NIAGARA FALLS, NY – Happy Monday everybody! It is the first Monday of December and the Christmas shop clock (TM) has been activated. That aside, we won’t be talking Knicks or Rangers today. Instead it will be football. All football. Football in its three forms: gridiron, rugby and soccer. First, we’ll do and NFL NY Recap. Next we’ll look at the drama around World Rugby Coach of the Year winner. We’ll finish a Major League Soccer update. Let’s kick things off with…
NFL NY Recap
The Giants played the role of Thanksgiving turkeys and got served by the Dallas Cowboys – of all teams, in their Turkey Bowl. Big Blue started out competitively behind led by Drew Lock, (who I had no idea was on the team). Lock didn’t play too badly but the Cowboys offense – led by Cooper Rush – took advantage of their opportunities. They held on to the ball were methodical and capitalized on Giant turnovers and mistakes. The G-men did try to make a run in the 4th quarter but fell short and lost 27-20.
The Jets continued to twist the knife into their fans. They came out of the bye week with the best first quarter they have had all season. They scored 14 in the first quarter and after Seattle scored their first touchdown of the game, the Jets ran it back 99 yards on the kickoff. It looked like they were on their way to a dominant victory when they recovered the fumble after the kickoff. But then Aaron Rodgers threw an interception to former Jet lineman Leonard Williams. Williams took the pass from his own 9 yard line all the way to the Promised Land. And that was the game in way. The score became 21-13, as the kick was missed, but the Jets would score just once again as the Seahawks went on to score another 13 unanswered points – including a TD with 4 minutes left in the game. What really hurt was on that drive, the Jets were up 21-19 but gave up 4 big penalties – like 20 yards for Pass Interference and 15 for a horse collar on a 3rd down stop that could have gotten Gang Green the ball back. Typical of the Jets, their final drive got to the Seattle 29 before self destructing with a penalty and a sack to force a 4th and 15. That would have been a miracle if it worked. 25-21 win to Seattle.
The Bills needed to win to keep pace with Kansas City for number one seed in the AFC. The Niners are in a down slump or the last two seasons have been deep fakes. They have been hit hard by injuries and just don’t look the same. Star Running back Christian McCaffery. On the other hand the Bills seem determined to break their fans hearts by continuing to win games. The Bills are keeping pace with NFL Ref favorites (at least according to bitter fans). It was not much of a game in the snow as the BIlls just started out like a house on fire and kept pouring it on. The Niners were never really in despite scoring. Final score was 35-10 Bills.
You don’t have to understand Rugby to understand this debate. You are gonna have to watch the shows on www.RugbyWrapUp.com to understand the difference between 7s and 15s. Over the last year South Africa 15s head coach Rasmus “Rassie” Erasmus has led the international powerhouse to the World Cup, defeated arch rival New Zealand in their yearly matches to win the Freedom Cup. In winning the Freedom Cup, they also defeated Australia and Argentina to win the Southern Hemisphere Championship between the top 4 nations south of the equator and for good measure on the yearly tour to Europe his side beat all the four home nations of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. He lost the award to France 7s coach Jerome Daret. Now in Daret’s corner is that he took his team to 5th in the 7s series (RWU will explain the series) and then upset the whole world as they made a barnstorming run to upset world #1 Argentina in the Quarters, World #4 Australia and defending back to back Olympic Champions Fiji to win the Gold. So the question is does the guy that extracts a little bit more from a perennial powerhouse and returns them to greatness deserve more credit than a guy that took a competitive side to heights not reached before. As a guy that has been in Daret’s position in my brief coaching career, I lean toward Daret.
Major League Soccer Playoffs
Traditional Soccer fans love to bang on the MLS for having playoffs. Almost everywhere else in the world its simply win the regular season and you are champions. Because of this odd quark the NY Red Bulls have never won the MLS Cup. They have won the regular season 3 times, which fans demanded it become an award so it is named the Supporters Shield. However, this year because of the this quark the Red Bulls are in the MLS Cup final after beating Orlando in Orlando. So now they just have to defeat LA Galaxy to win the title. Can they do it and win their first title.
Thanks for reading and come back tomorrow for Ben Whitney, who will tell you how the World Series was fixed.
