As the New York football landscape tilts unevenly toward the New York Giants and away from the New York Jets at an alarming rate, there is at least some solace for the latter's beleaguered fan base. The Jet season appears poised to disintegrate before Thanksgiving, but the Giants' schedule is a burden of herculean proportions. Early, the Giants need to compile victories, and then manage the schedule the rest of the way.
Dallas (home) - This was a key game because of the significance of a strong start. They seemed uncomfortable in certain situations, unlike the Giants of late last year. They'll recover - 0-1.
Tampa Bay (home) - The Bucs might be a team with an upside that could manifest in a couple of years behind young quarterback Josh Freeman. Right now, they're eminently beatable - 1-1.
Carolina (away) - Young quarterbacks such as Cam Newton generally need time to negotiate a pass rush such as the one the Giants unleash - 2-1.
Philadelphia (away) - The Eagles are not the team everyone believes they are, and Michael Vick is not the player he once was. The Eagle hex over the Giants is gone - 3-1.
Cleveland (home) - The Browns are dreadful, and no other analysis is necessary - 4-1.
At this point, the Giants should be 4-1, while the Jets might very well be 1-4. Will Rex Ryan be on the hot seat?
San Francisco (away) - This is the 49er revenge game from last year's playoffs. The Giants are better than San Francisco, but passion and emotion win out here - 4-2.
Washington (home) - Here's another young quarterback who the Giants will eat for lunch. Robert Griffin might be dynamic, but he hasn't met Justin Tuck and Jason Pierre-Paul in the backfield yet - 5-2.
Dallas (away) - The rematch with the Cowboys should be interesting. By this point, Eli Manning should be humming along. If the Giants don't drop about a hundred passes in the opener, perhaps the result is different. Here, they cruise - 6-2.
Pittsburgh (home) - Ben Roethlisberger won't be rattled by a pass rush, but the Giants will be up to this challenge in every other way. Manning should be able to skewer a suspect secondary - 7-2.
Cincinnati (away) - Here's an upset, simply because the Giants generally throw one or two into the mix every year. This game, before a bye and after the Steelers, is perfectly suited for a Giant loss - 7-3.
Green Bay (home) - By this time, the Giants will be sick to death of hearing from the Packers how lucky they were in the championship game last year. Expect Aaron Rogers to spend much time picking himself up off the turf - 8-3.
Washington (away) - The Skins are better than they were, but have a long way to go before they start making playoff plans - 9-3.
New Orleans (home) - The chip-on-the-shoulder Saints will play the entire season as the scorned. The Giants have the division well in hand by now, and succumb to the passion - 9-4.
Atlanta (away) - Last year, the Falcons threw another playoff stinker at the viewing public. They're just a notch below the really good teams, and it's demonstrated when they have to play them - 10-4.
Baltimore (away) - The Ravens can be nasty when they need a game, and they could need this one. At home, they should outlast the Giants in a defensive gem - 10-5.
Philadelphia (home) - Once again, the Eagles collapse last year was no mistake. This is a top-heavy team with a bunch of players who believe the clippings - 11-5.
Glenn Vallach has been a football fan for most of his lifetime, but never played organized pigskin unless you consider the thousands of youth hours running slant routes on city streets with a friend serving as Joe Willie. Don Maynard was his idol, an adulation he took seriously, complete with a number 13 stitched to his sweatshirt. He remains a New York Jet fan through so much disappointment and embarrassment over the years. Coach Rex Ryan has rekindled a dormant fire, but sometimes he feels as if he doesn't understand the likely end result of all his efforts. It has been 42 years, after all.
Sources:
- · Yahoo! Sports New York Jets page
- · Yahoo! Sports New York Giants page
- · Yahoo! Sports Eli Manning page
- · Yahoo! Sports Michael Vick page
- · Yahoo! Sports Justin Tuck page
- · Yahoo! Sports Ben Roethlisberger page
- · Tom Canavan, The Associated Press, Giants need to get act together after dismal start
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