Slow Starters Finish Fine

Sanchez and the Jets are lining 'em up and knockin' 'em down.

New York Jets 34 Washington Redskins 19

As the third quarter of the regular season came to a close the New York Jets got an easy road layup as they took on the terrible Washington Red Skins and pulled away in the final minutes 34-19.

In typical Jets fashion this season the defense was dominant, outside of the ‘Skins first two possessions, and waited for the offense to catch up. Behind some explosive plays from Fred Davis and rookie Roy Helu running the ball, Washington took a three point lead into the half. In the second half Rex Grossman and company had a difficult time moving the ball on the Jets defense. The nail  in the coffin came when former Buffalo Bill bust Aaron Maybin sacked Grossman forcing a fumble that led to a touchdown.

The past two weeks the Jets have rallied behind Mark Sanchez for consecutive fourth quarter comebacks. Gang Green scored three touchdowns including two from this week’s Like a Boss nominee Shonn Greene. (https://seeyouinoctober.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/like-a-boss-week-13/) The rebirth of the running game has allowed Gang Green to return to the ground and pound they were so famous for and allowed Sanchez to make higher percentage throws while still giving him the freedom to make the big plays. In Jet victories Sanchez has 16 touchdowns with only four picks and a completion percentage just below 60. The yardage and completion percentage may not put him on any leader boards, but there is more than one way to win a football game. When it counts the most is when Sanchez shines brightest with his highest QB rating coming in the fourth quarter and an 8-1 TD to INT ratio. He hasn’t made the big mistake (unless it was taking an ill-advised timeout) and is keeping the Jets afloat.

The most exciting thing about this team is probably their schedule in the fourth quarter. The defense has come around and is playing much better than their

Sick catch from Holmes. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

early season woes, but still lack a true shutdown performance outside of the week two contest with Jacksonville. The offense is completely impotent in the first three quarters, but finishes strong. Their final four games come against the Chiefs, Eagles, Giants and Dolphins. Out of those four, the .500 Giants have the best record. The way Rex and his boys are playing right now they look like a team that can defeat inferior opponents. While catching New England seems unlikely with their cupcake schedule, the wildcard is very possible.

The Jets seem to get more comfortable when their backs are against the wall and with improved play all around they may be peaking at the right time. Super Bowl aspirations may seem far fetched, but the first step towards fulfilling Rex’s annual guarantee is to make it to the dance. All the top teams in the AFC have embarrassing losses, so it is tough to pick a clear cut favorite, but the Jets certainly aren’t even in the discussion. However, I don’t think that teams will want to play them. The offensive line is much better than before and with the ground game clicking they will be able to control the clock and keep potent offenses like that of New England off the field.

-Erik

Wasn’t this week’s game pretty boring? Are you feeling more confident about the Jets than before? Let us know what you think via our twitter (@seeuinoctober) or leave us a message.

Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

Hakeem Nicks played like a boss. Too bad it came in a loss. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Green Bay Packers 38 New York Giants 35

Yesterday it looked as if the NFC playoff picture was about to shift dramatically as the Lions, Bears and Cowboys all lost and the Giants gave the Packers a run for their money. However, when the final scores were tallied everybody lost, so nobody gained any ground despite the best efforts of the Giants in a game nobody thought they could win. If only games were 59 minutes instead of a full hour, the G-Men would have forced overtime instead of giving Aaron Rodgers the ball with nearly a minute on the clock, which was plenty of time to drive for a game winning field goal and escape the Meadowlands with perfection in tact.

Big Blue played a nice bounce back game after the embarrassing performance last week in the Superdome. The non-existent running attack made an appearance as Ahmad Bradshaw returned and combined with Brandon Jacobs to give the Giants 100 yards on 20 carries. Eli Manning spread the ball around hitting seven different receivers for 347 yards and three touchdowns while completing 58% of his passes. In the fourth Manning and the rest of the Cardiac Crew that is the Giants offense this season orchestrated a game tying drive ending with Hakeem Nicks second touchdown catch of the day. The defense had a difficult time stopping the Packers, but then again so have all defenses. While Rodgers is having a season for the ages, his receiving core is outstanding. There were very few dropped balls and every time he went for the sideline somehow the receiver got his feet in bounds.

