NEW YORK, NY – It’s unbearably hot here in the New York area and it seems like autumn is a long ways away, but football is back. We’re less than a week away from the start of the NFL regular season. The New York Football Giants should underwhelm this year. As Buddy Diaz pointed out yesterday, the Jints skipped on Sam Darnold and a number of other promising young quarterbacks in this year’s draft. Big Blue decided to ride with Eli for another season and don’t have a successor lined up.
Davis Webb is a decent backup but is not yet an long term solution. He’s got potential but he’s got a long way to go if he’s to be a viable long term option at starting QB. The Giants also drafted a quarterback in the fourth round of this year’s draft. Kyle Lauletta started last night’s game as Manning rested. Lauletta threw one first half touchdown in the game before giving way to journeyman and perennial practice squad QB, Alex Tanney.
Running Back Saquon Barkley, whom the Giants drafted with the second overall pick instead of taking a quarterback, looks like the real deal at running back. Barkley could take some pressure off of Eli and the passing game. But will it translate into more touchdowns and wins for Big Blue? That remains to be seen. While the Giants have improved on both sides of the ball, I think they’re a borderline playoff team at best. We’ll see how things go when they kick off their season against Jacksonville next Sunday.
After the Yankees pulled to within six games of the Red Sox, they’ve stumbled a bit this week. Dellin Betances came into close the game with Aroldis Chapman on the DL. He promptly served up a pair of homeruns and the Yankees lost another game they should have won. They lost two of three to a sorry White Sox team and now they’ve lost their first game against a sorry Tigers team. They’ll need all the wins they can get since they’re heading out west to play the A’s and Mariners. The Yankees hold a four game lead over the A’s in the first Wild Card slot. The Mariners have fallen off of late but are still poised to give the Yankees fits out west.
The Yankees should be getting Didi Gregorius and Gary Sanchez back soon, which will give the lineup a much needed boost. Aaron Judge should also be back in the next week or so. The Yanks will have their first choice lineup back in time to shake off the cobwebs for the playoffs.
Tomorrow also brings a slew of warm bodies via the roster expansion. I’m not sure how much this will help the Bombers, since they’re fighting to win every game they can. And they’ll have to clean up against teams like Detroit before they face the likes of the Okland, Angry Ward’s Mariners, and Boston in 12 of their remaining 25 games after this weekend.
We’re also a couple of weeks away from the start of NHL training camps. I know everyone is excited for that. Come back tomorrow for Junoir Blaber.
