Eight years after baseball’s Subway Series, we could be seeing New York sports history in the making.
No, I’m not talking about watching the Yankees break the bank to sign every big-name free agent pitcher on the market (welcome to the Big Apple, C.C. Sabathia!). I’m talking about the Battle of East Rutherford. Maybe the Garden State Showdown? The Broadway Bowl?
Whatever you want to call it, the possibility of a Giants/Jets Super Bowl is looming, after watching the Jets overwhelm the previously unbeaten Tennessee Titans and the defending-champion Giants outgun the dangerous Arizona Cardinals this past weekend. With the Giants now 10-1 and the Jets 8-3, a historic all-New York NFL championship game is no longer far-fetched. The two teams have rarely followed parallel tracks – when the Giants have been good, the Jets have historically been lousy, and vice versa. But with both teams excelling (and strong in similar areas of the game), New York fans have a serious chance of seeing these two squads playing in February, and the storylines for that game would be juicy, to say the least.
For starters, the Giants have defended their title with vigor, using the “they didn’t respect us” storyline as an extremely effective motivational tool. The Jets have Brett Favre, going against the team that knocked him out of the playoffs last year and led him to retire from the NFL, only to apply for reinstatement and be traded out of Green Bay, his home for 17 years, in the preseason. Both teams will have overcome a tougher-than-expected division, and nothing could match long-suffering Jets fans for pre-game drama.
But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Although both teams looked like world-beaters on Sunday, they’ve still got some work to do. The Jets excelled in all phases of the game against the Titans, using one of Favre’s most efficient performances of the season (25-of-32, 224 yards, 2 TDs) to set the tone for a surprisingly one-sided victory. The Jets out-gained the Titans, 409-281, and kept Tennessee’s defense on the field for more than 40 minutes. But as good as New York looked, Gang Green is not without flaws. Favre is still prone to killer mistakes, although he avoided them against the Titans, and the team’s outstanding pass rush leaves the defense susceptible to big plays down the field.
Likewise, the Giants looked good, not great, in beating the Cardinals 37-29. Eli Manning bounced back from a series of subpar games, throwing three touchdowns and completing nearly 80 percent of his passes. He’s proven himself to be a winner in his NFL career, despite some ugly stat lines and interception-laden games this season. But missing Brandon Jacobs, the Giants’ rushing attack was nowhere near as effective as it was prior to this game, and Arizona QB Kurt Warner shredded New York’s secondary for 351 yards. The kind of output isn’t necessarily problematic, considering the opponent (the Cardinals came into the game with the league’s second-ranked offense). But it is a warning sign, especially when looking at the remaining schedules for both teams.
The Giants play, in order: at Washington, against Philadelphia, at Dallas, against Carolina and at Minnesota. No standout offenses, but no slouches either (unless Philadelphia packs it in after a thumping from the Ravens on Sunday). With the exception of Philly, all of those teams scored at least 20 points this week, and they’re all legitimate playoff contenders. And while those games are all technically winnable, the Giants are bound to stumble – either at a desperate Washington team this Sunday, or against the resurgent Cowboys in two weeks, or in Weeks 16 and 17, when they’ll be playing two teams fighting for a playoff spot and probably resting their own starters. The good news is that the Giants have a two-game lead in the race for home-field advantage, and even if they drop a few games down the stretch, they’re still the best team in the NFC. The Cowboys are going to tough from here out, the Panthers and Falcons won’t be going away and the Bears could be a problem, but none has the depth or the experience the Giants do, and Giants Stadium in January is a tough place to play.
The Jets have an easier road, but also have a dangerous Patriots team looming just a game back in the division. The Jets close out their season against Denver, at San Francisco, against Buffalo, at Seattle and against Miami. After this Sunday, those five look inherently winnable, considering the way the Jets have played over the last month. Buffalo could give them some trouble in a few weeks, and Miami will be formidable during the last week of the season, but the Jets could be looking at 11 wins, easily. That should be enough to win the division (the Patriots would need to run the table to leapfrog them), and set them up nicely for the playoffs.
And the scary thing is that the Jets are also starting to look like the best team in the AFC. After rolling over the Titans (a very good but flawed team) and beating the Patriots two weeks ago, only a few teams look capable of hanging with the Jets when they’re in synch. Pittsburgh will be tough in the playoffs, Baltimore can shut down anyone, and the Colts are certainly rounding into form. But you can’t discount Favre’s experience, even with the history of tossing ridiculous interceptions. And if the Jets’ defense plays like it has over the last few weeks down the stretch, they’ll be very tough indeed.
So what are the chances of a New York, New York Super Bowl? It’s a distinct possibility, though the Jets will probably have a much bigger challenge once the playoffs start. More than likely, both teams will continue to roll into the playoffs, and once there, anything can happen. Just look at the Giants last year. If Favre can keep the ball out of the other team’s hands, and the Giants’ ground game keeps running wild, and if both teams limit their mistakes and play to their strengths and do a million other football clichés, we could see the two in Tampa in February. It would be historic, and glitzy, and have New York sports fans (and the media) buzzing.
At least until spring training.