Such Is The State Of Football In New York

This isn’t about the Yankees clinching the AL East and still navigating through drama in the form of Dellin Betances’ Achilles tendon and Domingo German’s domestic violence allegation or the update on Gary Sanchez’s health.  And it is not about garnering home field throughout the AL playoffs and through the World Series—Houston is likely going to have that in their favor.

It isn’t about the AL Wild Card race between a resurgent Cleveland team, a tough Tampa Bay squad and the seemingly always in the hunt Oakland A’s. Only 2 teams can make the Wild Card; somebody is odd man out.

Nor is it about the Mets not making it to the NL Wild Card even with the Cubs swoon, the Brewers rallying after losing Christian Yelich and the Cardinals acting like winners while the Nats see if they can make it through the week and head to the post-season. This despite the eye-popping numbers put up by Pete Alonso, who should get more than just Rookie of the Year accolades (he will suffer from Aaron Judge syndrome and only win Rookie of the Year honors) and the low E.R.A. posted (again) by Jacob deGrom. 

So this week’s installment is not about anything remotely baseball. Whether it be the Wild Cards, the forgotten and formidable Atlanta Braves and the equally dangerous Minnesota Twins. Or any potential firings (Joe Maddon??).

I am not writing about college football. Anybody would’ve foreseen Wisconsin romping over Michigan, Ohio State beating in-state rival Miami without mercy, Alabama sending Southern Miss back down I-59 after being vanquished. For that matter, Auburn going to College Station and emerging as a winner over Texas A&M. Ditto for Cal making the trip to Oxford and flying back home with a win over Mississippi, to the disappointment of the fraternity and sorority members and with a questionable call to end the game by a Pac 12 officiating crew (once more). UCF became a loser after the employment of a “Pitt Special.” How quaint. 

Even with Georgia clinging to a 23-17 win over Notre Dame in between the hedges at Dooley Field inside Sanford Stadium, that wasn’t enough to get me to expound on college football. Same thing with UCLA’s stunning 31 point turn around to defeat Washington State in Pullman. Big deal. Or ever pesky Appalachian State downing another Power 5 school on the road—this time it was North Carolina who was the victim. 

No reason to waste my time on Rutgers losing 30-16 to a not-very-good Boston College team in PIscataway. A sorry way to celebrate 150 year of college football on the Banks of the Old Raritan.

Lafayette traveled to Albany and will bus back a loser. For that matter, the best thing about the putrid Patriot League is that half of the teams had the weekend off. That Lafayette-Lehigh matchup in November is going to involve two very bad teams. This is unimportant.

The Ivy League opened its season and the schools went out of conference to a 6-2 mark, with the only losses coming in road tilts for Penn at Delaware and Harvard at San Diego. The list of chumps for the Ivies who were victorious: Bryant, Marist, Holy Cross, St. Francis (PA), Jacksonville, and Butler. Yawn.

NESCAC scores of note included Williams rebounding from its loss at Middlebury to thrash Tufts, who had upset Trinity the week before. Can the Ephs sustain this kind of play for the remainder of the season? Middlebury, Amherst and Wesleyan kept on rolling. Plus Trinity took it out on poor Bowdoin to the tune of 61-7. Too early to prognosticate.

Glad I didn’t watch this on the computer or make the drive to Lancaster. For the record, F&M downed Mc Daniel after trailing at the half. 

The Antonio Brown saga is in its final act for the very troubled man. At least he did not to play on Sunday against the Jets in Foxboro. And it isn’t about 30 teams in the NFL and how they are doing. 

Even if there was a great game on tap when Baltimore invades Arrowhead Stadium to meet the Chiefs. Lamar Jackson versus Patrick Mahomes. That’s just not what I want to write about this week.

What I am going to discuss is the state of professional football in the New York metropolitan area. To me, this is my top story of the week.

Some background is warranted. When I was young, I was a New York Giants fan. Until the American Football League arose in 1960, the NFL and the Giants were the only pro football franchise in town. So I became a Giants fan—what else was I going to do?

