Giants Can't Overcome Mistakes in Loss to Saints

SAINTS 33 - GIANTS 18

It was too much Drew Brees, way too much Alvin Kamara, and even way too much Saints D for the New York Giants on Sunday at MetLife Stadium as Big Blue dropped to 1-3 on the season after a disheartening 33-18 loss to the New Orleans Saints.

The Saints grinded out the Giants over the course of 60 minutes, and New York had no answer for every punch the Saints threw at them. Even when New Orleans kept inviting the G-Men into the ball game with four consecutive field goals to take a 12-7 lead at the half, the Giants couldn't get over the hump.

Big Blue beat themselves Sunday, it is as simple as that.

When the Giants had the Saints down and out, New Orleans faked a punt as Taysom Hill hit Justin Hardee for a 10-yard gain to keep the drive alive. New Orleans would get a field goal to cut the Giants lead down to 7-3.

When the Giants were moving the ball toward midfield with 4:45 to play before the half, still leading 7-6, Wayne Gallman fumbled the ball back into the hands of the Saints. New Orleans converted another field goal to make it 9-7, Saints.

It was just that kind of day for the Giants. After New York scored a touchdown on its opening drive, they amassed only 42 net yards over their next five possessions.  That's not going to get it done.

Once the Giants thought they had the Saints right where they wanted them, trailing by a score of 19-10 with a whole quarter to play, they quickly realized, rather, the Saints had them instead.

A 14-play, 74-yard drive engineered by Brees, culminated in a 4-yard plunge by Alvin Kamara that broke the game open at 26-10.

Still the Giants fought back. In what turned out to be the Giants best drive of the day, Eli Manning completed seven of nine passes to move the Giants to the New Orleans goalline with roughly four minutes to play. Wasting no time, Saquon Barkley dove into the end zone for the score, and Manning hit Sterling Shepherd for the two point conversion to give Big Blue life down 26-18.

But as was the case all day, the Giants couldn't hold down New Orleans. On first and ten from the Giants 49, Kamara shook a couple of defenders and sprinted down the sideline for a 49-yard touchdown to blow the game totally out of reach with less than two minutes to go.

At 1-3, the Giants have nobody to blame but themselves.

Jaguars Slap Around Pathetic Jets

JAGUARS 31 - JETS 12 

The Jets looked every bit the part of a rebuilding, undisciplined football team against a Super Bowl contender in the Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday as the Jags pounded the Jets 31-12 to send Gang Green to 1-3.  

The game was a complete miss-match as the Jaguars toyed with the Jets from pillar to post.  In fact, the game felt over as soon as Jacksonville opened the scoring with a Josh Lambo field goal that completed a long opening drive that ate up eight and a half minutes.

There were no adjustments by the Jets coaching staff, no fight by the players, and no chance. After a week where Todd Bowles got racked over the coals by fans for not preparing his football team for the Baker Mayfield factor last week in Cleveland, his defense couldn’t slow down Blake Bortles on Sunday.

Bortles had one of the best games of his career, completing 29-of-38 for a career high 388 yards passing and two touchdowns. At one point Bortles was 16-of-17 going into halftime, with his only incompletion coming on a throw away.

Overall, Jacksonville rolled up 503 yards on the Jets, and held the football for nearly 40 minutes. To add insult to injury, Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone decided to stick it to the Jets when he scored a last second touchdown with the game well in hand. 

As Leonard Williams said during his post game comments, “If teams are disrespecting us, it must say something about us.”

It certainly did on Sunday.

Anyone hoping for Jets offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates to be more creative against the Jaguars, could forget as soon as the Jets first possession of the game.

Offensively, the Jets never got anything going.

Of their first seven possessions the Jets gave up a safety, punted four times and were turned over on downs twice. By the time New York finally scored, the game was pretty much well in hand at 18-3 with less than five minutes to go in the third quarter.

Sam Darnold struggled, but a lot of that had to do with the poor execution of the offense as a whole.  Darnold spent more time running away from Calais Campbell and Malik Jackson, as the Jaguars dominated the Jets offensive line. New York couldn’t establish a running game, and Darnold’s wide receivers again failed him with key drops in big moments.

Overall, Darnold was 17-of-34 for 167 yards and a touchdown. The only positive was that he didn’t throw a pick, but there were two instances where Jalen Ramsey nearly had a couple of picks.

