 2013. It was presumed that once the Giants let go of Jerry Reese that Gettleman would be the favorite for the job. Under Gettleman the Panthers went 40-23-1, including an appearance in Super Bowl 50. Gettleman was fired in July of 2017 after an contentious relationship with a number of aging players over contracts. Prior to running the Panthers, Gettleman was the head of the Giants Pro Personnel department from 1998 to 2012, and was a part of three different Super Bowl runs with Big Blue. The questions that face Gettleman are manifold. 1) He needs to find a new head coach for the team. Many speculate that Mike Smith, the former Atlanta Falcons head coach would be a favorite for the job, but we shall see. Does Gettleman prefer to go the safe route, like Smith, or is he willin...

For an entire football season the New York Giants have been the team with speculation surrounding the fate of their head coach Ben McAdoo. Now, with just one week left in the 2017 regular season, all of the attention is now on Jets head coach Todd Bowles. Will Bowles join McAdoo in the unemployment line in a couple of days? Will Bowles make the decision for  them and bolt for the Arizona Cardinals? Ask the media in New York, and the consensus is that Bowles will be back with the Jets in 2018. As the New York Post indicated a few weeks back, the Jets set a low bar for Bowles this season, where he would not be judged by wins and losses, but rather on the improvement of the team. To some the Jets coach has done enough. The Jets have been competitive -- for the most part -- in most of their games. They had a chance to win a number of them, which they blew in the fourth quarter. The team also found some quality young talent in guys like Robbie Anderson, Marcus Maye and Jamal Adams. ...

The Mets continue to turn their off-season into a three ring circus. The team announced that former General Manager Omar Minaya will return to the franchise as a special assistant to current GM, Sandy Alderson. Minaya's job will be to revitalize the Mets scouting department which has taken a lot of hits since he was fired by the Mets in 2010. Remember it was Minaya who found guys like Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom, not Alderson. If you think that this means Alderson is on the hot seat, think again. Anderson signed an extension earlier this week with the Amazin's. So the Mets, who have done absolutely nothing this off-season, have made more moves in the front office than they have in signing players. Should be very interesting to see Minaya work alongside Alderson, the man who took Minaya's job eight years ago. On a side note, Fred Wilpon is "IRATE" t hat the Yankees made a deal with the Marlins to get Giancarlo Stanton. In a case of some serious sour grape...

The Yankees are nearing a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates for their ace, Gerrit Cole. Word around baseball is the Yankees have pulled their top infield prospect Gleyber Torres off the table and the Pirates, after much reluctance have agreed to that part of the deal. Instead the Yankees are said to include a package that will contain outfielder Clint Fraizer to Pittsburgh to obtain Cole. Now, Friazer was a valuable prospect for the Yankees last season. He had four homers and 17 RBI in 39 games for New York last season, providing a nice spark in the middle of the season. Still with Giancarlo Stanton in the fold, the Yankees feel that Fraizer is expendable. The Yankees could include reliever Chance Adams and prospect Miguel Andujar in the deal for Cole, which could also include second baseman Josh Harrison coming to the Bronx as well. Now, this is a gamble for the Yankees. Andujar is ranked fifth among the Yankees top 10 prospects, and he plays a position of need for the Yankees. I...

Aside from twiddling their thumbs, the question remains for the Mets this off-season is when will they make a significant move to improve this baseball team? It has been the question that has plagued Mets fans for weeks. As has become pretty commonplace for the Mets, they have watched other teams wheel and deal during the Winter Meetings while they stand pat, waiting for the tide to come in. Sure, they signed veteran right-hander Anthony Swarzak to bolster their bullpen, and gave General Manager Sandy Alderson a contract extension for an “unspecified” amount of time, but the fact is this is an organization that has been frugal in its approach thus far this off-season. Bottom line, the Wilpon’s do not want to spend big bucks, period. If anyone is upset that the team didn’t pursue Giancarolo Stanton before he was dealt to the Yankees. 1) Stanton had a no-trade clause, and he probably wouldn’t have approved a deal to play for a potential last place team in the Mets to be...

No video this time on the NFL picks, so I am going to straight up write it up right here on the Cohen's Corner blog. So without further adieu let's dive into this week's big games! Saturday: Bears (4-9) @ Lions (7-6): It's become a disappointing season for the Lions. With Aaron Rodgers having missed more than half the season, 2017 will be remembered as a missed opportunity for Detroit to jump to the top of the standings. Instead Detroit fell on its own sword three weeks ago when they lost to Minnesota on Thanksgiving Day. The Lions have been awful at home, posting a 2-4 record and really need a win to stay alive in the wild card race. The Bears have played hard all season, but John Fox is going to be fired regardless on January 1. PICK: LIONS 31, BEARS 23.  Chargers (7-6) @ Chiefs (7-6): Everyone is on the Chargers bandwagon so much that they are a one point favorite on the road in K.C. Let's be honest both teams have been going in opposite directions for so...

The Yankees have been the talk of the baseball world with their acquisition of Giancarlo Stanton from the Marlins, and rumors they are trying to get Pittsburgh's Gerritt Cole and/or Baltimore's Manny Machado. I talk to sportswriter Doug Rush about the latest takes. Listen live below!

