Football in N.Y leaves little to be thankful for
IT was supposed to be the Jets Sucking For Sam Darnold, but it is the New York Football Giants Sucking With An Enthusiasm Unknown to Mankind instead. Tanks a lot, Ben McAdoo. Tanks a lot, Jerry Reese. The Grinches Who Stole Christmas, even before Tanksgiving.
It was supposed to be Todd Bowles on the firing line, but it is, it is painfully obvious, McAdoo instead.
It is infuriated, shell-shocked Giants fans who are now hoping their team tanks the rest of the way because only the Browns stand in the way of landing their next franchise quarterback, presumably Darnold, if he leaves USC, or Josh Rosen. Or maybe Lamar Jackson.
The big questions are who will be picking him, and who will be coaching him?
The Jets, because they are the Jets, won’t be drafting high enough for Darnold or Rosen and will have to look to use the second-rounder they secured in the Sheldon Richardson- Jermaine Kearse deal to trade up for one they like (Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield, Mason Rudolph)?
Because they didn’t draft DeShaun Watson. Because Christian Hackenberg is not the answer, in case you didn’t know.
Josh McCown appeared to be the answer to a most unlikely wild-card playoff push — until Sunday in Tampa, when The Journeyman’s 10th NFL team was outcoached and outplayed and 4-6 became a FitzTragic number.
The 2017 New York football season: Tanks, but no tanks.
“Winning football games in the NFL’s hard,” Kearse said Monday. “It’s hard at home, and it’s definitely hard on the road no matter where you play.” Even if you play in San Francisco. But only if you are the New York Football Giants.
There are undoubtedly some Giants fans who hope McAdoo isn’t fired before the end of the season so the Giants will have every opportunity to run the table and finish 1-15.
There are undoubtedly other Giants fans who hope to get a look at Davis Webb, if for no other reason than he would give the Giants a better chance to lose than Eli Manning would, no disrespect intended.
They’ve all been reduced to scoreboard-watching — likely from the confines of home — as the 0-9 Browns slog through the rest of their schedule against the Jaguars, Bengals, Chargers, Packers, Ravens, Bears and Steelers.
The 1-8 Giants have a tougher schedule — Chiefs, Redskins twice, Raiders, Cowboys, Eagles, Cardinals — for what it’s worth. The Giants couldn’t beat Bergen Catholic the way they’ve been mailing it in. Neither could the Browns, of course.
What if the Giants and Browns finish with identical records? From NFL Football Operations: “In situations where teams finished the previous season with identical records, the determination of draft position is decided by strength of schedule — the aggregate winning percentage of a team’s opponents. The team that played the schedule with the lowest winning percentage will be awarded the higher pick.
“If the teams have the same strength of schedule, their records against common opponents in their division or conference are applied, if applicable. If the divisional or conference tiebreakers are not applicable, ties will be broken by a coin flip.”
In contrast to the Giants, the Jets are the picture of serenity and unity, and who would have thunk it?
GM Mike Maccagnan will get another crack at a would-be franchise quarterback and he gets along so well with Bowles that barring an unlikely McAdoom scenario, the head coach suddenly appears a lot safer to return in 2018 than he did at the start of the season. Remember when Bowles said, “We’re married, but not married”? Woody Johnson will remember how the Rex Ryan-John Idzik shotgun marriage worked.
Bowles has changed the culture and is developing the young talent. I’m betting he’ll be back. What little drama remains in the Jets season is when — and if — Bowles lets Hackenberg get his feet wet after not being allowed in the pool for the first 26 games of his NFL career.
Bowles remains in the results business of winning as many games as he can, and McCown gives him the best chance to win.
Bryce Petty is the backup, which tells you Bowles believes he would have a better chance to function with the bullets flying than Hackenberg. But should the Jets slide to 4-9, it would be a convenient time to give Petty/Hackenberg a look-see.
For both the Giants and Jets, the Super Bowl doesn’t arrive until the April 26 draft, where there will be a franchise quarterback to find instead of a Lombardi Trophy to hoist.
Happy Tanksgiving, New York.