Mark Sanchez and the Jets offense just can't seem to get their footing in the preseason. PHOTO BY BILL MENZEL / LSV
East Rutherford, NJ – It is a given that dominating defense leads to Super Bowls.
However, if you don’t put points on the board offensively, it makes it that much more difficult to get to the last game of the year.
After the New York Jets first two preseason games against the Giants and Carolina Panthers, head coach Rex Ryan didn’t have to curse and swear to describe the offense – or lack thereof.
So knowing that this would be the last preseason game in which the offensive starters would play most of the game, Ryan wanted to see a more consistent Mark Sanchez against the Washington Redskins last Friday night.
The result: Mixed. Final score: Redskins 16, Jets 11.
Sanchez has a miserable game against Carolina but in his very first drive against the Redskins looked like the quarterback that led the Jets to within one game of the Super Bowl.
LatinoSports.com sportswriter Andrew Rosario explores the Jets universe in the first installment of his pre-season outlook for Gang Green. Rosario catches up with second-year Jets QB Mark Sanchez (above) in part one. PHOTO BY BILL MENZEL / LSV
East Rutherford, NJ – It wasn’t the way the New York Jets wanted to open up the new Meadowlands Arena.
At least it wasn’t as bad as the way the New York Giants played in their last game across the street to end their season last Jan. 3, losing 41-9 to the Carolina Panthers.
The Jets may have lost 31-16 but when they look back at the film, they will be pleased with the overall performance from players they expect to take them to the big game in Dallas, Feb. 6.
Let’s start with second-year quarterback Mark Sanchez, who has already claimed that this is his offense. There have been big changes in that offense, with the line losing All-Pro Alan Faneca, the 9-time Pro Bowl player who was cut in April. Leon Washington, the multi-purpose back who was traded to Seattle after suffering what many thought might be a career-ending injury.
Let’s not forget to mention how the organization decided to part ways with Thomas Jones, one of the more popular Jets and a work horse running back, who gained over 3,800 yards in his three years with Gang Green.
Victor Cruz gave the Giants a late third quater lead, snatching the first of his three touchdowns on a 64-yard score. PHOTO BY BILL MENZEL / LSV
Win Inaugral Game at New Meadowlands Stadium
East Rutherford, NJ – The New York Jets drew first blood when they faced the New York Giants in the first football game played at the new Meadowlands Arena.
Literally.
With the Giants trailing 10-7 and driving on their first possession of the second quarter, Eli Manning goes back to throw a fade pass to wide out Ramsen Barden. Running back Brandon Jacobs thought it was a running play and slams into Manning, who then gets hammered from behind by linebacker Calvin Pace. Manning’s helmet flies off and his head hits the facemask of safety Jim Leonhard opening up a three inch gash that required 12 stitches to close.
Manning walked to the sideline with blood gushing out of his forehead, ending his night. Jacobs did recover the fumble, which lead to a Lawrence Tynes 32-yard field goal. Said Giants head coach Tom Coughlin of the injury to Manning, “Hopefully there will be no swelling. He handled it well.”
The late Korey Stringer is still on the minds of many.
NEW YORK – While the National Football League was reveling in the excitement and drama of the 2010 Draft at Radio City Music Hall that would start the careers of future stars, a press conference took place that did not get a lot of publicity.
On Aug. 1 2001, the Minnesota Vikings opened up training camp with the optimism that all teams have at the start of a new season. They were faced with tragedy from the beginning as veteran offensive tackle Korey Stringer became the first professional football player to die from complications due to heat stroke. The 27-year-old, who played college ball at Ohio State, was an integral part of a offensive line that was responsible for running back Robert Smith gaining over 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons. His death brought to light the training practices not only in professional football but in colleges and high schools across the country.
On Friday, Apr. 23, 2010, a partnership was announced between the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education and the Korey Stringer Institute to research and educate in the prevention of heat stroke and sudden death in sports.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell calls Sam Bradford's name first in Thursday night's NFL Draft.
NEW YORK – Sam Bradford is heading to St. Louis via a New York connection.
The Oklahoma quarterback was taken No. 1 overall on Apr. 22 at Radio City Music Hall by the St. Louis Rams, highlighting a night of high drama in the Big Apple, which also included an early round selection of Florida living legend Tim Tebow to Denver.
“I feel great,” Bradford said of being taken first overall by St. Louis. “Obviously it's a dream come true, you grow up, you dream of playing in the NFL and you dream of hearing your name called on Draft day, but to actually have it happen, it's a feeling that's really unexplainable.”
