NIAGARA FALLS, NY – Happy Monday! Welcome to my first article of the new year. I am gonna skip talking about the Knicks and focus on NFL news – and the Rangers. We will NOT be discussing Angry Ward’s Vikings, for the sake of peace around the MTM HQ hallways. With that, here are today’s topics: NFL NY Recap, Knicks News, Rangers Update
NFL NY Recap
The Giants returned to Earth against the Eagles (second stringers no less). After costing me a Fantasy Football title, the Jints’ offense and Drew Lock went back to sucking. The Eagles had a good start led by some guy named Tanner McKee (I can’t tell you how I miss the days of Robert, Anthony and Patrick over Tanner, River and Chase!). The Iggles rested everyone, including Saquon Barkely, yet somehow the Giants couldn’t get it done against a second string defense and offense. I am even more upset about last week’s game. Philly got a phast start and as the Giants tried to claw back, the Eagles held. It was especially brutal watching the Giants defense give up dumb penalties to help the Eagles get a field goal to secure the game.
The Jets were to beat the Miami Dolphins to finish their season on high. It was a typical Gang Green game – as it couldn’t be a dominating performance. Miami knew that KC was playing its second string against Denver, who needed the win to make the playoffs. The Fish needed to win and for the Broncos to lose to make the playoffs. Once it started going one way for Denver, the life went out of the Dolphins. The Jets took advantage and got stronger, as Aaron Rodgers threw for 4 touchdowns. It was a nice home win to end the season. The chaos of the offseason starts now.
The Bills also rested everyone. They still manage to put up a fight and almost won against the New England Patriots. The Patriots started their other Rookie QB Joe Milton III and he played well. It was a pointless game with only draft position at stake. There is really not much to talk about, it was uneventful.
NFL Black Monday
One of the the talking points that got me was how the Bucs tried extra hard to make sure Mike Evans got his 1000 receiving yards for an 11th straight season to tie Jerry Rice and also hit his 3K 3 million dollar bonus. I thought that was very classy of his teammates and QB. Some say that Eagles not playing Saquon and denying him a chase for the single season rushing record was poor form… The Lions-Vikings game was the biggest regular season game ever and it went a bit like I expected. Minny was not supposed to be this good, so they were a little unprepared for a big game and the Lions were able to take advantage and secure a win.
The other key development today is Black Monday in the NFL. 3 coaches were fired before the season ended. And surprisingly another coach was fired immediately on Sunday. The Patriots axe Jerrod Mayo. A bit unjust, but the guy following Belichick was always gonna be in trouble, even a handpicked successor. The Interim coaches will all be fired… I hope the Raiders keep Antonio Pierce and get him a QB… And maybe the Jets have a homecoming for former Jet – and Detriot Lions DC – Aaron Glenn.
BREAKING: Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen survive.
Fired Mid-Season
Robert Saleh, Jets
Matt Eberflus, Bears
Dennis Allen, Saints
Fired Black Monday
Jerred Mayo, Patriots
Black Monday Candidates
Antonio Pierce, Raiders?
Doug Pederson, Jaguars
Mike McCarthy, Cowboys?
Jeff Ulbrich, Jets (interim)
Thomas Brown, Bears (interim)
Darren Rizzi, Saints (interim)
Rangers Update
The Rangers may not be dead yet. They went 2-2 this week and considering they had gone 5-14 the past few weeks, that’s great. The key was in all 4 games was they showed a lot more fight. in a 5-3 loss to the Panthers, they fought back from 2-0 to tie the game and briefly led. They won a tight one against the Bruins. Then the Blueshirts fought hard in a loss to the Caps, and followed by dominating Chicago. Is it too early to wonder if Peter Laviollete will get fired? Maybe. Can the Rangers turn these performances into consistent wins? Can we see a 3=game win streak? If we can get that going then we can consider it a sign of life.
Thanks for reading and check out Ben Whitney, who will tell you how the NY Giants will trade DOWN for a future Hall of Fame QB.
