Those crazy Jets are just one game out of a playoff spot

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

The narrative regarding the New York Jets this season has been that of a comedic franchise that can’t get out of its own way. The Jets stumble around, get blown out by good teams, and play good enough defense against bad teams to win some ugly games. This narrative has some truth to it: The Jets were embarrassed at home this season by the 49ers, Patriots, and worst of all, the Dolphins.

However, there are some moments where the team has risen up to defy expectations. The Indianapolis Colts have been busy being media darlings because of their rookie quarterback and their unique head coach situation (G-d bless Chuck), but back in Week 6, the Jets laid a severe beatdown on the upstart franchise. And that was just a week after Indy’s season-defining win over Green Bay.

The Jets also won by two touchdowns in St. Louis in Week 11. The Rams are a mediocre team, but they’ve managed to defeat Washington, Seattle, and San Francisco in their building.

Gang Green won both of those big games by doing what it does best. It played solid defense and kept the ball out of Mark Sanchez’s hands. This strategy would probably work better if the Jets had just one above-average halfback on their roster, but considering the quarterback situation, it will have to make do.

This past Sunday, the GROUND AND POUND™ was on display once again. Sanchez threw 19 passes, and Bilal Powell and Shonn Greene combined for 39 rushes. The defense held the Jaguars to 3.9 yards per pass attempt, and the Jets churned out another victory to get to 6-7. That’s just one game behind the Bengals and Steelers for the last playoff spot in the AFC.

Thanks to a head-to-head loss to Pittsburgh earlier in the season, the Jets need the Steelers to lose two games in order to pass them in the playoff race, but it is possible. I’ve laid out below my plan that all Jets fans should follow to get their team into the playoffs.

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Giants use kickoffs, turnovers to roll over Saints

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Last week against Washington, the Giants committed numerous penalties on special teams and started five drives inside their own 20-yard line. With the Saints in town on Sunday, New York made big plays on defense and special teams that allowed them to start a whopping seven drives in New Orleans territory.

It’s a cliche that’s heard too often in the unpredictable NFL, but it’s amazing the difference that one week makes.

Instead of infuriating their fans with holding calls, New York’s kick return blockers opened up highway-sized lanes for kick returner David Wilson to run through. The Giants wasted Wilson’s 58-yard opening kickoff return with a three-and-out (and then drove me crazy by punting on 4th-and-3 from the New Orleans 37), so Wilson just returned the next kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown.

That was much needed because on New York’s previous possession, Eli Manning forced a third down throw to Jerrel Jernigan that was taken back all the way for a touchdown by Saints defensive back Elbert Mack. Even more upsetting than the fact that Manning had made a horrible mistake so early in a crucial game was that the NFL Network guys decided to go with a “Mack Daddy” line instead of the preferable “Secret World of Elbert Mack.” Inexcusable.

Anyway, Wilson’s thrilling kick return completely erased Manning’s error and set the tone for a 52-27 Giants victory that kept Big Blue in first place in the NFC East. It’s a good thing that the Giants pulled ahead and won by 25, because most fans’ hearts were already ready to explode from watching the Redskins and Cowboys pull out last-second, come-from-behind victories earlier in the day. Even though New York did not gain any ground on their divisional opponents, the easy of its victory made it seem like Dallas and Washington needed to expend all their resources just to keep pace with the Giants.

That’s not factually correct, but just because it seemed that way will make the Giants and their fans feel a little safer this week, at least until the team falls behind Atlanta 10-0. Here’s what else was interesting about New York’s big win on Sunday:

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The Giants almost lost to the Redskins on Sunday

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

There’s no shame in losing to the Redskins nowadays. Washington has an explosive offense that’s led by a talented rookie quarterback who is wise beyond his years. They’re weak in the secondary but can still stop the run and put pressure on the quarterback.

That said, the Giants blew a couple of chances to put Sunday’s game in the books early and ended up putting the outcome in Robert Griffin III’s hands. When that happens, even the best laid defensive plans can go awry, and they did. Fortunately, Eli Manning and Victor Cruz exploited Washington’s weak spot on the ensuing possession to get the Giants over the finish line.

The 77-yard touchdown pass from Manning to Cruz left just over a minute on the clock for Washington, but the Giants forced Griffin to use the middle of the field. Even if Santana Moss had not fumbled the ball away around midfield, the Redskins would likely have run out of time anyway.

Of course, football games are not just won and lost in the last few minutes. Here’s what else contributed to (and detracted from) New York’s narrow victory:

The Giants were run over by Alfred Morris in the first half
Washington did not need much Griffin magic to move the ball in the first half. Although Griffin certainly did help his cause by dashing away from the ball carrier on read options, most of the credit has to go to Alfred Morris. The rookie out of Florida Atlantic bruised his way to 94 first half yards on 13 carries, and there was little the Giants could do about it. Even when they hit Morris just two or three yards past the line of scrimmage, the big back would bully his way for four or five more yards. Eli Manning needed to throw for 186 yards in the first half just to keep the game tied at 13-13.

