Jets Steal Victory in Wild Finish Over Giants

 

With 28 seconds to go, and leading the New York Jets 10-7, the New York Giants faced a choice. Either kick a field goal to extend their lead on a sloppy Sunday afternoon to 13-7, or go for it and win the game outright.

Brian Daboll will likely wrestle with that decision all night, heck maybe all week. The Giants sent kicker Graham Gano out to kick the field goal, and he missed badly, giving the Jets a glimmer of hope with 24 seconds to go.  There was no way Zach Wilson, who couldn’t figure out the Giants exotic blitzes would lead a miracle finish? No chance? Right?

 

The Giants had a 96 percent chance of winning at this point. Then a miracle happened.

Wilson rolled out and hit Garrett Wilson for 29 yards. Then he rolled out again with 18 seconds to go and hit Allen Lazard in the middle of the field to the Giants 17. Wilson hurried his unit to the line of scrimmage and spiked the ball with one second to go.  Like something out of a story book, Greg Zuerlein nailed a 33-yard field goal to tie it at 10 and force overtime.

In overtime, the Jets benefited from a huge pass interference call on A’Doree Jackson, spotting the ball at the Big Blue 15. That set up the game winner by Zuerlein as the Jets escaped 13-10.

 

 The victory by the Jets was a total stunner. Zach Wilson had played poorly all afternoon. The Jets were 1-for-13 on third downs before their miracle finish. Not only was Wilson inaccurate at times, he wasn’t helped out by his offensive coordinator, who called pass plays on third and short multiple times, and the Jets were down to a practice squad player at center before halftime.

 If the Jets have problem at quarterback with the poor play of Zach Wilson, the Giants have a mess. Already without Daniel Jones, the Giants lost Tyrod Taylor in this game with a rib injury. Tommy DeVito had to come in and play quarterback for most of the game and was bad. He completed only two passes on seven attempts for minus one yard. In fact, the Giants threw for minus eight yards all day.

 

 It was a rough day for the Jets. Not only were they this close to losing a game where their opponent threw for minus-eight yards, but the lack of discipline was appaling. The Jets were flagged nine times for 85 yards. None bigger than the two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for targeting that assisted the Giants on their lone touchdown drive.

Giants Defense Plows Over Washington in Ugly Win

 On an afternoon where they wore the uniforms synonymous with the great Giants teams of the 1980s and early 90’s, Big Blue’s defense had to leave the likes of Lawrence Taylor and Carl Banks smiling with their effort.

For the first time this season, the Giants came to play old school Giants football on Sunday.

Sam Howell had no shot. Getty Images.

 

Their defense got after Washington quarterback Sam Howell, stuffed the Commander ground attack, blocked a field goal, and otherwise pulverized the Washington Commanders in a 14-7 win, Sunday.

Howell, who came into the game as the most sacked quarterback in the NFL, was sacked six times and threw one interception. He came close to throwing a pick six when outside linebacker Kavon Thiboudeaux had the ball in his grasp with daylight in front of him before dropping the football.

The dropped pick-six was the only fopaux for Thibs who had four tackles, 1.5 sacks and two quarterback hits on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Tyrod Taylor and the Giants offense were again unspectacular, but they didn’t have to be flashy. The veteran quarterback got the job done. He threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns. His first score coming on a 15-yard cut-in to Darren Waller in the second quarter that gave Big Blue a 7-0 lead.

 Later, Taylor stepped up in the pocket and hit Saquon Barkley in the flat for a 32-yard catch and run as the Giants opened up a 14-0 advantage.

The questions are already starting: will the Giants stick with Tyrod Taylor? There are $160 million reasons why they will not. Sure Taylor has been solid, but Daniel Jones - if healthy - is getting paid the big bucks to be the "franchise quarterback." 

 

Head coach Brian Daboll downplayed any quarterback controversy, as he should. Jones is still coming off a neck injury, and a lot of his poor play wasn't all his fault. The Giants offensive line has been awful. Heck, Taylor was sacked four times on Sunday, and the Giants didn't move the football at all in the second half against Washington. 