While Nicks made some huge grabs for Manning, there were also several drops and plays where he failed to keep his feet within the field of play, which has plagued the receiver in his young career. As the cliche goes the quarterback gets too much of the credit and too much of the blame. Fans are in love with the potential of Nicks, but he needs to bring in those difficult balls to become a premiere wide out. His first touchdown was an outstanding one handed catch over pro-bowler Charles Woodson, who could do nothing, but hold Nicks and he still came down with the score.

The primary campaign for this blog has been against the Giants coaching staff, but this week I put the loss on the players. Defensively it appeared that they were in the right positions and they did prevent big plays, but as Troy Aikman said, “A good throw beats good coverage.” Rodgers looked like a mere mortal for most of the game even throwing a pick to Chase Blackburn in his return in Big Blue. In the final drive it showed why this packers offense is so difficult to stop. The receivers are tough to cover, the throws are right on the money and the running game is respectable.

Thrice before in my lifetime the Giants have taken on an unbeaten opponent and they were 2-3 going into this game having toppled the Broncos and Patriots

Prince Amukamara and the Giants DBs had a tough day. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

in the Super Bowl. It did take the Giants two tries to beat the Pats in 2007 after losing their week 17 match up by the identical score of 38-35. Many are pointing to this as a possible rallying cry and turning point to this season. With the season already three quarters finished it is tough to believe the Giants will go through that championship transformation once again, especially given their second half woes under Tom Coughlin and company. With two head to head match ups against the Cowboys, including next week, It’s possible for the G-Men to win the division outright or possibly squeak into the wildcard race with the Lions stumbling and the Bears losing Matt Forte as well as Jay Cutler. They have to continue to play solid football down the stretch and gain some momentum going into the postseason if they can make it.

While this game may become a rallying cry, right now it is just a loss and puts the Giants in a bad spot. Close, but no cigar as they say. Before the San Francisco loss, I believed in a “good loss,” now I’m not so sure. “Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing,” said legendary Packers coach Vince Lombardi and right now the giants have dropped four straight. That’s a hard habit to break.

-Erik

Did we learn something new about the Giants yesterday? Can they make the playoffs? Let us know what you think via our twitter (@seeuinoctober) or leave us a message.

 

Taking Off the Fourth Quarter

All I do is score points- Gronkowski family proverb

If you just looked at the final score of the Patriots win over the Colts on Sunday yopu might be fooled into thinking the Patriots just escaped with a  victory. That the Colts kept the game close and the Patriots might not have deserved the 20 point spread they were favored by. You would be wrong.

The Patriots dominated the Colts for three quarters, jumping out to a 31-3 lead, and then took the rest of Sunday off. It is rather tiring absolutely steam rolling opponents week in and week out after all. The win pushes the Patriots record to 9-3 allowing them to keep pace with the Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers for the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

On offense the Patriots stuck with the same game plan they’ve been utilizing all season. Hitting Welker a ton, 11 receptions for 110 yards for the NFL’s leading receiver, except when the Patriots neared the end zone then it is strictly Gronkowski time. Gronkowski set the single seas touchdown record for a tight end yesterday by catching two and running one in as well. Just get him the ball near the goal line and he is going to end up putting six points on the board. Tom Brady missed passing for 300 yards (come on

It's not intercepting passes but getting sacks is good as well.

Tom 293 isn’t going to get you past Marino’s record) but that was mainly because in the fourth quarter he was chucking balls deep on many first downs and then handing the ball off on second and third. The rushing attack did leave something to be desired thought amassing only 73 yards on 24 carries. Stevan Ridley had a team high 33 yards in a game in which the Patriots packed it up and just tried to wait out the clock at the end.