Washington was on pace to take the lead in the third quarter, but the game quickly turned thanks to a slew of turnovers
After a punt from each team to start the second half, Washington took over on its own 36-yard line and began moving the ball down the field. The Redskins advanced as far as New York’s 28, but a 15-yard Morris run into the red zone was called back because of a questionable leg whip penalty that was called on right tackle Tyler Polumbus. Polumbus appeared to kick his leg up after trying to cut down a Giants defender, but the supposed whip did little to impede the defender’s progress. Nevertheless, the call halted Washington’s momentum and the drive fell apart completely when Linval Joseph forced Morris to fumble on the very next play. The Giants recovered the ball and quickly marched into Washington territory.

Now in field goal range themselves, the Giants gave the ball back when Manning overthrew Cruz and had the ball land in Josh Wilson’s hands. However, two Washington first downs later, Griffin misfired on a pass intended for tight end Logan Paulsen and had the ball picked off by Stevie Brown. Brown reached Washington’s 35-yard line on the return and the Giants capitalized early in the fourth quarter with a Ahmad Bradshaw one-yard touchdown run.

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Belated Nittany Lion review versus Iowa

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Penn State visited Iowa this weekend to play a football game against the Hawkeyes. The result was a 38-14 thwomping in which the Nittany Lions dominated every aspect of the game save for garbage time kick return touchdowns. Penn State had 504 yards of total offense compared to Iowa’s 209 while possessing the ball for more than 38 minutes.

The 8:00 p.m. start relegated this match to the Big Ten Network, which means many people didn’t get to witness it (you can check their cable packages or just look at this week’s AP rankings for proof of that). The number one thing to remember about this game is that it was Penn State’s most impressive performance of the season. However, if you’d like to go deeper, here’s five more things.

Bill Belton carried the ball 16 times and gained 103 yards while scoring three touchdowns
Zach Zwinak had rushed for over 300 yards over the course of the previous three games, but in Iowa City Belton appeared to finally win Bill O’Brien over. Belton looked as healthy as he’s looked since the opener and appeared to locate and run through holes more easily than in the past. In short, he ran more like a halfback than like an athlete trying to be a halfback. Most surprising was the relatively slight Belton being so effective around the goal line. His three scores were from 11, three and five yards out.

Zwinak, meanwhile, had his first rough game of the seaosn. He had the same number of carries as Belton, but only gained 52 yards. Zwinak also lost a pair of fumbles, including one right on the goal line that would have been devastating had Penn State not been up by 31 points at the time.

Kyle Carter made a great leaping catch on a 4th-and-3 to set up Penn State’s second touchdown
We already know that O’Brien will opt to use his offense on fourth down in any plausible situation on the opponent’s side of the 50. What was interesting about this play that occurred on the Iowa 45-yard line in the first quarter was how Matt McGloin stared down his intended receiver as if there was no Plan B. Usually staring at one receiver is bad, but at the snap Carter was clearly locked in man coverage with no safety over the top, so you can forgive McGloin for this one. Carter was barely able to shake his man, but McGloin threw the ball anyway and Carter reached over the defender’s back for an incredible catch. Carter then kept on running and ended up with a 34-yard reception that set up a PSU touchdown. The play was very reminiscent of the Allen Robinson touchdown against Temple, which was also a fourth down play in which McGloin basically waited for Robinson to lose his defender before releasing the ball.

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Big Ten Football Tower of Power: The Bottom Rises

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Last week’s Big Ten action featured a lot of class warfare, with the dregs of the conference doing battle with the upper echelon. Despite the cream of 2012’s Big Ten crop being decidedly less creamier than in previous seasons, a couple of top teams managed to dispatch their opponents with relative ease. However, not every conference peasant went down without the threat of an uprising…

12. Illinois
Poor Illinois could only manage 134 yards of total offense while getting run over by Michigan 45-0 last week. Nate Scheelhaase hit his head on the turf and was diagnosed with a concussion, but it’s not as though there’s a huge drop-off between him and backup Reilly O’Toole anyway. O’Toole came in and threw an interception, but it didn’t matter much anyway because the Illini had no answer for Denard Robinson. Illinois gets a much needed week off, and then they’ll take on Indiana at home in what could be a very embarrassing result for the Orange and Blue.

11. Purdue
Purdue was once the scary dark horse that was ready to take the Big Ten by storm, but after back-to-back home defeats, it is looking more like a cute white pony that won’t hurt anybody. In a 38-14 loss to Wisconsin last week, the Boilers allowed Montee Ball to run for 247 yards, which was all too reminiscent of Denard Robinson’s outbreak the week before. On the game’s first possession, Caleb TerBush connected with Antavian Edison on a 52-yard bomb that led to a 7-0 Purdue advantage, but it was all Badgers after that and the Boilers didn’t score again until Akeem Hunt scampered 81 yards in garbage time.