The next week will be fascinating. The Giants face the Jets next week with Big Blue as the designated home team. 

The Jets (3-3) are still riding high off their win against the Eagles, and will come into the match-up with the better team and better overall defense. The Giants have to love the way their defense has played the past two weeks against Buffalo and Washington.  

This figures to be an incredible match-up. Throw the records away, and get ready for a smash mouth game on Sunday. 

 

Rutgers is Going Bowling After 31-14 Win over Indiana

 At least there is some good football taking place this season in the Tri-State area. 

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights continue to amaze this season this time with a dominating 31-14 win over Indiana in Bloomington to make themselves bowl eligible for the first time since 2014. 

Gavin Wimsatt against Indiana - Getty Images

 

Quarterback Gavin Wimsatt didn't throw ball much at all on Saturday, and didn't have to. He did it all with his legs, churning out 143 yards on 16-carries with three scores; it was the most rushing yards by a Rutgers quarterback in program history. 

Wimsatt's 80-yard touchdown where he shot off the right end, blasted through the hole and never looked back was the exclamation point on an afternoon where Rutgers ran for 276 yards and held the football for nearly 38 minutes. 

 

The victory follows Rutgers' emotional 27-24 victory over Michigan State where the Scarlet Knights stormed back from a 24-6 deficit to top the Spartans at home in the Homecoming Game. 

Now Rutgers sits at 6-2 on the year and 3-2 in the Big Ten.

Coach Greg Schiano has preached a one-game at a time approach, and it has really been working with Rutgers. I go out to interview players every week for Fox Sports New Jersey and routinely they talk about the same thing: one game season's. 

So to borrow a refrain from Coach Schiano and company, Rutgers won the Indiana season. Now they get to enjoy a well earned by before a brutal gauntlet to finish off the regular season that features games against Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, and Maryland in that order. 

While we don't know where Rutgers will wind up going bowling, (Pinstripe Bowl? Las Vegas Bowl? Nashville Bowl?) The time is now to enjoy. 

Greg Schiano's return to Pitscataway is turning into a success story that has preached patience from the day he returned to campus. Now the fruits of that labor are starting to sprout. 

Enjoy Rutgers!

Controversial Finish Clouds Giants 14-9 Loss to Bills

 When you are a 1-5 football team there is not much one can say. 

A glass half full approach is not going to work, especially to a gut-wrenching 14-9 loss for the New York Giants, who had an upset special in their grasp up in Buffalo and couldn’t cash in thanks to what many believe was a blown call by the referees on the final play of the contest between the Giants and Bills. 

With Giants back-up quarterback Tyrod Taylor having moved Big Blue down to the Bills nine yard line with two seconds to go, Taylor took his shot into the end zone for Darren Waller, but the tight end couldn’t come down with it as linebacker Terrell Bernard was all over him.

The officials called Bernard for defensive pass interference. The Giants got one last shot, an untimed down at the one-yard line.

On that very play, Taylor, again, tried to thread the ball to Waller, but was heavily covered. It appeared Bills safety Taron Johnson was holding Waller on the play. A flag was not thrown. The game ended.

The phantom holding call wasn’t the only controversial play at that end of the field.

Earlier in the game, with just 14 seconds before halftime, the Giants decided to run the ball up the middle from the Bills’ one-yard line rather than try to throw a fade into the end zone. By the time the play concluded and the G-Men lined up to spike the ball, the clock expired.

Miracle Finish Propels Jets to First Ever Win Over Eagles

 New York Jets fans are flying like high into the bye week. Who could blame them after Gang Green posted a historic come-from-behind, 20-14 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles — the franchises first ever regular season victory against the City of Brotherly Love.

Playing the role of the hero on Sunday night was a little known safety named Tony Adams. With the Jets missing a number of its key pieces on defense, Adams stepped up and delivered the game changing play that nobody saw coming.

The Eagles looked poised to hand the Jets a bitter 14-12 defeat until Adams stepped in front of a Jalen Hurts pass and picked it off with 1:50 to in the game.