Jarod Mayo said he was disappointed with how the defense played in the fourth quarter. The defense did allow to Dan Orlovsky to throw for 353 yards and they did allow 21 points in the fourth quarter. Obviously at the point the game was a laugher and it would have taken a miracle for the Colts to actually come back and win but it is a bit distressing that the defense was that weak even when they could rest on a big lead. You still want to close games out strong because come playoff time you won’t have 30 point leads to rest on.  Patriots fans have to hope that New England just zoned out and went through the motions on Sunday and also hope that it does not happen again. It’s rare to see a Belichick squad look unmotivated and I’m sure Belichick will not let the fourth quarter failures go unnoticed. It was good to see Devin McCourty back in the secondary to strengthen the Patriots flimsy secondary. At some point they might have had to bring in rowdy fans to play zone coverages this season. Mayo and Vince Wilfork looked like the dominating, and veteran, leaders of this team totally a combined 17 tackles with Wilfork picking up ma sack as well and Mayo grabbing an interception.

This game needs to be looked at with some perspective. Yes the Patriots did not win by 20 points but they did dominate the majority of the game. They just looked uninspired in garbage time allowing the Colts to put up some meaningless points (unless you bet on the game that is). So what to take from this game is that the Patriots are still a flawed team, but that isn’t news to anybody. Everyone in the league knows the defense is weak yet here they are after week 13 with the AFC pretty much locked up and a real chance at the No. 1 seed in playoffs. Plus it’s not as if the other AFC favorites aren’t without weaknesses. (Pittsburgh only managed a 13-9 win over Kansas City, The Ravens offense can look like a middle school team at times and the Texans are starting a quarterback who barely kept an ACC team afloat a season ago). And those teams don’t get to play the Redskins next week.

-Phil

Think the Patriots got exposed even in victory? Let us know via Twitter (@seeuinoctober) or in the comments.

 

Lucky Week 13

Last week I went 1-2 only getting the Patriots game right. I continue to pick with my heart when it comes to the G-Men and that is really killing me. For the Bills I didn’t think they would muster any offense without Fred Jackson and Fitzpatrick reminded me why I fell in love with him. Now we’ll see how I respond to last week’s games and if I can get a perfect week. I’m feeling good about it, but then again I always am. Also a quick side note: Thank goodness none of the SeeYouInOctober teams are on Monday Night this week. I don’t think I can listen to those knuckleheads they call analysts for another week.

Tennessee Titans at Buffalo Bills -1.5

This game really is a toss up. I really can’t figure out this Titans team, not that I’ve tried too hard, but they’ve had an up and down season. Much has been made of the Bills cooling off after the hot start and now they are playing a team of a similar level. It is a coin flip, but the edge goes to the Bills. They are playing at home in Ralph Wilson Stadium where they’ve done well this season. Last week I was really impressed by Coach Chan Gailey, receiver Steve Johnson and Fitzy. Gailey spread the field out and went to a lot of empty backfield sets and allowed Fitzy to spread the ball around. Johnson made Revis look like a second stringer as he found separation all day. Believe it or not I think losing Fred-Ex was a good thing for this Bills team. Opponents have taken him out of the game plan for the past month and Fitzy has a ton of success throwing to tight end Scott Chandler. The Bills have righted the ship and Fitzy and company are steering it straight towards an 8-8 record.

New York Jets -3 at Washington Redskins

This is what we in the business like to call a gimmie game. Are you kidding me, the Jets are only three point favorites? As the Jets make their push for the playoffs the ‘Skins are stumbling. I predicted when Washington played the Bills in Toronto they would go two for the rest of the season and with last week’s victory over Seattle they will only find one more win during the rest of the season, but it’s not coming here. I knew the Skins were bad in preseason and I realized they would be terrible when they switched from Grossman to Beck. The only question now is how will this stint effect Coach Shanahan’s legacy? Jets will roll.

