New York Jets

Percy Harvin: A Gleam In Rex Ryan’s Eye?

October 19, 2014 by Micheal Savoie

With almost half a season gone, the Seattle Seahawks decided that they were interested in simplifying their offense and their locker room by trading away Percy Harvin less than 2 years after trading 3 draft picks for him from Minnesota.

Harvin missed most of last season with a hip injury and he rejoined the team in time to make a splash in the Super Bowl. But did he contribute to the journey to the Super Bowl? The team got to the big game by beating a lot of tough opponents with a stifling defense and a punishing running game. They won all their home games except one against division rival Arizona, who missed the playoffs even though they had a 10-6 record. Harvin was really just icing on the cake in the Super Bowl, since the team that got them there was still intact.

This season, the Seahawks have not looked as good as the punishing team of 2013, having lost to San Diego and Dallas (crazy, right?). Harvin’s contribution to the offense has not been enough to help them in those two losses, and with San Francisco and Arizona in front of them in the division, the Seahawks are looking to streamline the offense to the punishing style they had a year ago.

By trading Harvin away for a conditional 6th round pick, Seattle is showing that they are willing to do whatever it takes to regain dominance in their division and the league. With 5 of their next 11 games being to division rivals, they desperately need to improve their game if they want a chance for a repeat Super Bowl victory!

The Jets, on the other hand, have been in dire need of a spark, and talent. Having won their only game to the winless Oakland Raiders, head coach Rex Ryan has been looking like a guy who just ate bad sushi. His discomfort is caused because his team is able to stay close in tough games and then allow themselves to be completely blown out in others.

With the addition of Harvin, the Jets are hoping (make that praying) that they will see a return on investment immediately in the kick return game and then later in the offense. With a playmaker like Harvin in the backfield or lined up on the line of scrimmage, the Jets will give the opposing defenses something to worry about other than picking off Geno Smith.

Opinion: Does It Really Matter?

Personally, I think the Jets will win a few more games, but unless they win their next 9 games in a row (and New England has a losing streak), they have very little chance at the playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks will still struggle this season and will have to fight for a Wild Card berth. Sorry, ‘hawks.

Percy Harvin Super Bowl — Will Percy Harvin help the Jets to a Super Bowl Win?

What do you think?

Week 14 Headlines–BlogTalkFootball MMQB

December 9, 2013 by Micheal Savoie

Gronk Out For Rest Of Season With Torn ACL & MCL!

Heartbreaking news for the New England Patriots as their worst fears are realized: Tight End wonder Rob Gronkowski will be out the rest of the season and probably part of next season with a torn ACL and MCL… I could hear Tom Brady crying in anguish when the news broke on NFL Network. The playoff hunt must go on.

Jets Fly Over Raiders

Geno Smith continues to surprise with a 37-27 win over the Oakland Raiders at home.

Geno threw one pick, one touchdown and ran for another. It looks like having a fully healthy receiving corps is just what the Geno ordered.

Chiefs Scalp Redskins

After an embarrassing 45-10 loss to the Kansa City Chiefs, Washington Redskins’ head coach Mike Shanahan has had enough. He benched RG III during the game and allowed Kirk Cousins to play even though the cause was already lost by then. Shanahan has had to deal with rumors of his having reportedly threatened to leave the Redskins in January of this year after losing his QB and the playoffs to the Seahawks. He refused to fuel any of that speculation with any new information nor would he name a starting QB for next week’s game against the Atlanta Falcons.

Houston Calling

The recent job opening in Houston after head coach Gary Kubiak was unceremoniously fired following the loss to Jacksonville on Thursday night appears to be interesting to Shanahan, although the name that is currently circulating as a favorite for the job is former Bears head coach Lovie Smith.

Weather Impact

In Baltimore and Philadelphia, the falling snow was the headline of the game as the field kept building up with the white stuff throughout the course of the game. The Baltimore Ravens hosted the Minnesota Vikings in a slugfest that included an injury to Adrian Peterson’s right foot. Ravens’ tight end Dennis Pitta returned from IR to make 6 catches for 48 yards and a touchdown in a game the ended with a flurry of scores from both teams in the final couple minutes of the game as Toby Gerhart (Adrian Peterson’s replacement) rushed for a 41-yard TD for Minnesota, followed by a Jacoby Jones 77-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and then with 45 seconds left, Matt Cassell caught Cordarrelle Patterson for a 79-yard touchdown. Leaving it up to Joe Flacco to drive his team down the field 80 yards in 41 seconds for the game winning touchdown pass to Marlon Brown with 4 seconds left.

The win puts Baltimore in a good position to grab the second NFC Wild Card spot. But with 3 more weeks to go, the playoffs are going to shake up a little more.

Philadelphia was not expected to do well against the NFC North leading Detroit Lions, but after LeSean McCoy’s 217 rushing yard game that included a 40 and 57 yard touch down run, the Eagles finished the game with the win and an 8-5 record. The Lions fell to 7-6 and still lead the NFC North by half a game until the Monday Night Football game where the Bears host the Dallas Cowboys. Both the Lions and the Eagles are hoping for a different outcome to tonight’s game since their division lead depends on the loss of their division counterpart. So the Eagles are rooting for the Bears and the Lions are rooting for the Cowboys.

Chillin’

The Cowboys vs Bears game is expected to be downright frigid as the game time temps are supposed to be in the single digits. Can anyone say frostbite?