On the next play, Philly allowed Jets running back Breece Hall to score; New York quickly converted a two-point conversion to make it 20-14.

With 1:46 to go the Jets defense had to make one last stand, and did they ever. They forced three incompletions from Hurts, including a desperation heave that was knocked away by Jordan Whitehead to seal it.

How impressive was the Jets defensive performance?

• The Jets pitched a shutout in the second half.
• The Jets forced four Eagles turnovers, three of them on interceptions.
• The three interceptions thrown by Hurts were the most since November 28, 2021 against the Giants.
• The closest the Eagles got to the Jets red zone in the second half, they were forced to kick a field goal, which they missed.

And to think the Jets with three members of the defense out with injuries. Sauce Gardner was out with a concussion, while Brandon Echols and D.J. Reed were out with undisclosed injuries.

READ MORE on My Article on FOX SPORTS NJ!

Breece Hall and Jets D Steps Up with Huge Win

 JETS 31 - BRONCOS 21 

It was not pretty. 

In the closing seconds of the first half, the Jets trailed the Denver Broncos 13-8. Zach Wilson unwisely threw a pass in the middle of the field to Tyler Conklin that the tight end hauled in, but the clocked, with 14 seconds to go, was quickly ticking away. The Jets took forever to get to the line, and Wilson seemed unaware of the situation. By the time the Jets got set, the clock hit triple zero. 

And that is how a first half full of mistakes came to an end for the Jets. 

From bad penalties, to an inability to slow down the Broncos early in the contest, to Zach Wilson looking skittish again in the pocket, the Jets trailed 13-8 at the half. The game looked like it was heading for disaster. 

Whatever the Jets did at halftime, they looked like a totally different team in the second half.  And all they had to do was hand the ball over to their man, Breece Lightning. Breece Hall silenced the Denver crowd when he took the opening hand-off of the second half and went flying down the right sideline for a 72-yard touchdown to put the Jets up 15-13. 

Just like that momentum swung the Jets way. 

The Jets defense tightened as they forced Denver into four punts and a fumble that led to a Jets field goal to make it 21-13. 

Meanwhile Hall kept grinding out the Broncos. By the end of the day the Iowa State product had 177 yards on the ground. He carried the Jets when they needed him the most. Robert Saleh said they would let him loose, and did they ever. 

Still this game wasn't without drama. On one drive late in the contest we got the good Zach Wilson, and the bad Zach Wilson. The good Zach Wilson connected with Conklin on a huge 37-yard completion that converted a critical third and four at the Jets own 31-yard line with 3:56 to go. 

However, the bad Wilson showed up a little later when he tossed a pick into the hands of Patrick Surtain II to give Russell Wilson one last shot. 

That is when the Jets defense stood tallest. 

On a second and six at the Denver 29, Wilson was sacked by Jets linebacker Quincy Williams to slow down Denver's momentum. Two plays later, Williams was at the feet of Wilson, and tripped up the former Super Bowl MVP. The ball bounced out of Wilson's hands, and was scooped up by another Hall, Bryce Hall, who glided down the sideline for the game clincher. 

Jets 31 - Broncos 21. 

The place cleared out! 

Sweet revenge for Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. 

Sweet revenge for Breece Hall, who had his season end in this same stadium exactly one year ago. 

The Jets are 2-3, their season is still very much alive. 

Jones Knocked Out As Giants Implode vs. Dolphins

 DOLPHINS 31 - GIANTS 16 

Giants quarterback Daniel Jones will undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of the neck injury he suffered in the Giants 31-16 loss to Miami on Sunday. Jones was sacked six more times on Sunday, and has been sacked 16 times in the last two weeks combined. 

That is totally inexcusable at any level of football. 

"We played some physical games against some physical defenses," Jones said afterwards.

That's true, but the facts are the Giants have failed to protect the man they consider their franchise quarterback. The Giants made a $160 million investment in Jones this off-season, and their offensive line is in total taters. 

Even Tyrod Taylor got beat up, and was hurt in this one against Miami.

