No Joy in Mudville

New York football teams have once again left Mudville joyless this weekend. The New York Jets were defeated by Baltimore 20-17 in overtime. The Jets played pretty well, but had to kick a field goal on third down at the end of regulation largely because of clock mismanagement, forgoing an opportunity to score the touchdown and seal victory. It is unclear exactly what happened. Having shaved 30 seconds off the clock, it appeared the playclock was winding down with eight seconds remaining when the time out was called. Base10--who rarely allocates blame in these matters--suspects that this was Herm Edwards fault, clock management being a particularly glaring weakpoint on his coaching resume.

While 6-3 is not a bad place to be in after week ten, what's particularly gauling about the last two losses is that the games were well within their grasp. In addition, given the Pats 29-6 romp against Buffalo, Chances of winning the AFC East are getting more and more remote.

Our crosstown cousins, the New York Giants faired no better yesterday losing to Arizona 17-14. Poor offensive line play made the Arizona defense seem like a Pro Bowl squad. Poor performance by Kurt Warner, who was beat up and sacked six times, creates more presure for the now 5-4 Giants to play rookie Eli Manning.

Tonights game features NFC East Division rivals Dallas and Philly. Click here for a preview. Philly fans thinking this will be a gimme since they already beat the Giants once, should remember the difficulty of defeating a division rival twice.

Base10 saw some old friends for the game on Sunday and discussed the absence of hockey. When we realized that there would be no sports in the month of February, there was much gnashing of teeth and rending of garments. After all, there is a progression to these things: football through January, Hockey in February and March, NCAA Hoops in March. This carries you to the NFL Draft in April and exhibition baseball. Without the NHL, there is no more symetry. One of Base10's companions came up with a solution though: NASCAR! That's fine, but Base10 draws the line at the chewing tobacco.
- posted by Base10 @ 11:10 AM