With each three-and-out, and each incompletion, one could see the growing concern and confusion growing on Darnold’s face. It’s up to the Jets coaching staff to help slow things down for him. Since the opener in Detroit, Darnold has completed only 53 percent of his passes, thrown two touchdowns and four interceptions. He needs help, but it just isn’t there right now.

David Wright Says Good Bye in Final MLB Game

The date was October 2, 2005. 

With the exception of the heartbreaking collapses that would come down the road in 2007 and 2008, there weren’t many Sunday afternoons in late September/early October that would make Mets fans want to sit through nine innings of a team just trying to end its season. 

There was no postseason on the horizon for the ’05 Mets, something that Mets fans grew accustomed to for five conservative seasons at this point.  But this day was different.

October 2, 2005 was Mike Piazza’s final game as a New York Met.  For someone, like myself, who was only 20 years old at the time, Piazza was on my personal Mount Rushmore of baseball icons. He gave myself, and many Mets fans, moments of joy from the various homers he hit off Roger Clemens and the Yankees to the historic homerun against the Atlanta Braves in the first game at Shea Stadium post-9/11.

Shea was rocking that day. Fans jammed the old ballpark with signs that read “Thank you Mike” and chants of “Mike Pi-az-za” that echoed through the confines of Shea Stadium from the first pitch.

It was an emotional day.

When Willie Randolph finally substituted Piazza with Mike Difelice in the top of the eighth, Piazza received a standing ovation that lasted nearly 10 minutes. It was hard to watch and there certainly wasn’t a dry eye in the house that day in Shea.

13 years later, we had that moment again.

David Wright’s career came to a sobering conclusion in front of a full house at Citi Field. Like Piazza’s final day all those years earlier, there were tears and smiles. The signs that once read “Thank you, Mike,” now read “Thank you, David.”

While Piazza’ revitalized a franchise when he first came over via a trade with the Florida Marlins in 1998, Wright was the guy who carried the torch. He along with Jose Reyes was the face of the franchise for the better part of the last decade. Even when spinal stenosis, and a bulging disc took away a fair amount of Wright’s career, he was still considered “the captain” of the Mets.

While the box score Saturday read that Wright was 0-for-1 with a walk, it didn’t really matter, because this night was both a coronation of a long and even painful road back, and a sad goodbye to memorable career.

Certainly had Wright driven in Jose Reyes in the bottom of the first inning, the upper deck probably would have collapsed with excitement, but when Mickey Callaway removed Wright from the game before the top of the fifth, allowing him to take in the moment, it was hard not to get emotional.

Wright gave a bear hug to his buddy Jose Reyes, the tears obviously welling up in both of their eyes. In 2006 when the two celebrated a National League East title, it was supposed to be the beginning of a dynasty. Instead fate had a different plan.

Wright then turned toward the dugout, looked up around him at the thousands of people who stood cheering and clapping. He smiled, and cried as he waved goodbye, hugged all of his teammates, before taking one last curtain call. Then, like Piazza did 13 years ago, Wright walked down the tunnel …  for the clubhouse … for the final time.

It’s never easy to say goodbye to our baseball heroes. Whether it is Piazza, Wright, or even Derek Jeter across town in the Bronx, they remind us who we are, who we were and where we were in our lives. When they leave, a piece of us as baseball fans leaves as well.

For the young Met fan that grew up watching David Wright, one can only imagine the tears flowing from their eyes to see their baseball hero say goodbye.

 

As I’ve told many friends before, you know you’re getting old when your favorite stars exit stage left.

Mets Trying to End 2018 Season on Right Note

With a week to go in the Major League Baseball season, the 2018 Mets have almost become an afterthought. Long forgotten in New York back pages, which have been dominated by the up-and-down Yankees and their pursuit of a wild card, NFL training camp, and the start of the regular season. Heck, even Mike Francesa’s $8.99 app got more attention the past month then the Mets.

Oddly enough, ever since the Mets suffered a four-game losing streak from July 31 to August 3, they are 29-20 since August 4. More confounding is they have lost only three series in that time span, at the Cubs from August 27-29, at the Red Sox from September 14-16 and at the Phillies from September 17-19. Two of those series losses could be to the two teams that may end up playing in the World Series next month.

Yes, the Mets have played good baseball.

It’s frustrating. Where was this when it mattered? Where was this version of Michael Conforto in June? Why wasn’t Amed Rosario at the top of the order in July? What happened to the old Zach Wheeler who’d walk the ballpark and exit after blowing a lead? Is Jeff McNeil the real deal?

