NIAGARA FALLS, NY- Happy Monday. Happy Veterans Day! (A day early). Thank you to all those who served. I’ll keep it simple today: Jets Win!!! Knicks and Rangers Recap.
NY Jets Win Streak
What is this? A Jets winning streak? I don’t even know how to react to this, let alone that they were the only New York team to win this weekend.
I will say I owe our own Big Ben Whitney an apology. Last week he literally said, “A team that’s 1-7, what difference do these great players make?” And sure enough, the Jets went out and won a game without two of their best defensive players, who they just traded away.
It was an atypical type of win. They had a kickoff return and a punt return for a touchdown. I can’t remember the last time I’ve ever heard of a team pulling that off, so hats off to the special teams.
Gang Green did this constant thing of trying to get Justin Skyler Fields started, and when he struggled, they got the ball to Breece Maelik Hall, who surprised me with a lot of touches and screen plays that made things happen. They might want to try to flip that script more often.
Either way, they’re not completely out of the playoffs, but if they can finish with anything more than four wins this season, that’s a positive.
NY Knicks
The Knicks had an undefeated week. They benefited from a relatively soft schedule—two of the games were against the Wizards and the Nets, who probably have the worst records in the Association.
It’s really hard to judge anything you’re seeing because you love these wins, but are they against playoff-caliber teams? The one playoff contender they faced was the Timberwolves at home, and the Knickerbockers took them apart with ease. To be fair, that was likely down to Anthony Edwards just returning from injury.
NY Rangers
The Rangers have the best road record in the league and have scored the most goals on the road. But they also have the second-most goals allowed at home and the worst home record in the league. The inconsistency is starting to give me a cold.
This week, they lost at home to Carolina, were shut out, and then were thoroughly smashed by the Islanders. But they did pick up a win on the road in Detroit.
I still don’t know what to make of this team. The chemistry seems off. Hopefully, the “home cooking” will finally click, but until this inconsistency sorts itself out, I don’t know what to make of them. Maybe they aren’t screaming anything beyond a number 6 seed in the playoffs.
Come back tomorrow, for more insight from the new expert, Big Ben Whitney.