I rooted for Rosey Brown, Robustelli, Patton, Tittle, Shofner, Koy, Mercein, Homer Jones, to name a few. I thought Jim Lee Howell was a great coach and that his successor, Allie Sherman would be even better. Wellington Mara, the Giants patriarch, was a revered figure. I recall the stories about Frank Gifford and the hit which knocked hims senseless and the “Violent World of Sam Huff,” relating to his fierce style of play. 

My first NFL game was a 1966 afternoon when the Giants were beaten at Yankee Stadium by the fledgling Atlanta Falcons. The annual exhibition game between the Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles was a cannot miss Saturday afternoon event in August at the old Palmer Stadium on the grounds of prestigious Princeton University.

Yes, I was a Giants fan. And I still don’t root against them—only when they play the Jets. I loved the incarnation of Lawerence Taylor. Phil Simms was everything a QB should be. Bill Parcells was godly. Those guys could win.

Which leads to the current day New York Giants. In turmoil, with only a hope and a prayer to achieve success via a lengthy rebuilding. Are Dave Getteman and Steve Schurmer the right duo to lead them from the abyss?

The current squad is a shadow of some of the great teams which brought home 2 Lombardi Trophies under the guidance of Tom Coughlin and with Eli Manning at quarterback. With no evidence that the turnaround is near.

What happened this week with the benching of Eli Manning in an effort to salvage the season is more about egos than reality. While the team has been in decline for a number of reasons and the braintrust shipped star WR Odell Beckham, Jr. away to so-called purgatory in cold and windy Cleveland on the banks of frigid Lake Erie, are they deceiving themselves in believing that this is the right time to sit Eli and start heir apparent Daniel Jones, who looked exceptional against second team players during the pre-season?

The Giants hierarchy brought Manning back, ostensibly with idea to play him the entirety of the season. Which would allow for Jones to learn by watching Eli and absorbing his work ethic and taking his guidance. This had to be the plan, because Manning is a very large cap hit to the Giants, has a no trade clause, and he has been a fixture at QB and the face of the franchise. Manning, in my mind is a Hall of Fame inductee down the road. Everyone knew Manning’s numbers in the regular season weren’t stellar because many Giants teams were sub par—he has a 116-116 won-lost record for his career. Plus, Manning does have those 2 Super Bowl wins under his belt, along with the 2 Super Bowl M.V.P. awards and he has passed for the 6th most yardage in NFL history. 

Most every star QB faces the ultimate test—when age robs the youthful abilities and the hits absorbed take their cumulative toll. Nothing is forever, especially in the NFL. Eli had his streak of consecutive games unceremoniously broken at 210 when the then powers that be decided he had lost his stuff. Was that a harbinger of what was to come? Perhaps.

It is the way that the Giants muffed this that troubled me. They yanked Eli’s chain by giving him such a rich deal, made all sorts of promises about how he was going to be the QB, sink or swim however the season turned out. 

Instead, Eli has to suffer the embarrassment of being pulled in Game 3 of the 16 game Giants schedule. This is no way to treat an icon, a pillar of the community, an unselfish man, a consummate pro.

Just like when Eli replaced Kurt Warner as the Giants QB and never looked back, I wish that, for his sake, Daniel Jones has the same opportunity and as much success as Eli Manning.  This could be like Manning replacing a Hall of Fame QB in Warner. Moreover, I hope that Jones can carry himself with as much dignity and garner as much respect as Eli Manning has. 

Seeing an icon go down like this always hurts. I have to remind myself that there aren’t always storybook endings in pro sports, that everyone goes out on top and wins championships in their final season. That is the way it will be, as it was before with Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Joe Montana and so many more.

My second problem with New York pro football is my primary one. The team that I root for, more fervently since my sister and I became season ticket holders in 1977. That team is, of course, the New York Jets. They are the epitome of losing.

When the franchise was born, I had a mild interest in the Titans, who played their games at the Polo Grounds, sharing it with the new National League baseball club, the Mets. Besides sharing that old, dilapidated facility, they both were losers in their early years. 

With the opening of Shea Stadium in 1964, the team changed its name to the Jets, coinciding with the deafening roar of planes taking off from nearby La Guardia Airport. While the name changed, the team would not get any better until the arrival of the guy with the bad knees, Joe Willie Namath, as effete sports reporter Howard Cosell would refer to the fledgling Jets QB out of the University of Alabama. He was part of a 1-2 punch with John Huarte, another QB out of Notre Dame, a hedge against Namath’s bad knees, but nonetheless prizes for the big city and empresario, David (Sonny) Werblin in the AFL-NFL signing war.