Yes, as the attention of New York sports has turned to other things, the Mets have turned it on, even though it is too little, too late. While it makes Mets fans even angrier that this team figures it out now, it puts the franchise in a very interesting position heading into next season.

Guys are playing for jobs next year, and many of them are making a strong case to be significant contributors to the Mets 2019 roster.

On the pitching front, we all know what Jacob deGrom has done this year. Leading the major’s with a 1.77 ERA on a bad baseball team has been remarkable to behold. There are so many starts where deGrom pitched with little to no run support it makes one wonder what his win-loss total would be on a good team. Assuming the Mets don’t trade him in the off-season, he is going to headline a staff with Noah Synderaard and Zach Wheeler behind him.

Wheeler has been a revelation this season. It wasn’t that long ago that Wheeler was just hoping to keep a rotation spot on this team. Now he’s their third best starter. Tell me that on June 22 after he gave up four runs to the Dodgers to drop his record to 2-6 with a 4.85 ERA, I would say you’re crazy. But, since July, Wheeler is 10-1 with a 2.21 ERA. That’s impressive.

Not only has his market value shot up, his value to the Mets moving forward has skyrocketed, and he has to be considered in the plans.

Even Jason Vargas, who Mets fans couldn’t wait to give a one-way ticket to Nowheresville, Iowa, has pitched well in the second half of the year.  On August 14, Vargas’ ERA was 8.75. Since that time his ERA is 3.10 in his last 37.2 innings pitched. Now, it’s most likely fools gold, but still, it’s impressive.

Then there is the offense.  Post All-Star Break the Mets are tied for 6^th in runs score in MLB with 292, and are 8^th in RBIs with 275.  Compare that to the Pre-All Star Break with the Mets were 28^th in runs scored, and 29^th in team batting average.

It’s …well … Amazin!

Michael Conforto’s second half resurgence is a big reason why, especially in the month of September where he is hitting .286 with eight homers and 24 RBI. After struggling to just get over the Mendoza line this season, Conforto is hitting .272, and leads the Mets with 16 homers and 47 RBI post All-Star Break.

It wouldn’t be unfair to say the addition of second baseman Jeff McNeil added a much needed spark. All this dude does is hit, hit, hit no matter what. On Sunday, McNeil had four hits in the Mets 8-6 win at Washington.

With a .340 batting average on the year, McNeil appears very comfortable batting second, where his average is .336 with eight walks and 15 RBI. McNeil has been so impactful in the Mets lineup that Amed Rosario has done well in the lead-off spot, and guys like Conforto and Bruce can relax a little and focus on driving guys in.

The question the Mets have to ask themselves now and in the off-season is whether McNeil is their starting second baseman in 2019. By the looks of things, he’s got an inside track.

So while nobody has been paying attention as the 2018 season ends in a whimper the 2019 Mets have already been forming.

Eli Manning Dominates Texans as G-Men Earn 1st W

GIANTS 27 - TEXANS 22 

So where have all the Eli Manning haters gone now? The popular refrain from Giants fans after the first two weeks of the season is that Big Blue made a mistake in not drafting Sam Darnold with their first pick in the 2018 Draft. Well, they're probably signing a different tune now.

Manning was brilliant in leading the Giants to their first win of the year, a dominant 27-22 win over the Houston Texans that wasn't as close as the final score indicated.

The Giants quarterback was 25-of-29 for 297 yards and two touchdowns. A big reason Manning had so much success in picking apart the Texans, Sunday was the simple fact that Head Coach Pat Shurmur benched right tackle Ereck Flowers for the entire game.

Instead rookie Chad Wheeler got the start on the right side against Texans superstar J.J. Watt. While Watt still got to Manning a couple of times, Wheeler held his own for the most part and didn't become a storyline for all the wrong reasons.

The results showed. Not only did Manning have a big game offensively, but even the Giants running game that stretched to a halt for a better part of the first two weeks was lively. Saquon Barkley had 82 yards rushing with a touchdown. His 15-yard touchdown run gave the Giants a 7-3 lead in the first quarter.

Perhaps the best moment of the day for Manning and the Giants came with 7:37 to play in the game. With New York clinging to a 20-15 lead, Manning drove the Giants 77-yards on nine plays, culminating in a Manning touchdown pass to Sterling Shepherd to give Big Blue an insurmountable 27-15 advantage.

