Bronx, NY - The New York Jets lost three-straight road games and were left for dead after only 5 games in the 2011 football season. It wasn't so much that they lost those games after starting the year 2-0. It was the way they lost them. They lost by 10 traveling across the country to face the Oakland Raiders in the Black Hole. The following Sunday night they got abused back east by the Baltimore Ravens. The final was 34-17 but the game was never that close. They had a chance to right the ship when they faced hated division rival the New England Patriots. They only trailed by 3 at halftime but could not stop Tom Brady and company in the second half as the Pats amassed 446 total yards by game's end. Running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis trampled over Rex Ryan's defense for 136 rushing yards.

Then the infighting began with veteran wide receiver Santonio Holmes calling out the offensive line and their failure to protect quarterback Mark Sanchez. When Derrick Mason, Plaxico Burress, and Holmes complained to Ryan about the offensive play calling, Mason gets traded to Houston. Although Ryan and General Manager Mike Tannenbaum denied it, many in and out of the organization felt Mason was used as a scapegoat. The New York Jets were in an early season crossroad when they faced the winless Miami Dolphins.

Although they came away with the victory, Miami gave them a run for their money. The more talented San Diego Chargers came into MetLife Stadium before the Jets were scheduled for their bye week. Sanchez throws 3 touchdown passes to Burress and Shonn Greene rushed for 112 yards. The defense forced 2 Phillip Rivers interceptions and shut out the Chargers in the second half. After the bye, their next 2 games would be against the Buffalo Bills and the rematch against New England. A chance to distance themselves and put themselves in the position to win the division. One down one to go.

In what may have been their best defensive performance, the Jets shook off first-half offensive mistakes and buffaloed the Bills 27-11. How dominant were they defensively? They only allowed 14 first downs for the entire game while picking off two Ryan Fitzpatrick's passes. Buffalo did not score in the first half. They kicked a field goal early in the third quarter and did not score again until the game was totally out of reach. Fitzpatrick had averaged 234 yards per game. He ended up with 191. The running game, led by Fred Jackson, came into the game averaging 135 yards. The Jets stuffed them, giving up only 96 yards. If not for a first-quarter Sanchez red zone interception, a fumble and a Nick Folk-missed field goal, the game would have been a complete laugher.

The New York Jets had been 0-2 under Rex Ryan coming off the bye week. He reminded the team of that stat and it must have caught their attention. Now he's hoping they can keep the momentum going when Wonder Boy, Tom Brady, comes to town Sunday night.
A win would at least give them a tie, depending on what Buffalo does when they travel to Dallas Sunday afternoon.

Know one thing: The Jets will be looking at the tapes from the New York Giants, Patriots game to see what Big Blue did on both sides of the ball to come away with a 24-20 victory. It was the first time the two teams met since the Giants blew up New England's quest to run the table in the 2006-2007 season winning the Super Bowl in Arizona. Although the game Sunday did not have that kind of significance, it showed the Giants could overcome injuries at key positions against a quality team. Running back Ahmad Bradshaw was out with broken bone in his right foot. Starting wide receiver Hakim Nicks hamstring prevented him from playing. Still, Eli Manning showed why he is becoming one of the elite quarterback's in the league. Twice, with his team trailing, he drove them downfield to take the lead.

First, down 3 (13-10) with a little more than 7 minutes to go, Manning directs an 8 play, 85-yard drive connecting on a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham. Brady gets the ball with 3 minutes to go and good field position as Manningham was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. Nine plays later, the Patriots took their last lead of the day when Brady finds tight end Ron Gronkowski for a 14-yard touchdown pass. With 1:36 left in regulation, a field goal would have sent the game into overtime. Manning wanted it all. Starting at their own 20, Manning completes passes to wide receiver Victor Cruz (19 yards) and tight end Jake Ballard (28 yards). Looking downfield on his next pass attempt, Manning steps up in the pocket and scrambles for 12 yards. On the next play with Cruz streaking towards the end zone, Manning heaves the pass as Cruz gets bumped by free safety Sergio Brown who is called for pass interference. It sets up the game-winning, one-yard touchdown pass to Ballard.

Both the New York Jets and the New York Giants set themselves up with big wins to dictate how their season will go from this point on. After losing three in a row, many were ready to throw dirt on the Jets. They can put some room between them and New England with a win Sunday night. The Giants travel to San Francisco to play the surprising (7-1) 49ers. It only gets more interesting after that as they face the Eagles, New Orleans, and Green Bay. Hopefully, they can get both Bradshaw and Hicks back. They're going to need them.

