NIAGARA FALLS, NY: Happy Monday. everybody, on this last Monday of October. We’ve got Election Day coming around the corner with the start of November next week, and it’s only going to get colder. What’s still hot is all the sports to cover, so we’re going to do a weekend review of the Rangers, a weekend review of the Knicks, a quick look at the WNBA Finals, and the New York football state of mind..
Rangers Weekly Review
The Rangers are starting to be a cause for concern. They looked really struggling now after starting off the season pretty hot. After that first loss to Boston, they lost again, and it’s been kind of hot and cold for rookie Dylan Garand—a lot of cold this week. They lost to the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs despite having a strong showing against the Lightning.
I don’t want to put a lot on the rookie because it’s not like he’s been playing terribly. I mean, quite frankly, who is? Everything just looks sloppy. They’re taking bad penalties, the penalty kill has to do better, the power play has to do better, and the defense in front of the goal has to improve when you’ve got a kid back there.
And I will keep an eye on the trade for the Detroit Red Wings’ Goalie John Gibson, because he’s in the last year of his contract and he might be just what is needed to get the Rangers back in competitive and playoff form.
Knicks Week
Hug the nearest Knicks fan—they’re gonna be hyperventilating. The Knicks are now 0-3, with two losses at home. Now, these aren’t things to panic over; they lost narrowly to the Sixers and narrowly to the Celtics. But what is a bit of concern is that this loss last night was by a lot more than they lost to both the Philadelphia Sixers and the Boston Celtics.
The defending champions are now 0-3. The NBA season is super long; there are still another 79 games to go, so I don’t think we need to panic. But yeah, the team needs to collect a letter more. I’m worried about the backup center spot—maybe Andre Drummond is the exact fit—but they have made some trades. I just saw they acquired Dalton Knecht on a two-way contract from the Lakers, so maybe that will help. But we will see.
WNBA Finals
I will briefly touch on this because there’s just so much to cover today, but I want to recognize the efforts of these teams. We have a full blockbuster series here, tied at two games apiece, with Game 5 at home for The Golden State Valkyries, so we have a real series.
It’s been a tough series in terms of seeing a lot of points—ones are at a premium—but a huge aspect of that is because it’s the number one and number two defenses in the season. So you’re going to get a lot of fierce, in-your-face defense. I mean, the Atlanta Dream has the Defensive Player of the Year, so there’s also that.
We don’t know how it’s going to turn out, but I think it really kind of plays out as a game where somebody getting to 75 is likely to win right now, because it’s about defense overall. Both teams are averaging about 38% shooting, roughly. So it’s been a great series if you’re a fan of offense—wait, if you’re a fan of defense, it’s been some good stuff. We’ll see what happens in Game 5.
NY Football State Of Mind
NY Giants
The Giants are sitting on top of the NFC East, period. A very angry win in overtime against the Texans in the first start for J.J. McCarthy.
I don’t think McCarthy really earned the start over Jameis Winston. I don’t think Winston was playing that badly last week—I mean, it wasn’t great, but I guess head coach John Harbaugh was never really sold on Winston as anything more than a spot starter, and the idea of doing the whole season with Winston left them lukewarm. Although McCarthy had some flashes, I guess he was unproven, but he provided more upside, so they went with him.
McCarthy was solid, not great, but as usual, the Giants ran the ball and played good defense. That’s a pretty simple formula, and a veteran coach like Harbaugh knows how to make life easy for his rookie QB. People forget Harbaugh is considered a very solid offensive coach despite the defensive prowess of his teams over the years, and he’s always been able to get good production out of his quarterbacks—especially his backups when he was in Baltimore.
NY Jets
The J-E-T-S lost, and they had no business losing. And it does remind me of why a lot of Jets fans didn’t want Aaron Glenn. It’s not the fact that he was a team legend; it was the fact that he’s the fifth rookie coach they’ve gotten in the room, and they look at how the Giants are thriving with a veteran retread. They didn’t give themselves the benefit of getting a retread because right now the Jets are not playing good situational football.
Like we saw against the Patriots last week, when on short yardage they needed some key first downs and they floundered. This week we watched them on first and goal from the one-yard line end up having to settle for a field goal kick from the 8. And that’s just it. It doesn’t matter that the defense barely gives up a lot of passing yards—hopefully only 210 passing—if you give up a 63-yard touchdown pass when you need a 3-and-out.
And find your top receiver, Garrett Wilson, a guy who is on the verge of going to the Pro Bowl, and you have to think to yourself he’s going to probably leave the franchise soon because you can’t get him the ball. And not to make the playoffs, they drafted a freak tight end, Kenyon Saddiq but can’t get him enough touches—also there’s that. There’s just a black hole in pass rush on the downs, and it’s just frustrating because the Dolphins are clearly tanking. They were winless going into this game, and really they are that team.
The Jets should have been up 21-7 at half. They came out and missed a field goal in the second half, and just, you know, could have had a touchdown but then settled for a field goal. So they left seven points on the board and they lost by three. That sums it up.
Come back tomorrow for The Big Aristotle.