Matt Harvey's days in New York might be numbered. The Mets are busy looking to trade the troubled starting pitcher to a couple of teams during the Winter Meetings, with sources saying those two teams are the Orioles and Rangers. The Rangers rumor had some legs today. There was a story that the Mets would trade Harvey to Texas for left fielder Jurickson Profar, however Jon Hayman reported that the Rangers don't like the deal. Harvey is due to be a free agent at the end of the year likely complicating things. But just the fact that the Mets would be willing to trade for Profar, a guy who has a .229 career batting average and a .309 on base percentage says everything you need to know about Harvey's status with the Mets. The Mets don't even care that his value is at an all time low, they want him gone no matter what. Make no mistake Harvey was awful last year, especially when he returned from the disabled listed and pitched to an ERA of 11.25 in six games. Not only ...

The Yankees fooled us all. Nobody expected the Yankees to be in play for Giancarlo Stanton, the reigning National League MVP, who lead all of Major League Baseball in home runs with 59. But during the weekend the Yankees did acquire Stanton, not because they needed him, but rather because they could do it.  The Yankees had spent a better part of the last couple of seasons convincing us all that they were done with long term contracts that pay out huge amounts of money to star athletes. We thought lessons were learned after the monstrous contracts that were handed down over the years to guys like Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixiera and CC Sabathia. We though the Yankees were going to turn back the clock to the 1990s by winning a championship with a young corps of home grown talent.  After the dust settled Monday afternoon with Stanton's press conference, it is clear the Yankees are still going to rely on their young talent to take them all the way. But, they will tr...

BRONCOS 23 - JETS 0  It is ironic and fitting in so many ways that on the same week that Todd Bowles announced that Josh McCown would be his starting quarterback for the rest of this season, McCown brakes his non-throwing hand and will likely miss the rest of the season. Jets fans clamoring for Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg finally get their wish. While McCown proved to be a gamer this season, and it is sad to see a good guy go out like this, it might be the best thing to happen to the Jets, since we will finally see what the two kids have after sitting on the pine all season. Now is the chance for the Jets to officially end the dilly dally of going with mediocre, never-was and never-will-be quarterbacks and find out if either Petty or Hackenberg has something to offer in 2018. And if not, they can position themselves to get a true franchise quarterback in the draft. Now is the time. The Jets quarterback problem was on full display Sunday in Denver, as was the i...

COWBOYS 30 - GIANTS 10  At least for three quarters the Giants showed some life. Of course effort by itself is not enough to win ball games, and that was the case Sunday at MetLife Stadium as the Cowboys stormed past the Giants 30-10 to send Big Blue to a 2-11 record. At the very least the Giants gave a better effort than they had in 11 games under Ben McAdoo this season. Back in the lineup since the infamous benching that cost McAdoo his job, Eli Manning was good, at least for part of the day. He engineered a 17-play, 62-yard drive that culminated in a field goal to tie the game at three in the first quarter. Later on, he looked like the Eli Manning of old when he dropped a dime in the hands of Evan Engram for a 35-yard completion to the Dallas 21 on a drive that ended in a Manning touchdown pass to Rhett Ellison. With just two minutes to go before halftime the Giants held a 10-3 lead. But what started out as a hopeful sign that the Giants would turn things around in just ...

The fallout from the Giants decision to fire both Head Coach Ben McAdoo and General Manager Jerry Reese continues to develop as the hours pass on this first Monday in December. What we know so far: Kevin Abrams will replace Reese as the team's GM on an interim basis. Like Reese, Abrams has been in the Giants organization for a very long time, having served as the clubs assistant general manager for the past 16 years. Abrams has been the Giants primary negotiator for player contracts, works with college and pro personal departments to evaluate players in preparation for the draft. Who knows what kind of responsibility he will have beyond putting on a good face for the next four weeks as the team looks for a permanent replacement. Giants owner John Mara did say that he would consider Abrams for the job, but is looking outside the organization.  Erine Accorsi, the Giants former general manger will be involved in the Giants search for a new top footba...

The Giants have officially dropped the anvil on Ben McAdoo and General Manager Jerry Reese. Both were fired Monday morning just hours after the Giants returned home from their disastrous 24-17 loss to the Raiders on Sunday. The firing is not surprising, it was just a matter of time, especially after reports surfaced on Sunday that the Giants were planning to make the change within 24 hours after their game. The final straw for owner John Mara was the benching of Eli Manning, a clear power play by both McAdoo and Reese to prove they can win games without the former Super Bowl MVP. Instead, what the dynamic duo of duchebagdom didn't realize is how popular Manning is. A huge groundswell of anger rose out of the benching from fans, media and current and former players that it became obvious that McAdoo didn't have much time left. McAdoo, who went 13-15 as a head coach over nearly two years at the helm becomes the first in-season firing by the Giants since 1976. At 2-10 it had...

RAIDERS 24 - GIANTS 17  The clock is now ticking on Giants head coach Ben McAdoo. The embattled coach is in danger of losing his job possibly today after the Giants return home from their 24-17 loss to the Oakland Raiders. The Giants had no answer for Oakland, especially in crunch time. But this game was really all about the play of Geno Smith, who was given the start at quarteraback after McAdoo benched Eli Manning. Geno was Geno on Sunday. He was ok sometimes, but mostly unspectacular and uninspiring most of the time. He was 21-of-34 for only 212 yards, a touchdown and three sacks. He was not good. Of the 12 possessions the Giants had on Sunday, seven of them were three and two. Two of them ended in a fumble. What made it even more frustrating to watch, the Giants were within shouting distance in this game almost all afternoon. They trailed 10-7 at the half, and even trailed 17-14 as late as the fourth quarter, but Smith just couldn't get this offense moving. That is on McA...