Suddenly, under the tutelage of Weeb Ewbank, the former head man in Baltimore, replaced by the Colts management with a much younger Don Shula, the Jets roster became more acceptable and the team began to win behind Namath’s aerial show, throwing to receivers like Hall of Fame wide out Don Maynard, George Sauer, Pete Lammons and Bake Turner. He had a monster offensive line headed by Winston Hill, Randy Rasmussen, John Schmitt and Dave Herman, able to keep him upright and permitting Namath to throw as well as run block for running back Emerson Boozer and Matt Snell. The defense had John Elliot, Verlon Biggs, Al Atkinson, Larry Grantham, Gerry Philbin, Ralph Baker. The kicking was outstanding with Jim Turner and Steve O’Neal. 

With the decline of the Giants for years to come, the Jets became the media’s darlings, culminating in the Super Bowl III win, the only appearance for the franchise in the iconic game, made so by the upset win Namath and crew engineered over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts.

Recently, ESPN celebrated the 50th anniversary of the start of Monday Night Football, by televising the game between the two participants—Cleveland and the Jets. In the original game, Namath broke his wrist and was out for the season. The Jets went 4-10. Prior to this contest, the Jets lost starting QB Sam Darnold to mononucleosis, and then his backup Trevor Simiean hurt his ankle and was lost for the season. This fit right in with the ugly past of the Jets.

Sub-tenants in Shea Stadium due to the onerous lease M. Donald Grant of the Mets forced on the football team to protect the baseball turf from football cleats, often the team would play many games away from home to start the season, most notably when the Mets won the National League in 1973 and the Jets didn’t get home until the end of October.

During this time, the glamor wore off of the team. The wins continued to decrease and the team switched head coaches, from Ewbank, to his son-in-law, Charlie Winner, to Lou Holtz. Holtz unexpectedly left the team to assume the head coaching vacancy at Arkansas, and vaunted runner John Riggins left for Washington, tired of too many Namath passes.

With the 1976 installation of Walt Michaels as the head man came the trading of an old and oft-injured Namath. While I watched the away games TV due to blackout, I had no idea that Jets season tickets were available until one day I saw and ad and jumped at the idea. Although I would painfully learn that Shea Stadium was a hard car ride from New Jersey and a difficult ride on the 7 train if I parked in Manhattan, I was enthused and went to all of the home games. I had been smitten

The 1977 NFL draft produced beloved WR Wesley Walker, tackle Marvin Powell and defensive stalwart Joe Klecko. Richard Todd, another QB from Alabama, along with Matt Robinson from Georgia, battled for the QB job until Todd finally won it outright due to Robinson injuring himself arm wrestling. You cannot make this stuff up.

The beleaguered Michaels finally guided his team into the playoffs in 1981, with Todd at the helm, Walker catching passes and Klecko, Marty Lyons and Mark Gastineau forming the “New York Sack Exchange” en route to recording 40 sacks. The Jets fell behind the Buffalo Bills 24-0 in the Wild Card game on December 27, 1981, losing 31-27 when a Todd pass was intercepted near the goal line. I remember the game vividly, because I had gotten little sleep the night before—I met my wife for the first time on a blind date and we talked for two hours when I needed to get home for some sleep before the long trip to Queens. 

The 1982 team, behind Todd, Walker and running back Freeman Mc Neil, made it to the AFC Championship Game in Miami, where it was a mud bowl, allegedly due to the Orange Bowl not having a tarp to cover the field from overnight rains. The running game stalled, Todd threw 5 interceptions and the Jets were losers, 14-0.

Michaels left and in came offensive coordinator Joe Walton to led the squad. In the 1983 NFL draft, the team passed on Dan Marino, selecting QB Ken O’Brien. More mediocrity ensued and the Jets could not overcome an impasse with Mayor Ed Koch’s office on expanding Shea Stadium, so owner Leon Hess moved the team to Giants Stadium (to my ever-lasting glee).