By the end of the day, Jones was 14-for-20 for 119 yards, but it didn't matter, because Big Blue had no answer for the speed of the Miami Dolphins. 

Before anyone could blink it was 14-0, especially after De'Von Achane gashed the Giants for a 76-yard touchdown run. 

The Giants defense did pull New York back into it when Jason Pinnock picked off a Tua Tagovailoa pass and returned it 102-yards for a score to pull the Giants to within 14-10. That was as close as the Giants would get the entire afternoon. 

Tyreek Hill's 69-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown put Miami up 24-10, all but ending the competitive nature of this contest. 

At 1-4 the Giants are starring into the abyss of an uncertain future. They hit the road next week to square off with the Buffalo Bills, who struggled over in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars. But, the Bills are even tougher at home, and Josh Allen usually plays better football in front of the zany Buffalo Bills Mafia anyway. 

This season is spiraling out of control, fast. 

Jets Fall Short Against Chiefs

 Sunday night's Jets-Chiefs game started out all about the Swiftie's, by the end it was all about Zach Wilson, and a controversial finish that left Gang Green at 1-3 following a 23-20 loss to the World Champions.

Early on it appeared that the Chiefs were going to run the Jets out of the building, jumping out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter. The New York tabloids were starting to write themselves. "Jets get blown out by Champs." "Swifties Take Over MetLife." "What's Next for Zach After Stinker?"

It all turned around thanks to a safety when Chiefs offensive tackle Jawaan Taylor was called for a facemask in the end zone.  All of sudden at 17-2, the Jets turned it on. And Zach Wilson figured it out.

He started hitting receivers in tight windows, and look very comfortable in the pocket. By the end of the night, Wilson finished with 245 yards passing, and the highest passer rating of his career (105.2) in a single game.

Wilson's 10-yard touchdown pass to Allen Lazard, combined with his diving for a two-point conversion tied the game at 20.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs struggled against the Jets defense.

 

Patrick Mahomes was flustered. He threw two interceptions, he could have thrown four picks, were it not for a dropped pick by C.J. Mosley, and the most controversial moment of the day.

With the Chiefs clinging to a 23-20 lead in the fourth quarter, Mahomes threw the ball up for grabs toward Marquez Valdes-Scantling. The ball hung up in the air and was picked by Michael Carter II. The Jets had life!!

However, a late flag was thrown on the play against Jets corner Sauce Gardner for a hold. It was ticky-tak foul, but it cost the Jets a shot.

It wasn't the only gaff by the Jets, but it was the one everyone was talking about on Monday.

The Jets made their bed in this one. There was the dropped pick by Mosley I mentioned earlier. There was a number of dropped passes by Jets receivers, including a dropped touchdown by Tyler Conklin. And let us not forget Wilson fumbled on a critical drive in the fourth quarter with the Jets trailing 23-20. 

At 1-3 the Jets have to figure it out. They have a shot. Sunday night proved that Wilson can play well, and there is blue print to success. Now they need to win. 

Mets Part Ways with Buck Showalter

 

The New York Mets officially parted ways with Manager Buck Showalter, with the latter announcing he is stepping down during his daily pre-game press conference before Sunday’s regular season finale.

“We got some new leadership coming in,” an emotional Showalter said. “Billy and the organizaton in fairness to me gave me the option to stepping aside… I appreciate that. The new leadership are going in a new direction with the manager next year.”

And just like that, the man who won 101 games and was the N.L. Manager of the Year in 2022 is out the door one year later.

It was a disappointing year for the Mets in 2023 for sure. The team fell well short of expectations, winning only 74 games. The Mets gambled on uniting veterans Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer at the top of the rotation, and by August 1 both pitchers were traded to Houston and Texas respectively.

The catastrophic injury to Edwin Diaz in the World Baseball Classic back in March certainly didn’t help, and early season slumps by Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor proved to be too much to handle.

When Steve Cohen ended his yearlong pursuit of David Stearns to be his new President of Baseball Operations, the future of Showalter was certainly a question mark. Many suspected that Stearns would want to bring in his own guy to manage the club. He will get that shot.