
| Retiring Jason Taylor, Dolphins hope to eliminate… | |
MIAMI – Jason Taylor’s ready to hang it up, while the New York Jets are desperate to keep playing. Taylor plans to retire after Sunday’s season finale for the Miami Dolphins. They’ll try to send him out with a win against the Jets, who need a victory to keep alive their slim hopes of making the playoffs. Even if the Jets win, to earn a post-season berth they’ll also need losses Sunday by Cincinnati, Tennessee and either Denver or Oakland. “This is the first time I have ever been in a situation like this,” said receiver Plaxico Burress, a 10-year veteran. “If we do get in, great. If things don’t work out, we have nobody to blame but ourselves.” The Jets (8-7) lost control of their destiny when they were beaten last week by the Giants 29-14. Now the Jets are in danger of missing the playoffs after reaching the AFC championship game each of the past two years, and elimination could come at the hands of the AFC East rival Dolphins (5-10). “It would be beautiful to ruin their playoff dreams,” Miami defensive end Kendall Langford said. “We’re playing for pride. They’re playing for a playoff spot.” The teams meet in a regular-season finale for the first time since 2008, when the Dolphins won to clinch their only division title since 2000. That game eliminated the Jets from playoff contention. This year the Dolphins have been consigned to a spoiler’s role since Halloween, thanks to their 0-7 start. Taylor’s retirement announcement this week provided some additional motivation for the last game. The NFL’s active sack leader spent 13 of his 15 seasons with Miami, made the Pro Bowl six times and ranks with the greatest players in franchise history. “His presence will be missed, not only in our locker room, but in this organization,” receiver Brandon Marshall said. “Those guys are once-in-a-lifetime guys. We would love for him to go out with a win.” Coincidentally, Taylor played last season for the Jets before rejoining the Dolphins. “He was a great teammate, and we loved having him here,” Jets tight end Dustin Keller said. “But they’re going to want to send him off with a big win, and we can’t let that happen. We know what kind of player he is and what he’s capable of, and we can’t let him disrupt the game.” Taylor has 16 1/2 of his 139 1/2 sacks against the Jets, although he managed none when the teams met in October. New York won 24-6, and while the Dolphins have been a much better team lately, they’ll be without 1,000-yard rusher Reggie Bush because of a knee injury. The Dolphins took a 17-point lead at New England last week before losing 27-24, which left them 0-5 in games decided by a field goal or less. The Jets’ loss to the Giants carried even more sting, because it may wind up costing them a playoff berth. Coach Rex Ryan declared months ago that these Jets are even more talented than the two teams he took to the AFC title game. But New York has given up 74 points while losing the past two games, and the offence was so out of sorts against the Giants that Mark Sanchez was forced to throw a career-high 59 passes. The Jets rank 27th in the NFL in yardage, stirring speculation about offensive co-ordinator Brian Schottenheimer’s job security. With typical bravado, Ryan insisted the season might yet be salvaged. “We can do some damage if we get into the playoffs,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that, because I think we play excellent defence, I think we can run the football, and I think that’s what you have to do this time of year.” But getting to the post-season is now a long shot. Three of the other games that will determine the Jets’ fate are late starts Sunday, which means that if they win, the Jets will likely be flying home when they learn whether their season is over. “We’re just focused on the things we can control, and that’s trying to play well against Miami and coming up with a win,” Sanchez said. “After that, we’ll see what happens. Hopefully we get a win and on the plane we find out everything worked out in our favour. But all we can control is winning.” The Dolphins, meanwhile, are bound for another off-season of change. Coach Tony Sparano was fired Dec. 12, and the next coach will be Miami’s seventh since the start of 2004. With a losing record for the third consecutive year — the Dolphins’ first such stretch since the 1960s — a roster shake-up is likely, too. Given his team’s situation, the 37-year-old Taylor decided the time was right to call it quits. He’ll do it after playing his 204th game for the Dolphins, more than anyone aside from Dan Marino. “It’s great to have a chance to walk away in front of your home crowd in a city that means a lot to you against an opponent that you’ve had a tremendous history against,” Taylor said. “I want to win the game, but not so I can say I won my last game. This is not about Jason Taylor and my career. There are guys in the locker-room that are fighting for jobs, fighting for their futures, auditioning for their next jobs. So I’m just a small piece of this team train. I’m going to do my part Sunday to help win.” That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow. Posted in jets-news | Comments Off