1985 and 1986 were playoff years and while the team was inconsistent, they were exciting, witness as I did, the 51-45 OT shootout between Marino and O ’Brien which the Jets won. I was there when the Jets beat Kansas City in the Wild Card game and Pat Ryan relieved an ineffective O ‘Brien. A loss by the injury-riddled Jets at Cleveland in the next game ended the run. That year, the Giants won their first Super Bowl, but may not have been the best team in the area.

By 1989, the Jets were back into losing and Walton was fired. Bruce Coslet came in from Cincinnati as an offensive guru. The Jets made some bad decisions, drafting RB Blair Thomas, who was too often injured and not finalizing a draft day deal for Brett Favre. A kicker named Raul Allegre, who replaced the legendary Pat Leahy, converted field goals to force OT and then to win at Miami. This put Coset and his team in the Wild Card again—with a loss to Houston.

Coslet famously started Browning Nagle in 1992, leading to a 4-12 mark, with the retirement of super WR Al Toon due to too many concussions and the partial paralyzation of lineman Dennis Byrd.

Bringing in Boomer Esiason to play quarterback didn’t help, nor did a December slide, which cost the team a playoff berth and Coslet his job. 

Enter the Pete Carroll era. All of one season. Owner Leon Hess lost his GM, Dick Steinberg, to stomach cancer. The greatest disaster came with the signing of Rich Kotitie as Head Coach and GM. With a plethora of bad decisions, the worst season in Jets history, 1-15, came about.

A return to respectability ensued with the hiring of former Giants legend Bill Parcells to be the head coach. Even that was botched, with the Jets making Bill Belichick head man for 6 days, until Commissioner Paul Tagliabue negotiated a compromise solution to free Parcells from his New England contract.

Making one of the best signings in franchise history with free agent Curtis Martin and having former Baltimore Ravens QB Vinny Testaverde, the 1998 team went 12-4 and was up 10-0 in Denver in the third quarter, when the roof caved in. It was especially bittersweet for me, as I had two tickets for the Super Bowl if the Jets won.

1999 was, once more, a disaster, with Testaverde going down with an injury and culminating in Parcells resignation as head coach. Belichick was to be the next up, but, in the fine tradition of Jets screwups, we all know that Robert Kraft astutely lured him to New England and what has transpired since.

Leon Hess died and Woody Johnson outbid Charles Dolan to become the next owner of the Jets; imagine how that would have turned out with the Dolans running the show like they have with the Knicks and Rangers.

Having acquired 4 first round picks in 2000, the Jets picked QB Chad Pennington, DL John Abraham and Shaun Ellis and TE Anthony Becht. All good but not great choices. No playoffs that year, but it is remembered for the “Monday Night Miracle” comeback, the largest in the history of Monday Night Football and winning the first four games in a season for the first time ever.

Al Groh resigned as Head Coach for the same position at his alma mater, the University of Virginia. Parcells left the fold and Terry Bradway took over executive decisions. His first head coaching hire was Herm Edwards, and the team won a do-or-die game in Oakland to get into the playoffs, only to return to Oakland to be eliminated the next weekend.

Pennington was outstanding in 2002, finishing as the top-rated passer in the NFL. A final game win at home versus Green Bay was followed by a 41-0 playoff romp over Indianapolis. Nemesis Oakland booted the Jets from the playoffs.

In 2003, the team was decimated by free agent defections and the loss of Pennington to a serious wrist injury. The 2004 team made the playoffs, starting out 5-0 before Pennington suffered a rotator cuff tear. New York defeated San Diego on a Doug Brien field goal, with the 15-1 Pittsburgh Steelers up next in the divisional round. Brien missed two crucial kicks in regulation and OT, costing the Jets the victory.

Both Pennington and backup QB Jay Fielder were injured in the same game in 2005. Brooks Bollinger was awful and Testaverde was ineffective when he came out of retirement. Martin also had arthroscopic knee surgery that year.

Herm Edwards left for Kansas City. Eric Mangini, a former New England defensive coordinator replaced Edwards, and Mike Tannebaum succeeded the reigning Bradway.

“Mangenius” got his team into the playoffs, where the Patriots ousted them.