10. Minnesota
It was nice for the Minnesota defense to show up at home after taking a week off in their 31-13 loss to Iowa the week before. Last week versus Northwestern, the Gophers were shredded by Venric Mark in the first half en route to a 21-10 halftime deficit. However, Minnesota shut down Northwestern’s running game in the second half and came just a few yards short of what would have been an inspiring comeback. It didn’t help that MarQueis Gray got hurt and had to leave the game in the third quarter, but either way, Minnesota is no longer the worst team in the conference thanks to a resurgent defensive effort.

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Big Ten Football Tower of Power: The Quest Continues

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

The search for Big Ten supremacy isn’t getting any easier. Since I last wrote about the conference, a team previously thought to be a doormat rose up to challenge a conference title contender, a trendy dark horse pick took a big dose of reality, and two programs rife with defensive tradition combined for almost 600 rushing yards.

12. Minnesota
Minnesota didn’t play last week, so the whooping they took at the hands of seemingly docile Iowa has them stranded at the bottom. This week, they host a Northwestern team that is fresh off their first loss of the season. A Minnesota upset would do a lot for their respectability, but more realistically they’ll be run over by Kain Colter and Venric Mark.

11. Illinois
Illinois did improve their standing by hanging with Wisconsin for three quarters, but the secondary that looked pretty decent two weeks ago against Penn State collapsed in the fourth quarter as the Illini were torched by Joel Stave. There was also little improvement from the Illinois offense, as Nathan Scheelhaase took a great majority of the carries, but only gained 84 yards on the ground.

10. Indiana
The B-Town Hoosiers hung onto the tenth spot by showing that their offense was for real… at least in the first half. Hosting a defensively stout Michigan State squad, IU sprinted out to a 17-0 lead and led at the half 27-14. Although their attack was slowed in the second half and the Spartans came back to win 31-27, the Hoosiers showed a lot of promise. Quarterback Chase Coffman impressed with 282 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions despite the absence of a running game.

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NFL Fantasy Podcast with Mista Dave Zita

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

I invited Dave Zita on the podcast program to talk about the NFL, and he did not disappoint. We talked about our terrible fantasy teams, made our picks for the week, and I got to rant about bad coaching decisions.

10-04-2012 AY Podcast NFL Dave Zita

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Big Ten Football Tower of Power

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Yeah, I didn’t feel like calling them the power rankings. I wanted to be special. I also wanted this post to make sense, and starting with the worst teams made more sense to me than starting with the best teams. It’s kind of like climbing a tower. Plus, now the readers have to scroll down to see the team ranked number one. Muahahahaha.

Anyway, imagine you are on a journey across the midwest. The first four weeks were tougher than expected, but at least the sun was shining in the sky and there was plenty of food to be had. Now, the days are turning colder and the wild beasts off the beaten path grow more aware of your group’s growing weakness. You’re looking for the next town on the road for some shelter and maybe even a good meal, but a wild hog crosses the path and you’re drawn away by your hunger for something other than rice and squirrel meat.

It’s Floyd. The legendary hog leads you on a wild chase through the woods and finally disappears into the brush. Exhausted, you decide that the group would be better off heading back to the path than continuing the hunt. Unfortunately, no one seems to know where the path is anymore. Luckily, there’s a beacon of light shining over the woods, piercing through the darkness. You look up, and there’s an ominous tower silhouetted against the night sky at the edge of the woods…

12. Minnesota
Nothing says “welcome to the show” quite like a 31-13 beatdown to open up conference play. To make matters worse, Minnesota lost their beloved pig, Floyd of Rosedale in enemy territory and now must head back to the land of the lakes empty-handed. Those cute little victories over UNLV and Syracuse were nice, and they may help Minnesota reach a bowl game for the first time since 2009, but now reality has set it.

The Gophers allowed former walk-on fullback Mark Weisman to rush for 177 yards on 21 carries, while their own leading rusher was their second most mobile quarterback, Max Shortell. Minnesota may have something for the future in Shortell, but he probably won’t grow fast enough to make up for this team’s shortcomings. Getting burned on a flea flicker like they did in today’s day and age is embarrassing.

11. Illinois
Sure, the Illini’s two big non-conference losses were both to quality opponents, but it would be nice if the orange and blue looked respectable in at least one of those games. Illinois came out of the gate similarly flat against Penn State on Saturday and got crushed 35-7 under the weight of their own middling offense.