CBS' decision to air an anti-abortion ad funded by Focus on the Family was so terribly wrongheaded.(Edge of Sports)
In our 5,000-channel, tweeting, shouting culture of constant distraction, there are precious few annual events that unite the national gaze. In fact, there is really only one: the Super Bowl. Over the last two decades, ratings for everything from the World Series to the Olympics have stumbled - but the NFL championship gets stronger with age, with Super Bowl Sunday becoming a de facto national holiday. The cultural power of the big game cannot be overstated, and that's exactly why CBS' decision to air an anti-abortion ad funded by Focus on the Family was so terribly wrongheaded.
The ad features Heisman award-winning Florida quarterback and staunch evangelical Christian Tim Tebow alongside his mother, Pam, speaking out against abortion. Pam tells the world how she ignored a doctor's advice while on a missionary trip in the Philippines and decided to have her fifth child, Tim. She was suffering from a serious tropical illness, the story goes, and doctors thought that having the child would kill her, but she "chose life" for her child and the result is an All-American quarterback.
There is something sketchy about this story - given that abortion is illegal in the Philippines, carrying a six-year prison sentence. It seems highly unlikely the procedure would be recommended to an evangelical missionary. But this isn't about truth in advertising. It's about Tim Tebow continuing his self-proclaimed goal to use football as a "missionary." After a college career wearing eyeblack with Bible verses stenciled in, it's the next step in raising his platform as the most outspoken evangelical this side of Sarah Palin.
To be clear, we should absolutely support Tebow's right to state his political beliefs loudly and proudly and we should soundly reject the concept that jocks should just "shut up and play."
But there are other things we should soundly reject as well. We should reject the utter hypocrisy on display by CBS in airing this ad. The network has long stated that it has Super Bowl rules against "advocacy ads." In 2004, the network rejected a Super Bowl ad from the United Church of Christ in which a church is shown opening its doors to a gay couple. The network has also refused ads from PETA, MoveOn.org and many others. This year, it even rejected a humorous commercial from a gay dating site called mancrunch.com. And yet, the network takes money from Focus on the Family - which, according to People for the American Way, is "anti-choice, anti-gay and against sex education curricula that are not strictly abstinence-only."
Focus on the Family's guru is the infamous and recently retired James Dobson. Dobson is a frightening fellow, choosing the second night of Passover last year to say, "The biggest Holocaust in world history came out of the Supreme Court" with Roe vs. Wade. Dobson's other pet project, the Family Research Council, has connections to white supremacist organizations like the Council of Conservative Citizens. In 1996, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins paid former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke $82,000 for his mailing list.
The idea that this organization is acceptable to CBS - while MoveOn or PETA or the United Church of Christ are too radical - actually adds up to a right-wing assault on free speech. We could also point out the irony that this year, like all others, ads for the U.S. armed forces will be omnipresent, but that's not considered advocacy, either. I doubt there would be equal time for Iraq Veterans Against the War, even if it could pony up the millions.
The other thing we need to reject is the sports media's love affair with Tim Tebow's "courage" in being a part of this ad. People like CBS' Jim Nantz and Sports Illustrated's Peter King are like tweens at a Justin Bieber concert when it comes to Tebow, with King recently writing, "What I heard from Tebow was the voice of a kid with convictions, who doesn't shrink from what he believes - even if it might hurt his draft prospects."
Wrong: The fact that Tebow has massive accuracy problems and can't take a snap from center without fumbling is what is going to hurt his draft prospects.
Moreover, it rankles that Tebow is being extolled for his courage while athletes who have spoken out against militarism (Carlos Delgado and most famously Muhammad Ali) or racism (Josh Howard) are called crazy and tiresome.
Let's hope that the next time an athlete speaks out - even if it's in the service of a left-wing cause - the media remember their praise of Tebow and cut him or her some slack. And let's hope that the next time CBS gets an ad query from a group with an agenda diametrically opposed to Focus on the Family's, it gives it equal time.
Hosting the Super Bowl ought to be considered a privilege. And CBS has already failed the test.
[Dave Zirin is the author of the forthcoming “Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games we Love” (Scribner) Receive his column every week by emailing
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El Bronx, NY: There is nothing like winning and New York fans love nothing better, especially when one of our teams wins a Cinderella game 17-14 triumph over the Chargers in their divisional round playoff game at Qualcomm Stadium.