2007 was the year of “Video Gate,” involving the Patriots spying on the Jets. Starting out 1-7, Pennington was benched, replaced by the ill-fated Kellen Clemens. A 4-12 mark was a sharp contrast to the Giants and Eli Manning upsetting the undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl.

High hopes came in the form of Brett Favre, who had been replaced in Green Bay by Aaron Rodgers. Until Favre tore his rotator cuff. For good measure, the Jets were eliminated in the last game of the season by a Miami Dolphins team with a special QB—Chad Pennington.

Gone was Mangini and enter loquacious Rex Ryan, the son of former Bears head coach Buddy Ryan, a one-time Jets defensive coordinator. Installed at QB was Mark Sanchez out of USC. All he does is lead the team to 2 consecutive AFC Championship losses. His resume includes the “butt fumble,’ and a fade from prominence. QB’s such as Tim Tebow, Greg Mc Elroy, Geno Smith and Michael Vick couldn’t right the ship.

Management changes occurred after the 2014 season with the firings of John Idzik and Ryan, with Tannenbaum having been fired in 2012.

The Todd Bowles era was equally dissatisfying. New leader Sam Darnold showed some promise as a rookie, but another 4-12 was the result.

So here we are. 2019 and another lost year with Darnold down, and current QB Luke Falk out of his element. This team is bad. Even if Darnold returns, the team is going to be below .500. The defense has only one legitimate player—Jamal Adams, and he is unhappy. Le’Veon Bell is a costly free agent signing and the Jets have burned through a ton of cap money in assembling this mediocrity.

If I sound bitter, well, I am. From what I have chronicled, it is painfully obvious. The Jets have a total of 14 years when they made the playoffs. I have been a season ticket holder for 12 of those seasons. With nary a Super Bowl appearance. No AFC Championships hosted during that time. The cumulative record of the Jets is way below .500 for the franchise as well as for me—401-494-8 overall and 295-364 for me. The team is 12-13 in post-season play.

I pay top dollar to sit upstairs in a stadium devoid of any color. Parking is not cheap. In term of an investment, a seat license for this franchise was not a good move. 

I now have to use my phone to show my tickets to enter the stadium. With nothing to show for my investment of time, money, sweat and near frostbite. Management could not close the deal on a new domed stadium on Manhattan’s West Side—I blame Senate Leader Sheldon Silver and his nefarious ways. Once more, typical Jets. 

I have a partner, a friend from law school, who is equally as disgusted with the current version of the New York Jets. Another law school friend has had tickets going back to the days of the AFL and headed out of Wilmington, Delaware on weekends to root for the Jets in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. He is so addicted that he and a group of friends travel to an away game every year. At least they eat well on those trips. Like me, he too is dejected about the state of the team and its future.

My friend from Highland Park, who I go with annually, is a Rutgers fan like I am—he graduated from there—I did not. He sees as much losing as I do, which is a lot. Fan X is a diehard, but he is already finished with the team for this season after the Game 1 loss to Buffalo. 

We are not alone. The airwaves and social media is awash with complaints about the Jets. Most Jets fans take solace in the Giants woes, except they managed to win a few Super Bowls since 1969. The rise of the Patriots has been a thorn in our side. Dan Marino was another irritant. I can go on and on. 

I have two more games this season—New England on a Monday night in October. I hope the weather is okay. I will have to leave exceptionally early to insure a good parking spot rather than hunt for one when patrons use two or three for their tailgating. Maybe Darnold will be back. But it is, to me, already a season lost unless a miracle occurs—something which almost never happens in Jets land.

Then I have one more game left in my season. The hated Giants play as the visitors in Met Life Stadium. Will this be a game between two also-rans? Based on their records thus far and their play on Sunday? 

Wait—didn’t Daniel Jones throw for over 300 yards and 2 TD’s and run for two more as the Giants pulled off an amazing comeback in Tampa? Jones versus Darnold. The future of football in New York. This story still has to unfold. I worry that it will prove to be the same old one for the snake-bitten Jets give their history, while the Giants might be headed towards glory once more. While I grow older and more impatient, spending my Sundays, some Mondays and an occasional Thursday rooting for what seems to be nearly impossible.

Such is the state of football in New York.