Green Bay Packers -6.5 at New York Giants

I’ve been picking my Giants all season, outside of the embarrassment that was the Seattle game, but in case you haven’t been reading my game wraps of recent weeks, I’m not happy with the way they’ve been playing. The G-Men have become the sexy pick to knock off the Packers and that’s part of the reason I’m not buying it. The Packers have had a week and a half of motivation and preparation. Rodgers and company will come out fired up and the Big Blue D doesn’t look that threatening right now. The loss of linebacker Micheal Boley has shown in this three game skid. He has returned to practice, but may not be able to go on Sunday. The play along both lines has been pathetic of late and with the mobility of Rodgers, it doesn’t look like it will get any better. Ahmad Bradshaw is coming back off a foot injury and fans hope that will ignite a spark in the running game, but he wasn’t playing very well before he went down with the injury. I’ll save my Coughlin hate for the post game. Pregame is all on the players.

P.S. I 100% believe the Giants will win this game outright in my heart, but I have to start picking with my head and sound like I know what I’m talking about!

Indianapolis Colts at New England Patriots -20

When it comes to the Patriots, especially in recent weeks, I like to keep it simple. There is a reason they were the best of our four teams in our preview and they are showing it now. The offense is clicking on all cylinders and the defense has played better of late. Brady and Belichick are still the preeminent coach and QB combo in the NFL and they aren’t afraid to run up the score. When they get the lead they will still take shots down field and even though it is a big number, the Pats have covered some ridiculous spreads this season including last week’s blowout of the Chiefs.

-Erik

Will the Bills win at home? How bad are the Redskins? Can the Giants pull the upset? How big would the line have to be before you would pick the Colts? Let us know what you think via our twitter (@seeuinoctober) or leave us a comment.

The Giants Are Who We Thought They Were

How do you bring the big boy down? Tackle him low, or let him run into his linemen. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

The Giants suck. Really bad. Last night they traveled to the Superdome and watched the Saints offense run a clinic.  The G-Men got dominated in every facet of the game as reflected by the 49-24 trouncing.

The turning point in the game happened early on when the riverboat gambling coaching staff faked a field goal and the Giants came away with a rare stop of the high octane New Orleans offense. Defensively the Saints leave something to be desired and Eli Manning and company were driving looking to get on the board first when Manning was intercepted in the end zone on an under-thrown ball to Jake Ballard. That was their one shot at the lead. The rest of the game the offense, outside of Manning, looked pitiful with Brandon Jacobs tip-toeing through the tulips and rarely finding his way out from behind the line and a few key drops in the passing game.

Before the season began the biggest question mark for the G-Men was how would the secondary hold up with the cavalcade of injuries that befell that unit before the season even started. Up until the game against San Francisco, the secondary held up well enough to allow Manning to work his fourth quarter magic. Corey Webster and Aaron Ross, with the help of safety Kenny Phillips, had really stepped up and were containing some big time wide outs. Who knew the linchpin was Michael Boley? Without the linebacker the Giants defense has had a difficult time stopping opponents with rookies filling out the entire linebacking core, which was exposed last night by Jimmy Garham. With greater use of the tight end throughout the league the Giants are in trouble.

The past couple weeks I’ve said there isn’t much need for game analysis anymore because teams have shown us who they are. We have to look at how they are improving or diminishing. The Giants aren’t improving in any area on the field. The secondary is getting burned, tackling is weak, the running game is a non-factor, the pass rush has disappeared and the coaching staff has no answers. Which brings me to my other strongest point for the past few weeks: Coughlin and the coaching staff has to go.

The pieces are there. With Hakeem Nicks, Mario Manningham and the emergence of Victor Cruz the receiving core has far exceeded the expectations placed

Brees is good. Giants suck. Just ask the MNF announcing crew.

on them because of their youth. The offensive line has been patchwork, which seriously has hurt the running game, but that is something the coaches know going into each game and do nothing to create space for the backs outside of hoping the line can create holes, which they clearly can’t this season. I was defending Perry Fewell for containing the explosive plays and getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Last night the Giants couldn’t get pressure and didn’t bring extra men because they were afraid of the New Orleans receivers. When losing that badly Fewell needs to bring more pressure and to hell with the secondary.

There was a point in the game when they showed the size of Brees’ pocket complete with relaxed elevator music. Even the broadcasting team got bored with the game and converted to the church of the New Orleans Saints praising everything from the way they pulled the city through the Katrina tradgedy (6 years ago) to Drew Brees’ eyes.

