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 ...

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...

Now that the playoff picture in the NFL is really developing, it is starting to look more likely that neither New York football team will have much of an impact when the playoffs begin. The Giants, having had their victory parade derailed last week against the Eagles, is one thing, but when it appears that the club is falling apart due to the Plaxico Burress/Antonio Pierce fiasco, it is hard to believe that this team will remain focused for another big stretch run. Add to this the fact that running back Brandon Jacobs will likely be side lined for a while because of a couple of banged up knees, and that, outside of Amani Toomer, the Giants have no real deep threat at receiver left on the team. One has to wonder when, not how, the Giants will be picked off in the playoffs. Keep in mind, during the Giants great run this season they have not seen a team from the NFC South, which is a better division than the NFC East. The Panthers have the best ground game in the league, and a receiving ...