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| Jets’ Sanchez says he’s improved, staying upbeat | |
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP)—Mark Sanchez has been knocked around all season, It has been one trying year for the embattled New York Jets quarterback. “Win, lose or draw, I’m the luckiest guy in the world, I promise,” Sanchez Sanchez was referring to the chance he and the Jets (8-7) have to make right The Jets had control of their postseason hopes at this time a week ago, but “Look, the game never worked out,” coach Rex Ryan said. “That’s not the But it could all come down to the play of Sanchez, who threw a career-high “Have we played our best? No,” Sanchez said. “But it’s still the best Despite two straight losses that have the Jets’ season teetering on the Not on Wednesday. Sanchez answered every question as if he had snapped out He says there’s “no question” that he has “absolutely” improved in his “Whether it’s defensive recognition or clock management and stuff like The numbers actually aren’t all bad. His career-high 24 touchdown passes are “I’m not out to prove anything like that to people,” Sanchez said of Sanchez has taken lots of the blame for the inadequacies and inconsistencies “That kind of stuff happens when you’re not playing as well as you’d like Sanchez believes he “absolutely, no question” has the support of everyone “He works hard, things haven’t gone particularly well for him or us, but he Sanchez believes he can start in that direction Sunday in Miami with the “I don’t think we’ve hit our potential this year, that’s for sure,” he Notes: LB Garrett McIntyre has a sprained knee and didn’t practice. His Thanks for visiting my blog =). Posted in jets-news | Comments Off
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| Top Five Games in New York Giants-New York Jets… | |
According to a Yahoo! Sports report, the Christmas Eve clash between the New York Giants and New York Jets actually matters for a change. “For all the history of these teams – the Jets have Joe Namath and Super Bowl III while the Giants have Lawrence Taylor, the David Tyree catch and three titles – none of it intersects,” says the author of the article, Jason Cole. But of the 11 times the teams played during the regular season over the past 42 years, five were highly entertaining and significant. Here’s a look back at the top five games in the Giants-Jets rivalry. New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning 1) Nov. 1, 1981 The Giants and Jets were both in the midst of the playoff race by the midway point of the season, and the early November matchup between the squads would determine who was the top team in New York in the 1981 season. The Jets, featuring legendary Sack Exchange players Mark Gastineau, Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons and Abdul Salaam, sacked Giants quarterback Phil Simms nine times and held their offense to just seven points. The Jets came away with a 26-7 win. 2) Dec. 18, 1988 The teams squared off in the season finale of the 1988 season, with the Jets coming away with a 27-21 victory to knock the 10-6 Giants out of the playoff race. The Jets, who finished 8-7-1, were already eliminated from the postseason, but they showed plenty of heart in the affair. The Jets held a 20-7 lead in the third quarter, but Phil Simms hit Stephen Baker and Lionel Manuel for touchdown passes to give the Giants a 21-20 advantage. But with time winding down, Jets wide receiver Al Toon caught a touchdown pass to seal the victory for the Jets and end the Giants’ playoff hopes. 3) Nov. 2, 2003 The Giants would win their third straight game against the Jets in a wildly entertaining overtime affair on Nov. 2, 2003. New York Jets quarterback Chad Pennington pushed the pace of the offense and led a late comeback charge, tying the game at 28-all in the waning minutes of regulation time. But Giants kicker Brett Conway booted a field game with four seconds left in overtime to earn a 31-28 victory for his team. 4) Oct. 7, 2007 The last time the Giants played the Jets in the regular season was in the 2007-08 season, the year they won the Super Bowl over the New England Patriots. The Giants would ultimately win their fourth consecutive game over the Jets in thrilling, come-from-behind fashion. The Giants found themselves behind, 24-14, but Eli Manning connected on touchdown passes to wide receivers Jeremy Shockey and Plaxico Burress to put his team back on top. Aaron Ross then sealed the victory with a game-changing interception, ultimately helping the Giants come out on top, 35-24. 5) Nov. 10, 1974 The Jets earned a 26-20 win over the Giants for their first ever regular-season overtime victory. It was also the first time any regular-season NFL game ended with an overtime win, as this was the year that the league instituted overtime to non-playoff games. It was a back-and-forth affair, with the Jets tying the game in the fourth quarter on a quarterback sneak from Joe Namath. In the overtime period, Namath connected with Emerson Boozer to seal the win for the Jets. Eric Holden is a lifelong New York Jets fan and he will be pulling for his team to knock Big Blue out of the playoffs on Christmas Eve. Follow the author on Twitter @ericholden. Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content. That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow. Posted in jets-news | Comments Off
