NIAGARA FALLS, NY: Happy Monday, Not . It’s the last Monday in September, which is shocking because it has flown by. On tap for today: Mets Final Week Review, NY Football State of Mind
Mets Final Week Review
They finally put down the season—it’s over. The Mets lost the series to the Brewers and split the series against the Nationals, but the final loss came on the final game of the season. Which was fitting.
Unfortunately, owner Steve Cohen loves GM David Stearns, so it doesn’t seem like he’s going anywhere, but I’m not impressed. For some reason, Andy Green was given the reins for next season after being the caretaker manager this season when Carlos Mendoza was fired. I don’t think the Mets felt like they improved under Green. Maybe they had a better record, but at no point did they ever look dangerous offensively or get like a five- or six-game winning streak, so I’m a bit miffed by this decision. Outside of Stearns liking his guys, it’s Green, so there we go.
The amount of offseason work that has to be done on the Mets, I’m not sure. Because by the books, they spent a lot of money this past season and seemed ready to challenge for the NL East title, if not the overall title, and then it just fell apart. So I have no idea what to make of this. I am going to wait to see what happens on actual opening day to judge the product. I could care less about who signs and who doesn’t.
The J-E-T-S are still living in the “what if” phase. They are getting more confident quarterback play and are in games, but much like they found a way to lose last week against Green Bay, they found a way to lose this week in Detroit. It’s not like they held the lead against Detroit like they did against Green Bay, but they were in this game, down by 8 with 10 minutes left or so, and they were closing in. They got it to four, but then Detroit scored a field goal and the Jets weren’t able to tie it.
The Jets defense, though, is still looking good, with Aaron Glenn calling the plays. I mean, going into the game they were number one in run defense overall, and I think they’re still going to be top five after this game. The offense is somewhat competent; it just has to match a bit of the defense. And honestly, they just need a couple of big plays. You know, you can hold a team to under 300 yards passing, but if 70 yards of that is a big throw late in the game that gives them the lead, it doesn’t matter.
And I think that’s where the Jets are. They’re going to continue to have an upward trajectory. But when the season’s over and they look at the games they could have or should have won to make the playoffs, I think Detroit and Green Bay are definitely going to be on the list.
Buffalo Bills
The Bills’ defense looked sloppy in Game 1, they came to play in Game 2 because it was the home opener, and in Game 3 the defense looked good but man, the offense was sloppy. Somehow the offense committed five turnovers, but the defense held it down enough for the Bills to get the victory.
I think overall it’s a bad sign that they looked sloppy in two of their three games, but it could also be a positive sign that they’re working out the kinks and should be much more dangerous as the season goes by. I don’t know if I 100% agree with that, but I’m going to need to see more games to make up my mind. We’ll see if both the offense and defense can produce a quality performance next week.
New York Giants
Famous Jameis does it. Now mind you, the opposition was the Titans and it wasn’t a thriller, winning 12-7, but it was a win on the back of Famous Jameis. And it looks like he’s going to have to keep doing it all season.
QB1 Jackson Dart seems to have hurt his knee and needed surgery in last week’s game against the Rams when he was sandwiched. So now the offense is going to come down to Jameis Winston and him getting the ball to key players. I think they’re actually going to be held together by having John Harbaugh run the team, because he knows how to squeeze out performances—as long as he doesn’t have Todd Monken as his coordinator.
Come back tomorrow for The Big Aristotle.