It was a tough watch for all frustrated Giants fans. This was the team we expected if only they hadn’t beaten the Patriots we never would have gotten our hopes up. Fortunately TVs are on sale for the holidays if you broke yours last night. Maybe you’ll even get a discount. I’m sure if you explained to any Giants fan they will understand and feel sympathy for you. For me, all I want for Christmas is a new head coach.

-Erik

Can the Giants turn it around? Is the coaching staff to blame? Let us know what you think via our twitter (@seeuinoctober) or leave us a comment.

Jets Keep Hope Alive

The Jets are flying high after the win over Buffalo

New York Jets 28 Buffalo Bills 24

With playoff hopes on the line the Buffalo Bills traveled to the Meadow Lands to take on their divisional rivals, the New York Jets, and came up just short losing 28-24. Just to be clear playoff hopes were on the line as these .500 teams squared off. Even with the victory, the Jets have an outside chance a best for the post season and the Bills are finished.

After the past three weeks it looked like the Buffalo offense couldn’t run, or pass for that matter, without Fred Jackson. For the rest of the season they will have to find a way to deliver without Fred-Ex, and not because of defensive schemes, as he has been placed on IR with a broken fibula. It seems Coach Chan Gailey and company found the answers this week as the Bills found the end zone three times with three different receivers. CJ Spiller is now the feature back in this offense and last year’s first round pick managed 55 yards on 19 carries with three receptions.

The real play maker for the Bills this week was quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who threw for 264 yards and three touchdowns with zero interceptions. This was Fitzy’s first positive touchdown/interception ratio since October 30th against the woeful Washington Redskins. It has been a difficult November for the Bills. Things haven’t been much better for the Jets who lost their past two games since beating the Bills at the beginning of the month. Mark Sanchez also had a nice game this week after 41 year old Mark Brunell took some snaps with the first team offense. Sanchez threw four touchdowns with one pick and 180 yards after a terrible start to the game.

Defensively neither team brought their A game. It was more like a B- to C+ kind of game. Even Darelle Revis had a difficult day covering Steve Johnson. The

(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

Bills wide out had eight catches for 75 yards and a touchdown. It should have been a much bigger day for Johnson including a possible Like a Boss award and, almost as important, a Buffalo win. He dropped a sure catch as the Bills tried to answer the game winning score and after his TD got an excessive celebration penalty after he mocked Plaxico Burress’ nightclub incident, Santonio Holmes’ Jet dance and then crashed and burned. Kicker Dave Rayner was forced to attempt the kick off from the 20 yard line and he completely screwed it up. Seriously check out the video.

The Bills made costly mistakes with the botched kick off and nine penalties for 85 yards as the patchwork offensive line worked to acclimate themselves to game speed as a unit, and the Jets turned the ball over twice. This kept the game close and exciting. Sanchez looked like the quarterback Rex Ryan wants to see all the time as the Jets drove 82 yards for the game winning score in the fourth quarter.

The Jets are still on the outside looking in with the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers currently ahead of them for the playoff picture. With the Redskins, Chiefs and Dolphins on their remaining schedule the Jets are a safe bet to go 10-6 with the other two games coming against the Eagles and Giants. However, the way things are shaping up that may not be good enough. The Bills looked similar to the Bills of last season playing a tough game, Steve Johnson putting on a great touchdown celebration and Steve Johnson dropping a wide open catch. Maybe next week they will bounce back at home.

-Erik

How do you like the Jets’ playoff hopes? What is the Best the Bills can now hope for 8-8, 9-7, 6-10? Let us know what you think via our twitter (@seeuinoctober) or leave us a comment.

Like A Boss-Week 11

Maybe my colleague Erik would have you believe it is all doom and gloom for SeeYouInOctober football. Well not if you’re team plays East of New York. For those that need that elaborated on the New England Patriots are doing just fine and for the second straight week will have a player receive the ever coveted Like A Boss award without any competition from the three other teams in SYIO’s coverage area.

Here are the nominees for the Patriots SYIO leading fourth Like A Boss award.