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| Eagles’ playoff hopes have improved vastly | |
PHILADELPHIA (AP)—Andy Reid and the rest of the Philadelphia Eagles are The Eagles (6-8) are still in the playoff hunt in a mediocre NFC East “I’m a big Jets fan this week,” Reid said Monday. So is everyone else in Philly. The Jets-Giants game should be over before the Eagles kick off against “You control what you control,” Reid said. “You have to play the game For the Eagles to repeat as NFC East champions, they must beat the Cowboys If all four scenarios work out Philadelphia’s way, the Eagles would win the “It feels good that we are still alive,” tight end Brent Celek said. The Eagles weren’t supposed to be in a position where they had to scratch But a 1-4 start doomed the Eagles and they’ve failed miserably to live up to Now it appears both Reid and Castillo have secured themselves another “You have to understand that we really didn’t have training camp,” Thanks for visiting my blog =). Posted in jets-news | Comments Off
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| Jets to Keep Having Their Way with NFC East?: A… | |
The Philadelphia Eagles have to stay alive by upsetting the New York Jets on Dec. 18. But Eagles fans like myself have to be discouraged, since they are catching the Jets in the middle of their latest late-season surge. What’s more, New York is already familiar with the NFC East and could clinch a postseason berth by having a perfect record in that division. The Jets are 2-0 against NFC East competition and will now face the Eagles and New York Giants in consecutive weeks. If the Jets sweep the NFC East, they will be 10-5 and should pretty much be locked in for the sixth seed in the AFC playoffs. Given the state of this division, it would make sense if it went 0-4 against a second place AFC East squad that is probably a more ideal division champion than the Cowboys, Redskins and Eagles. The Jets really got the ball rolling in making the NFC East pathetic in Week 1. If they had not rallied against the Cowboys on Sept. 11, perhaps Dallas would have rode the momentum and not blown so many more late leads the rest of the season. If that had happened, then the Cowboys would have likely won the division by now and would just be playing for a bye. But instead, New York let Dallas shoot itself like it has in half of the 13 weeks after that. The Jets really needed that break, considering how tough things have gotten for them afterwards. Despite being 8-5, New York could easily be out of the playoff hunt altogether thanks to their inconsistency. That is why the Jets are fortunate to feed on the NFC East, as it did against the clutch-free Cowboys and against the flailing Washington Redskins on Dec. 4. Now if they can feed on the equally flailing Eagles this week and the even more inconsistent Giants on Dec. 24, it should all but secure another playoff berth. Normally, sweeping the NFC East would be unlikely for anyone but an elite team. However, the Jets are still not elite quite yet and this division hasn’t been this far away from elite in a long time. The Cowboys, Giants, Eagles and Redskins have all forfeited chances to take control of the East this year – which probably makes the Jets all the sadder that they can’t transfer divisions. After all, they could probably win this East division in a walk and it would get them away from the New England Patriots at long last. Of course, if the Jets slip up against the Eagles and/or Giants, it would speak to how they are as disappointing as their NFC East “brethren.” But eventually, some Eastern division team other than the Patriots is going to have to prove that they can be a real contender this season. Since the NFC East seems uninterested in filling that void, the Jets will just have to sweep that division, reach the playoffs and make another miracle postseason run themselves. Robert Dougherty is a life-long Philadelphia resident who has followed the Eagles since he was eight years old. Other stories by this contributor Eagles reduced to rooting for Bucs over Cowboys Rex Ryan flirting with becoming next Andy Reid McCoy, Jones-Drew wasting away career seasons Jets on cue to have another slump? Reid not only NFC East coach fighting for his job Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content. Feel free to leave your comments below. Posted in jets-news | Comments Off
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