Defensively the Giants did ok, although there were times DeShaun Watson picked them apart with long throws down field to guys like Will Fuller and DeAndre Hopkins.

There were a couple points it looked like Houston was on their way to storming back in the game, but mistakes killed Houston's chances. For example, late in the third quarter with the Texans down 20-9, Watson moved the Houston offense to the Giants' own 33-yard line, before Lamar Miller fumbled the ball back to the Giants ending  a potential scoring drive.

Fast forward to the fourth quarter, Houston again was knocking on the door after Watson completed passes of 24 and 15 yards to Hopkins on back-to-back downs to move to the Giants 22. After a 14-yard completion to Jordan Thomas moved the Texans down to the eight-yard line, New York pinned its ears back and started pressuring the Texans quarterback. The pressure worked as Watson threw an ill-advised floater into the back of the end zone that was picked off by Alec Olgeltree.

With the victory, the Giants improve to 1-2 on the season. Big Blue will host the Saints next week at MetLife Stadium at 4:25 p.m.

Todd Bowles Needs to Shoulder Blame for Historic Loss to Browns

BROWNS 21 - JETS 17

When it’s all said and done with, Todd Bowles career as head coach of the New York Jets might just be summed up by one horrible night in Cleveland, Ohio.

Throw out the fact the Jets are a young football team. Throw out the fact that this team is rebuilding.

The fact is the Jets got embarrassed by one of the worst football teams in the history of the sport on Thursday night. The Cleveland Browns hadn’t won a game in 635 days entering Thursday. They have a head coach who has a total win-loss record of 1-35-1 over the last two-plus years.

And yet, the Jets found every which way to get out-coached, and out-played, and out-smarted in an epic meltdown on the banks of Lake Erie.  That all falls on the head coach.

Up 14-0, the Jets were taking it to the Browns. While Sam Darnold wasn’t playing well, the Jets dominated the line of scrimmage with a dominant running game, and a stifling defense. Browns quarterback Tyrod Taylor was running for his life throughout the first half before he was knocked out with a concussion.

Then in came Baker Mayfield, and the feeling at First Energy Field changed. Mayfield came in with a swagger that the Jets couldn’t stop no matter how hard they wanted to.

The most damning thing about the Jets 21-17 loss was the halftime report by Erin Andrews, who said that Todd Bowles didn’t feel the need to make any adjustments with Mayfield in the game. That was a horrible strategy. The Jets had no game plan for Mayfield. They weren’t ready for what was coming and it showed.

Mayfield was 17 of 23 for 201 yards and no interceptions.  The Jets didn’t get many gloves on him, and allowed the former Heisman winner to pick them apart with quick 10-12 yard throws throughout the night.

Where the Browns dared to dream, and Mayfield was willing to be the conductor leading an orange and brown brigade, the Jets played and coached scared. 

Where the Browns coaching staff was willing to let Mayfield by Mayfield, the Jets didn’t allow Sam Darnold to be himself, because they were too worried about what would go wrong. And, a lot went wrong for Darnold on Thursday.

Darnold never got into a rhythm.  He was hurt by drops, overthrows, and underthrows and was under constant pressure all night.  He had only one nice pass the entire game, a 10-yard out to Jermaine Kearse on a key third down that kept the Jets lone scoring drive of the third quarter alive. Other then that that he was throwing off his back foot and forcing passes into tight coverage.

Hence the problem, again with the Jets coaching. Jets Offensive Coordinator Jeremy Bates was not creative. He was too conservative; relying too heavily on screen passes and gave up on the running game of Isaiah Crowell and Bilal Powell too early.  To sum it up he put his young quarterback in a horrible position of having to win a game in complete and utter chaos. 

Not to mention a lot of the same mistakes Darnold made in Week 1 continue to prop up 11 days later. It is a small sample size, yes. And Darnold is only a rookie, yes. But the forced throws, the lack of rhythm, and indecision that we have seen on a consistent basis is becoming alarming. You have to hope this coaching staff isn't hurting his development. 

Everything that happened on Thursday was an exercise in bad coaching. Allowing a 14-0 lead to escape like air coming out of a balloon can’t be tolerated. Failing to adjust even more so. At 1-2 and with the Jaguars starring at them in 10 days, Todd Bowles seat as Jets Head Coach just got a whole lot warmer.