1. Rob Gronkowski Well Gronk is certainly getting comfortable with this award. After winning it last week he put up another two touchdown performance ( as well as 96 yards receving) as the Patriots rolled the Chiefs. The NFL needs to have his Pro Bowl jersey made up and they need it done yesterday.

2. Julian Edelman If you want to read jokes about Edelman’s groping ability you have come to the wrong place. (No, not because we are to high brow for that but because I exhausted them in this weeks Patriots recap https://seeyouinoctober.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/the-hooded-one-cometh/) Edelman did what every fourth string receiver does for the Patriots, play great defense. Troy Brown did it so why couldn’t Edelman? Edelman made a couple of tackles on D and special teams and threw in the knockout punch of a 72 yard punt return for a touchdown.

3. Kyle Arrington- Had to get a defender up here after they only allowed 3 points. How strange to see Mr. Arrington placed as a nominee for this award but with no other defender doing more than just doing his job, (even if that meant playing well) it’ll have to go to the man with two big, drive killing interceptions (putting him at a league lead seven) and an added bonus of five tackles.

And the award goes to…

Rob Gronkowski!!! Two spikes for two Like A Boss awards. Another week another Like A Boss performance for Gronk. You know you’re doing something right when you have more Like A Boss trophies/ribbons/plaques (we never did decide what the physical representation was) than Tom Brady.

Who do you think was the Boss this week? Let us know via Twitter (@seeuinoctober) or sound off in the comments.

The Hooded One Cometh

Julian Edelman finally found something to put his fingerprints on; a punt return for a touchdown.

To be honest last night did not start out the way the Patriots wanted. Tod Haley threw everything he had at the Patriots in the first quarter including a surprise onside kick which luckily the Chiefs didn’t recover due to an illegal touching penalty. (Officials have denied that Julian Edelman had anything to do with this incident). The Chiefs defense did a great job getting pressure on Brady and made the Patriots normally unstoppable offense look not just ineffective but awful. At the end of the first quarter the Chiefs led the Patriots 3-0 and seemed to be outplaying the Patriots in all phases.

Then the second quarter came and the Pats realized they were playing a 4-5 Chiefs team at home against a quarterback who has spent a little more time playing NFL football than I have over the past few years. New England then rolled Kansas City putting up 34 points and walking out of Foxborough like they had just gone through a light film session.

All season the Patriots have been talked about as a Super Bowl contender because of their offense, then just a mediocre team because of their atrocious defense. Then when the defense started playing better some hope has become restored and then dashed when the offense stumbled slightly. However one thing that has remained consistent; Bill Belichick is still coaching this team. Belichick is one of

GRONK SMASH!

the best coaches at making adjustments during games and he did it again last night and has really been doing it all season. (He is especially dangerous when he puts on that grey hoodie like he did last nigh)t. Last night the Chiefs didn’t give Brady a lot of time in the pocket so they went to a lot more screen passes and quick passes out of bunch formations.

The defense may not have given up a ton of yards but they made plays in the red zone and only allowed three points. They waited for Tyler Palko to make mistakes and he did (throwing three interceptions including three in the red zone). Kyle Arrington may not be able to cover and receiver but when it comes to picks he might be the next coming of Ty Law. (Although one was tipped right into his hands). Maybe Belichick has known what he’s doing this whole time. He knows his defense isn’t going to dominate you like the 49ers do so he puts his guys in position to limit the damage on the scoreboard. After all that is the most important defense stat; points allowed. How could we all have forgotten the bend don’t break defense? Our lack of faith(or mine) as Patriots fans has been disturbing. Not many coaches could pull together this intramural flag football squad of a defense and allow three points to an NFL team. Even it was quarterbacked by a long haired nobody from Pittsburgh.

Belichick has also throughout his time in New England has made it a habit of making guys play different positions and be expected to be abl to fit in seemlessly when they do. Well Julian Edelman really grabbed hold of that opportunity last night. (Alright last groping joke) Edelman had a 72 yard punt return for a touchdown that was really the knockout blow to the Chiefs. On top of that he was asked to play in the Patriots depleted secondary and although he might not have been Rodney Harrison, he shed some blocks and collected a couple tackles. Just another example of a guy stepping up and filling whatever role is asked of him. There a reason the Patriots seem to have so many folk heroes. Because you don’t become a hero by just playing one position but by doing anything and everything to help the team win a la Danny Woodhead, Tedy Bruschi, Troy Brown, Kevin Faulk.

