COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

RAVENS 27 DOLPHINS 9 Now America knows why the Jets kicked Chad Pennington to the curb in favor of Brett Favre this past summer; Pennington was just awful against the Baltimore Ravens throwing four costly interceptions and getting sacked three times in a 27-9 meltdown on Sunday. Penninton was totally ineffective against the Ravens . He dinked and dunked all day long, a familiar image of ineptitude during his mediocre eight years with the New York Jets. Whenever Pennington dared to throw the ball farther than five yards, he was picked off by hungry Raven defenders. Ed Reed had the most fun against Pennington's softballs. He had two interceptions, including an over-the-head catch, where he was able to spin around and run right past the entire Dolphins offense, skip over a defeated Pennington and score the touchdown to give the Ravens a 10-3 lead. The Ravens offense was no better. In fact it harkened back to the decade of pathetic play from the Ravens offense ever since they came into...

Now for Sunday's action: RAVENS (11-5) @ DOLPHINS (11-5): A really intriguing matchup between the Ravens and Dolphins. After going 1-15 last season, the Dolphins have turned things around thanks in major part to the craftmanship of Director of Operations Bill Parcellls, who has reenergized the Dolphins with the leadership of coach Tony Sparano and the guts of quarterback Chad Pennington. One thing the Dolphins have done especiially well this year is finding way to not turn the ball over. All together the D olphins have only turned the ball over 13 times. It will be interesting to see Miami does against a Ravens defense that has forced 26 interceptions and 13 fumbles this season, clearly the best in the NFL. The last time Miami and Baltimore matched up, the Ravens ate up the Dolphins wild cat offense, preventing Ronnie Brown from going anywhere, and gobbled up Chad Pennington and his softball passes, as Baltimore won 27-13 in October. How the Dolphins offense moves the ball against ...

In an intersting blog from Yahoo.Sports.com, there is a power struggle at the top of the Miami Dolphins organization, and it could affect whether Bill Parcells stays in South Beach. Miami owner Wayne Huizenga is expected to transfer control of the team to new owner Stephen Ross, and both are hoping that Parcells does not decide to opt out of his contract and take his money because of the dramatic change. Parcells has a four year contract with Miami, and if he decides to leave after the 2008 season, he will collect $9 million up front. Parcells has easily been the executive of the year after reshaping the Dolphins in his image and sending them to the top of the AFC East. In fact, in all of Parcells' inaugural seasons, he has never had a year this good. In his first year with the Giants, he went 3-12-1. In his first year with New England, he made it to the playoffs as a wild card at 10-6. In 1997, his first with the Jets, he lost the season finale to Detroit, costing the Jets a play...

Six years ago, the Jets were in a very familiar position. They needed to win their season finale and pray to the gods of football that the New England Patriots would defeat the Miami Dolphins in order to give the Jets the division title. The Jets were led by Chad Pennington in that season, his first as a starter. Pennington helped resurrect a Jets team that started 2-5 that year to an 8-7 record. They had to square off against the Green Bay Packers and some quarterback named Brett Favre in that season finale -- a scenerio that did not look too favorable for Gang Green. Giants Stadium was packed that cold evening; on the jumbotron, minutes before the Jets/Packers kick off, a live feed appeared of the Pats/Dolphins game. Adam Vinatieri kicked the game winning field goal for New England, killing Miami's postseason dreams and giving the Jets hope. Giants Stadium roared with pleasure as the score was announced. The Jet players fed off that energy and beat up Favre and Packers, 42-17. P...

One more wrinkle to keep track of this week as the Jets head to the northwest and Miami plays in Kansas City and New England plays host to Arizona: even if Miami and New England should lose and the Jets win this week, the Jets do not clinch a division title. Here's why: The Jets are currently 7-4 in conference, while Miami is 6-4 and New England is 6-5. A Jet win in Seattle does not count as a conference victory since the Seahawks are in the NFC. So, if the above-mentioned scenerio played out, the Jets would be 7-4 against the AFC, while Miami and New England would both be 6-5 going into the final week. The Jets will have to win against Miami to win that tiebreaker, giving them a 8-4 in confernce record over Miami's 6-6. If Miami should beat the Jets, giving both a 7-5 AFC record, the Dolphins would win the division because they have an edge in victories over common opponents. The Jets lost to San Francisco, Oakland and San Diego. Miami has victories against each of those three...

Here are the formuli that could get the Jets into and out of the playoff party this season: 1) If the Jets win against Seattle and Miami, they win the AFC East based on a better conference record (8-4) than the New England Patriots, even if New England wins out as well. 2) If the Patriots win out and the Dolphins win out and finish at 11-5, the Jets would be 10-6, or 9-7, and probably out of the playoffs. Both New England and Miami would make the playoffs, with the Dolphins as a divison winner and the Patriots as a wild card. The Patriots make the postseason if Baltimore loses one of its final two games. 3) If the Patriots win out and the Dolphins and Jets split, then the Patriots win the AFC East. The Jets will have to hope that they beat Miami to win that tie-breaker and, further, hope that they have a better conference record than the Baltimore Ravens in order to clinch the sixth seed. 4) If the Patriots and Ravens win out and the Dolphins and Jets split their final two games, then ...