East Rutherford, NJ - The week started out for the New York Jets with head coach Rex Ryan making another obnoxious, demeaning remark. This time about San Diego head coach Norv Turner. Ryan could not backpedal from the statement fast enough. He might still be apologizing. Then, on Friday, Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis hangs up on a blowhard sports radio host, while trying to defend his 100-yard interception touchdown return against the Miami Dolphins Monday night. With a bye week staring them in the face, followed by two straight division games against Buffalo (on the road) and New England (at home) the Jets could not afford to lose to the Chargers. Ironically, the guy who just might have saved their season is the same guy who had been M-I-A for most of the first six games of the year.

Plaxico Burress came into the game with 14 catches for 218 yards and 2 touchdowns. Not really the offensive production the Jets were hoping for when they signed the enigmatic receiver after spending nearly two years in jail on a gun charge. By games end, Burress would haul in 3 touchdown passes in the 27-21 victory over the Chargers.

Ryan attributed a big part of the victory to the exuberance of the fans. "I want to tip my hat to the fans," he started. It had to be super hard for the Chargers to communicate. You talk about home field advantage. It was probably the difference in the game."

The fans didn't have much to cheer about in the beginning as the offense, once again, came out sluggish. Mark Sanchez (who was pretty subdued after the game) saw his first pass of the game to tight end Dustin Keller get taken away by linebacker Donald Butler as he was falling to the ground. 37 yards later, Butler gives his team a 7-0 lead. You could not help but think the Jets were mumbling to themselves, "oh no, not again." Their second possession ended a string of 4 consecutive three and out over the last 2 games when they marched down the field, resulting in a 35 yard Nick Folk field goal.

The defense continued to struggle going into the second quarter as Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers extends the lead to 14-3 after a 14 play, 76-yard drive finding tight end Antonio Gates for a 2-yard touchdown catch. Not to be outdone, Sanchez (18-33, 173 yards, 3 TD's, 1 Int.) finds Burress for the first of his 3 touchdowns bringing New York within 4 (14-10). San Diego takes an 11 point (21-10) lead on the very next possession as Mike Tolbert caps an 11 play, 87-yard drive, finishing with a 1-yard touchdown run. The Jets are cascaded with a chorus of boos from the more than 79,000 fans as the half comes to the end.

"There was no panic, there was no chewing anybody out," said Ryan of his halftime message to the defense. They must have gotten the message as they didn't give up a single point in the second half. The Jets closed the gap to 4 points (21-17) when Burress' second touchdown catch of the day was highlighted by a 15-yard run by Shonn Greene. He finished his day with 112 yards on 20 carries. His second straight 100+ yard game. "The offensive line did a great job," Greene started. "When everyone does their job, we move as a unit."
With the defense showing Rivers a different look every time he took the field, San Diego struggled the way the Jets did at the start. First, with the Chargers threatening on the Jets 25, looking to extend the lead, Rivers pass to Vince Jackson gets tipped and falls into the hands of that man, Revis. He returns it 64 yards to the San Diego 19 yard line. At one point, it looked like he would take it to the house. "What I should have did is what I did last week and cut it back," said Revis.

Five plays later, the Jets would take their first lead of the day (24-21) when Burress hauls in his third touchdown catch of the afternoon. This time, with San Diego playing him one on one, he steps inside towards the goal post for the 3-yard catch. In all of the excitement with the media suffocating him at his locker, Plax had a hard time remembering how the play developed. "I didn't think the guy (cornerback Antoine Cason was the victim on all 3 of his touchdown catches) would play me with outside leverage," he began.

"He just gave me the release and I just worked it. I didn't have time to finish the rout I beat him so bad at the line of scrimmage."

The Jets defense did not let up their second-half dominance after going up 27-21 on another Folk field goal (30 yards) after Rivers gets picked off, this time by cornerback Kyle Wilson. With 1:29 left and a chance for the Chargers to stage a come from behind win, Rivers comes up short missing his last pass to attempt to Jackson.

Like the team they share MetLife Stadium with, the New York Jets now have a chance to get healthy as they don't play again until November 6th when they visit Buffalo. Hopefully, there won't be any off the field issues like there was leading up to their game against San Diego.

"We played well," said ex-Charger LaDainian Tomlinson, who battled the flu.

He did start but came out after only gaining 14 yards on 5 attempts.

"This was our best performance of the year. We had great focus this week in practice and guys understood the magnitude of going into the bye week with a win," Tomlinson continued.

Giants' Picks Appear to be More Strategic

The 2013 NFL Draft held last week at Radio City Music Hall further revealed the differences between the direction of the New York Giants and the New York Jets. For the Giants, they continue to show an organization that has been a model of consistency on and off the field (with the exception of the Plaxico Burress fiasco), while the New York Jets continue to be a dysfunctional group from the owner to the head coach and its players. The new General Manager John Idzik is trying to change the direction of the team so he can't be judged at this stage. Suffice it to say though, the moves he's made up to this point has all the making of adding to the soap opera atmosphere.