There may be no bigger folk hero in Boston right now than Rob Gronkowski. Gronk grabbed four balls including two touchdowns, one in which he tip toed the line after running by a Chiefs safety. Then there was the emphatic spikes. Who has done more to bring back the spike, the oldest football celebration there is, than Gronk? The guy just plays all out every single play. Also isn’t about time we start calling him the ebst tight end in football. I’m tired of hearing about Jermichael Finley and Jimmy Graham. No doubt hose guys are good but they’re not blowing up ESPN every Sunday or making safeties look like Santa’s elves trying to tackle a bulldozer. You can say Welker isn’t the best receiver because he can’t out jump guys like Calvin Johnson or say Rodgers is playing better than Brady right now. Fine, I’ll allow that begrudgingly but right now Gronk is the best tight end and that’s just how it is, plain and simple.

The Patriots are now 7-3 and will travel to Philly to play a dangerous (and improving?) Eagles team but other than that the Patriots don’t face one team that they shouldn’t beat. They should get home field advantage right now and honestly there really isn’t anyone in the AFC that is hands down better than them. Pittsburgh is good and did beat them but how would they fare playing in Foxborough? The Ravens have been solid all year but have also put up some ducks. Who else is there? Houston? Oakland? Tim Tebow? New England has  No team with a winning record on their schedule the rest of the way plus a rematch with the Bills in week 17. We all know Belichick likes one thing as much as adjustments; revenge.

-Phil

Thoughts on the New England through 10 games?Are the Patriots the team to beat in the AFC? Sound off on Twitter (@seeuinoctober) or in the comments.

First Ever Like a Janitor Award

Each week of the NFL season we have given our Like a Boss award to a deserving candidate from one of our SeeYouInOctober teams and for the second week only Patriots qualified for the award as the Bills have dropped three straight and the Giants and Jets lost two straight. The Like a Boss award is given to a player who takes over the game and puts the team on his back to lead them to victory. Conversely, the Like a Janitor award goes to a guy who doesn’t even clean up messes.

Rex Ryan– Going in a different direction on this one. I realize he isn’t a player and he really is the boss, but right now Rex is riding an emotional rollercoaster and dragging his team along. He called his quarterback stupid, told a Pats fan to shut the f**k up and got Tebowed on Thursday night. Now his Jets are out of the playoffs and the defensive specialist can’t stop a college style offense running the option. He has done more talking and complaining than winning this season. In years past Rex annoyed opposing teams with his trash talk, but with two AFC Championship appearances, he got a little bit of a pass, but when you aren’t winning you shouldn’t be talking either. For more on Rex’s antics check out last week’s Wild Card Saturday. (https://seeyouinoctober.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/wild-card-saturday/)

Ryan Fitzpatrick– The quarterback of the Buffalo Bills was the toast of the NFL in the first quarter of the season. He was competing with Tom Brady for our Like a Boss award and even beat the Pats head to head. Since that time all the fame and fortune has gone to his head. The former Fitzmagic is trying to thread the needle too much throwing into tight windows and getting picked off. The month of November has been particularly difficult for the Bills signal caller with only 2 TDs and 7 picks. What do we call that? Fitztragic: the Ryan Fitzpatrick story about a man who went from Boss to Janitor in six weeks.

Jake Ballard- The Giants played horribly against the Eagles at home on Sunday Night Football. The entire team could be up for this award from Kevin Gilbride to the O-line to the D-line to Ahmad Bradshaw just for being hurt. I hate to single out one player, but Ballard was targeted seven times in the game with only one catch! These weren’t Eli Manning’s classic wobbly ducks either. Ballard got hit in the hands and in between the numbers as he was consistently getting open against the Eagles D, he just couldn’t catch the ball. Those drops were drive killers and he almost gave up an interception on another play as he slipped when Manning threw the ball in his direction. Cleanup at the 50!