The temperature in Denver yesterday for the Titans vs Broncos game was in the teens. That did not stop Peyton Manning from leading his team to a 51-28 blowout of the Tennessee Titans. Matt Prater took advantage of the extra muscle flexes of his shivering legs to kick an NFL record setting 64 yard field goal.

Manning completed 39 passes for 397 yards and 4 touchdowns while the Denver defense held Ryan Fitzpatrick to only 13 completions for 172 yards and 1 touchdown. Manning, who has been under constant criticism of his ability to play in cold weather, told his critics, “Whoever wrote that narrative can shove that one where the sun don’t shine!” He also told Denver Radio Station KOA-AM, “I felt pretty good out there today.”

New York Jets Take On The Atlanta Falcons

October 5, 2013 by Micheal Savoie

Both of these teams are having a season that is a lot different than last year. That is putting it mildly. Both teams are in 3rd place in their respective divisions. Neither team expected to be in the standings where they are now, but the more surprising of the two is the Jets.

The Visitor

The New York Jets are in the twilight zone of the league after an embarrassing 38-13 loss to the Tennessee Titans. The first three weeks were less demoralizing, though, as the Jets beat the Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home. The New England Patriots almost gave the Jets another win, too, in the Foxborough match. However, expectations have dived deep – and in dramatic fashion – thanks to last Sunday’s blowout game.

It’s just a quarter of the way through the season, but it’s not too soon to make predictions. As the Jets head into the coming week, there are a couple of things fans need to know:

TOUGH WINS, IF ANY

First of all, from this point onward, wins are going to come hard. For the first time in three seasons, New York has almost zero chance of making the postseason. The Jets started out relatively strong, at 2-2, but it’s too soon to be celebrating. Their schedule over the coming two months is tough… and terrifying. The Jets will visit the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football, then off to Baltimore for a date with the defending Super Bowl champs, then Cincinnati, and play home games against the New Orleans Saints, Patriots and Miami Dolphins. All of this happens before Week 14!

Combining the records of the Jet’s upcoming opponents, we get 25-22. If we take away the next two games against the Falcons (1-3) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (no wins yet), the remaining record of New York’s opponents is a staggering 24-15.

Hopefully, their good defense should help the New York Jets to remain competitive against the tougher teams, although it’s a bit of a stretch to see them win more than seven games. The 2013 Jets might be better than what the final record suggests after all.

THE WORST TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL IN THE LEAGUE

The Jets could easily have been 4-0 if turnovers hadn’t been cost them dearly. The Jets get at least a pair of turnovers in every game, and Jets rookie Geno Smith has given the ball away 11 times in his first four games this season. If he continues to perform at this rate, it’ll be a record-breaking 44 turnovers over 16 games. Smith makes poor decisions, which might be an understatement, since he underthrows receivers on deep routes. Rookie or not, Smith has to take care of the ball if he wants to keep his starting job for the rest of the season.

Also, while the Jets’ defense might be solid, it still fails to pose much of a threat against opponents enough in the turnover battle. Over the first four games, only two takeaways have occurred in favor of the Jets.

All in all, this turnover differential ranks a negative-nine (-9) – merely a point ahead of the Steelers (who are still winless during a bye week). It won’t be much of a surprise if they end up below Pittsburgh in the turnover race by the end of the year.

The Home Team

The 2012 Atlanta Falcons were the #1 seed in the NFC and were tied with the Denver Broncos for the best record in the NFL; they barely missed a trip to the Super Bowl, falling short on a failed 4th down conversion against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game.

The Falcons came into this season as one of the favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, so far things have not gone as planned and they are currently 3rd in the NFC South with a 1-3 record, behind the resurgent New Orleans Saints and the Carolina Panthers.

The reasons behind the Falcons slow start this season starts with their defense, last year they were 5th in the league in points allowed per game at 18.7, this year they are currently 22nd in the league allowing 26 points per game. This is due to the fact that they lost one of their defensive leaders John Abraham; he led the team with 10 sacks and 6 forced fumbles last year but was released by the team in the offseason and has since signed with the Arizona Cardinals. They signed Osi Umenyiora to replace him but has only contributed 6 tackles and 2 sacks so far this season. They also lost hard hitting corner back Dunta Robinson; he didn’t create a lot of turnovers but came up with some big tackles for the Falcons last year.

The Falcons big free agent acquisition Steven Jackson, was supposed to give them the running game that the team lacked last season to complement star quarterback Matt Ryan, but he got injured in the second game of the season against the St. Louis Rams, and is doubtful to return for another week or two. Pro Bowl Wide Receiver Roddy White has also been playing with an ankle injury, which seems to be affecting his production.

The good news for the Atlanta Falcons is that quarterback Matt Ryan is still playing at a high level like he did last year, the teams they lost to were all undefeated until the Miami Dolphins lost to the New Orleans Saints on Monday, and they play the New York Jets next which is a team they should be able to beat before heading into their bye week. Steven Jackson should be ready to go after the bye week, and Roddy White also gets an extra week to get healthy.

They lost their three games by seven points or less, if the defense can improve their performance and start getting some pressure on opposing quarterbacks, they will be just fine.

The Falcons have a few tough games left on their schedule against four playoff teams from last season, and a home game against the division leading Saints. They will have to find a way to win a couple of those games if they are to make it back to the playoffs.

My Prediction:

The Jets defense is pretty strong, but Matt Ryan has the ability to make plays when he needs them. If the Falcons can keep a balance between run and pass, the Falcons will win this one.

Updates:

Jets announced they moved RB Mike Goodson to active roster & promoted WR Michael Campbell from P-squad. Expect to see both Monday…