At the beginning of the NFL season most of my friends and family members were not too optimistic about the NY Jets. Most of them are NY Giants fans, and we New Yorkers love to wear our NY logo like the Giants and Yankees have “NY” on their helmets and hats. Thus, I understand why I know more Giants fans than Jets fans. For me personally, I always had a soft spot for the Giants since the Giants once played in the Bronx at the old Yankee stadium and Blue is my favorite color.
The Jets remind me of the comparison between the Yankees and the NY Mets baseball team. They are like the other team, the “B Squad” of New York football. This began to change for me when the Jets made an Omar Minaya type move and traded a few players to have the 5th first round pick for Mark Sanchez in the 2009 draft. Hey a Latino quarterback in the NFL, in New York, I’m in, “Let’s Go Jets!”
However, we all know how the season turned out. The favorite NY football team, the Giants fizzled out towards the end of the season and the underdog NY Jets team with the rookie quarterback that everyone had written off is one win away from a trip to Miami and playing in Super Bowl XLIV.
The Chargers are asking themselves, what happened, how did this shocking loss occur? The answer has two major parts. One is Mark Sanchez the rookie quarterback who completed 12 of 23 passes for a trivial 100 yards, 1 touchdown and one interception, not outstanding, but enough to make his mark and show that he is on track and has what it takes to be a great quarterback for this franchise. The other key factor for the Jets win was their blitzing defensive team who held the high scoring and offensive packed Chargers to their first sub-20-point game in the last 23 games.
Coach Rex Ryan probably telling Mark Sanchez: "OK kid we got this, just stay cool," or telling him, "Tranquilo."
You also have to give credit to First-year head coach Rex Ryan. He ran a great playbook from start to finish. Though the Jets were held scoreless in the first half for the first time in 46 games and it seemed that they could not even get a first down in the first half, he adapted his plays to stay steady and keep the game close for the Jets to come back and win. You saw his leadership grit when it finally came down to this: Fourth-and-a-foot, 1:09 left. The Jets decide to go for it. That play sealed the victory for the green machine.
The Jets are on their way to Indianapolis to play for the AFC Championship.
Next Sunday many New Yorkers will stop everything and fix their eyes to their TV screens, or ears to their radios at 3 PM. Next Sunday New Yorkers will forget the team differences, the team colors and the allegiances and do what we do best, root for anything from our Big Manzana (Big Manzana) and celebrate hearing Jay-Z’s/Alicia Keys, “A New York State of Mind”
NUEVA YORK – Muy parecido a los Jets, la fuerza del ataque de los Bengals esta temporada ha sido el juego de corredores.
Cedric Benson, que parece un minitanque, fue el arma principal. Marcó 1,251 yardas por tierra, el quinto mejor total de la conferencia Americana. Benson no jugó en la semana 17 contra los Jets, pero espera estar entero para la revancha en el partido de primera ronda, la de los equipos comodines, el sábado en el estadio Paul Brown de Cincinnati.
“Posee gran visión, es muy ágil y sabe hacer buenos ajustes”, dijo el guardia nariz Sione Pouha, que como sustituto del lesionado Kris Jenkins sumó 59 paradas esta temporada, el segundo mayor número en la línea defensiva verdiblanca. “No por nada es un buen corredor. Ha hecho su cosa y se ha ganado respeto”.
Alabama's Mark Ingram Jr. made history Saturday, winning the closest Heisman race of all time while becoming the first Crimson Tide player to take home the honor.
NEW YORK – The five top vote getters in the annual Heisman Trophy election were invited to New York City to take part in the 75th anniversary of the award that goes to the best football player of the season Saturday night.
Twenty-six winners of the extremely prestigious award were on the stage of the Nokia Theater in Times Square to support the latest recipient of the trophy. Mark Ingram, a sophomore running back at the University of Alabama, was named the winner over second place finisher Toby Gerhart of Stanford University in the closest vote in the history of the award.
Aside from some solid play by Thomas Jones (No. 20) in the backfield, the Jets offense struggled in another tough loss Sunday. PHOTO BY BILL MENZEL / LSV
East Rutherford, NJ – So much for the bye week for the New York Jets. Hoping the extra time off would turn their season around, the Jets picked up right where they left off after their last game.
Another loss that could have easily been a win.
This loss however to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 24-22, dropped their record to 4-5 and put a serious dent in their chances to make the playoffs. The pattern has been all too familiar for a team that started the year winning their first three games. Since then, they have lost five of their last six. Turnovers leading to opponent’s points and the inability of the defense to come up with a stop with the game on the line. Head coach Rex Ryan, who gave his squad six days off after their last game implored the fans once again to come out and support the team in full force. It didn’t take long before the fans began shaking their heads.