And the award goes to…

All three candidates can share this award! Does it really matter who is the worst of the worst? These three teams are stumbling their way right out of the playoff picture. With no NBA what are we going to do if our teams don’t even make the postseason? I know Phil is happy because we will become Patriocentric, but for the rest of us do we really want to see the Pats do it again? Hell no! Let’s mop up these messes, put out the fires and make a push for the playoffs.

Horrible Losses

Yes that is a tackle for a loss behind the line of scrimage.

Philadelphia Eagles 17 New York Giants 10

For the second time this season the Giants laid an egg at home in a game they should have won as they fell last night to the Vince Young led Eagles 17-10.

Yes it was a rivalry game and those can go either way, but when you catch a team having a horrific season, who you already beat and they are forced to play their back up quarterback, that is a must win game. Now the Giants have the same record with the Cowboys and they hold the tiebreaker and a much easier schedule. For the second straight game it appeared to this fan and observer that the Giants were out coached. To be fair, the coaches have nothing to do with the horrific play of the offensive line last night and perhaps the Eagles defense is figuring it out late in the season, but the Giants failed to make any adjustments throughout the game. Every run was straight up the gut, where they found little room the entire game and every passing play was out of necessity because of the ineffective rushing attempts on first and second down.

Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbland, I mean Gilbride, calls the same conservative game each week and is saved only by Eli Manning and Hakeem Nicks or Victor Cruz or Mario Manningham who hook up for huge gains a couple times a game setting up touchdowns, but last night the receivers couldn’t have caught a cold in a snowstorm. No wonder Buddy Ryan punched Gilbride on the sideline during the game. The most unusual part of the game was that the Giants won the turnover battle with three picks of Vince Young, including one by Prince Amukamara in his first NFL game, as the defense gave the offense plenty of opportunities to create scoring drives. The offense in turn handed those opportunities to punter Steve Weatherford, who kicked those opportunities right back to Desean Jackson and the Eagles.

Outside of the interceptions however, the defense did a terrible job of getting off the field. They gave up 17 first downs including nine third down conversions many coming on the game winning drive where Vince Young looked as if he was leading the Longhorns against the Trojans. The prolific pass rush of the Giants only got to Young once when Jason Pierre-Paul recorded a sack. It was a frustrating night for Giants fans as they continually looked as if they would break out, but never did. Again the coaches can’t be blamed for the dropped passes or the poor play of both lines, but it seems like when other teams need to pick up tough yards they have plays in their bag of tricks while the G-Men only have hope.

So far this season the Giants have been a series of peaks and valleys and when they are riding high we want to crown them as one of the top teams in the NFL,

What is going on in this picture? I think DeSean was paying long snapper Zak DeOssie to tell them to kick it to him again. Because they did. Not sure why.

or at least the NFC or even the NFC East, but then we get reminded that they are just OK. They are like an average comedy. Many come out each year and they are all pretty funny, but the instant classics are few and far between like this year’s Horrible Bosses. It was a funny movie and worth checking out, but what was the signature joke? There really wasn’t anything that you would run out to tell your friends was the funniest part.

Much like Horrible Bosses, Big Blue is a traditional. They don’t try to redefine football or do anything surprising, but they have a lot of star power, average coaching and they will entertain you. With Jason Bateman, Kevin Spacey, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day to complement decent writing, disgruntled employees gave audiences a laugh, if only for 90 minutes.

Coming up the Giants will have to face off against a team of a similar ilk, the New Orleans Saints. We’ll call the Saints Hall Pass, a little more finesse, equal star level and same overall impact. The following week The Hangover comes to town with Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. This team is playing as well as any of the all time greats and are prepared to release the sequel to last year’s Lombardi trophy. It is a tough stretch for the G-Men before they get to play Malibu’s Most Wanted, I mean the Washington Redskins.

-Erik

Will this season be a memorable one or just a frustrating disappointment? Let us know what you think via our twitter (@seeuinoctober) or leave us a comment.