Illinois did get their starting safeties back for the Penn State game, and they did a good job slowing down State’s aerial assault. However, the ground game was a completely different story, as the Illini were run over by backup Zach Zwinak to a tune of 5.3 yards per carry. With talented run stoppers like linebacker Jonathan Brown and defensive tackle Akeem Spence on the roster, Illinois needs to put a plug in its run defense in order to give the offense time to find itself.

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Tynes misses 54-yard field goal, Giants fall to Eagles 19-17

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

The game that the New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night was certainly one you could get upset about. There the Giants were, on the Philadelphia 27-yard line on 2nd-and-9 with 25 seconds left in the game. Down by two. All the Giants needed to do was run up the middle to get a little closer to the field goal posts, spike the ball on third time with as little time as possible left on the clock, and watch Lawrence Tynes kick the team to victory.

Everything seems so easy in hindsight. The painful part is, it probably was that easy, at least on the surface. The problem is, 44-yard field goals seem like a lot more of a lock when you’re not the coach of the team that needs the kick to win a rivalry game on the road. That’s why I can’t blame Tom Coughlin and Kevin Gilbride too much for choosing to throw the ball on that fateful play when a simple draw would have sufficed. After all, it was that same sort of aggressive play calling that led to a 30-yard gain on 4th-and-1 on the last play of the third quarter. Unfortunately for the Giants, neither of those aggressive play calls led to points.

If Ramses Barden doesn’t completely maul Eagles corner Nnamdi Asomugha on that play at the end of the game, the Giants probably go ahead and kick a 44-yard field goal on third down. Maybe it goes in, maybe it doesn’t. It certainly would have had a better chance of going in than the 54-yard try that Tynes ended up trying (and missing) thanks to the offensive pass interference as well as Coughlin’s fear of the clock running out.

If Manning doesn’t throw an interception on the first play following the 30-yard, 4th-and-1 completion to Cruz, the Giants might not even be trailing with 15 seconds left in the game. Manning misread Eagles corner Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on the play and made a sloppy throw that cost the Giants at least three points.

Was it too risky for the Giants to run a play on third down with virtually no chance to spike the ball if they got tackled in bounds? There was another team playing on Sunday that didn’t think so.

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Penn State crushes Illinois 35-7 in Big Ten opener

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Aaron Yorke

Woo. What a wild weekend. It seems like a long, long time since Penn State polished off a refreshingly comfortable win over Illinois on Saturday. I was having a good time with some PSU friends at Tonic East while simultaneously trying to keep track of the football game, and since “having a good time” involved drinking a tower of beer, things are a little bit hazy.

I seem to remember a lot of different halfbacks, and Michael Mauti running a long way. Matt McGloin ran backwards a lot and Sam Ficken missed a couple of field goals, but in the end, everything turned out better than expected. Let’s see what else we can learn from Saturday 35-7 Penn State win.

Zach Zwinak may be Bill O’Brien’s favorite halfback

Bill Belton was healthy, and Derek Day was healthy. Curtis Dukes had apparently gotten over his thigh issue from last week, as well, so it made less than perfect sense that supposed fourth string halfback Zack Zwinak got the majority of the carries in Champaign. Although Zwinak did score Penn State’s first touchdown on a one-yard plunge in the first quarter, he didn’t get his second carry of the game until Penn State’s fifth possession.

Once Zwinak got on a role, though, he didn’t relinquish his grip on the halfback role until the game was well in hand. Zwinak ran for 109 yards on 19 carries without having one carry longer than 14 yards. He just plowed ahead, gaining solid yardage on seemingly every trip through the line. Belton started the game and played reasonably well (16 carries, 67 yards), but O’Brien clearly favored Zwinak in the second and third quarters, when Penn State took over the game. It will be interesting to see who starts at halfback this week when Penn State plays Northwestern.

Michael Mauti nearly had a 100-yard interception return

With Penn State holding a 21-0 lead late in the first half, Illinois desperately needed a score to give the team some hope of a comeback. Starting the drive at the Illinois 22-yard line with just over three minutes remaining, quarterback Nate Scheelhaase drove the Illini down the field. Scheelhaase connected with wide receiver Ryan Lankford four times before the drive was grounded to a half at Penn State’s four yard line. It was fourth down and goal with 19 seconds remaining in the half when Scheelhaase tried to connected with Lankford in the endzone. However, Penn State linebacker Mauti stepped in front of the pass, snatched it out of the air and began sprinting the other way.

What began as a great defensive play soon turned into a chance to put an early dagger into Illinois. Mauti got to the left sideline with a cavalry of blockers and it certainly looked like he had a chance to score. Mauti was tracked down inside the five-yard line by Illinois quarterback Miles Osei (who I suppose was in the game as a wide receiver or halback; it was Scheelhasse with threw the pass). Although at first it seemed that Mauti had scored a ridiculous touchdown, the replay review showed that his knee hit the ground just before the ball crossed the goal line. However, the review also showed that one second was remaining on the clock…

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