Two years ago, the New York Giants won its second Super Bowl under head coach Tom Coughlin. Last year, they failed to make the playoffs. Looking to shore up its offensive line, General Manager Jerry Reese took Justin Pugh the 6-4, 301lbs offensive lineman from Syracuse University with its first pick hoping not only to protect Eli Manning but to improve the team's running game. Reese then got defensive with his next two picks taking Ohio State defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins 6-2, 320lbs and defensive end/linebacker Damontre' Moore Texas A & M 6-5, 250lbs. Moore does come with some baggage, as he was arrested in 2011 for marijuana possession. Reese is hoping his age (21) and playing with veterans will enable him to excel in putting pressure on opposing QB's. With Manning having a relatively healthy career, Reese raised eyebrows by using its 4th pick to take QB Ryan Nassib another 'Cuse alumn. Reese compared him to Andy Dalton and says Nassib has the "it" factor. At 6-2, 227lbs Nassib led the Orangemen to an 8-5 record and defeated Geno Smith (more on him later) in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium. Two of the last three draft picks were on offense with guard Eric Herman 6-4, 320lbs from Ohio and running back Michael Cox 6-1, 214 lbs from UMass. Reese is hoping he can be a sleeper as scouts like his size and are impressed with him catching the ball out of the backfield. The last defensive pick was Richmond's safety Cooper Taylor 6-4, 228lbs who comes to the team with health issues including a knee injury in 2011 and a pec tear in 2012. His size intrigued Reese as he could also be used in a linebacker role.

Said Reese, "I can envision him on special teams with that size and speed."

The New York Jets drafted Mark Sanchez four years ago and he immediately proceeded to take them to within one game of the Super Bowl in his first two years. The "Sanchize" was thought to be a Jet for the rest of his career. The last two years has turned into a recurring nightmare for him and the team. They have missed the playoffs the last two years as the roster has been turned into a virtual minor league team due to injuries and trades. Most recently the trade of the best cornerback in the league in Darrelle Revis. The Tim Tebow experiment was a total bust and his saga ended Monday when he was released by the team. That said, Idzik took 6 of 8 offensive players hoping that whoever is under center will be able to get the team in the end zone. A place they hardly saw all of last season.

The Jets began its draft night by taking CB Dee Milliner replacing Revis and hoping he can be at least half the player Revis is. That may be possible as Revis is coming off major knee surgery. Milliner, 6-0, 201lbs from Alabama will have a tremendous amount of pressure on him especially if Revis comes back strong with his new team Tampa Bay. At 6-3, 294lbs, Sheldon Richardson from Missouri was taken as their second pick. The defensive lineman has been touted as an effective run stopper. The Jets next six picks were all on the offensive side of the ball. The team had Radio City buzzing when they selected QB Geno Smith 6-3, 218lbs from West Virginia. Smith is now part of a QB roster that includes Sanchez, newly signed free agent David Garrard, Greg McElroy, and Matt Simms. Sanchez will clearly have to show signs of his first two years if he wants to be the starter when the season begins. At least Sanchez will not have the circus that was Tebow around him. Whoever is under center, they will be hoping that the final draft choices will lead to an effective passing and running game. Offensive guard Brian Winters 6-4, 320lbs from Kent State, offensive tackle Oday Aboushi 6-6, 310lbs from Virginia and offensive lineman William Campbell 6-6, 310 from Michigan rounded out the picks. How they handle the transition from the college game to the pros will remain to be seen. The Jets like Aboushi's versatility and although listed as an OL, Campbell is expected to be switched to the defensive side of the ball. Trading with New Orleans, the Jets picked up four-year veteran running back Chris Ivory. Idzik likes the fact that Ivory is a "physical runner" who has size and speed. Ivory will be looking to take over from the often injured Shonn Greene who was not retained by the team after declaring for free agency.

The 2014 Super Bowl will take place at Met Life Stadium in New Jersey the home shared by both the Giants and the Jets. No home team hosting the game has ever played in the game. By the recent actions of both organizations, one team, the New York Giants has a better chance of getting to the big game. Unfortunately for the New York Jets, they will be lucky to finish the year with a decent record. The Giants have to deal with the re-signing of wide receiver Victor Cruz which could affect how successful they could be. The Jets, aside from the quarterback issues, are also dealing with Santonio Holmes coming back from a major injury and not having a possession receiver.

Training camp for both teams is going to reveal so much more than their draft picks.