Tag: Jets

New Chapter Between Jets – Giants Rivalry Begins

August 23, 2018

NFL: New York Jets at New York Giants

This will be 50th preseason meeting between the Jets – Giants since 1969. The game is now called the MetLife Bowl, the annual battle between the co-owners of MetLife Stadium, with the Jets leading the series, 25-23-1. Last year the Giants defeated the Jets, 32-31.

This year’s game has special importance because the two teams were interdependent upon one another in this year’s NFL Draft, where the Giants selected second overall and the Jets third overall.

The Jets initially were to select sixth overall, but general manager Mike Maccagnan made a bold move and traded a package of picks to the Indianapolis Colts (No. 6 overall pick, two second-round picks — No. 37 and No. 49 overall — and a 2019 2nd round pick) to assure them the best chance to finally land a franchise quarterback.

Now, I wonder if Maccagnan made this trade to move up because he actually had another player in mind (like a Saquon Barley who the Giants drafted or another player) thinking that he had no chance to draft Sam Darnold (who the Jets drafted). I haven’t seen this mentioned at all and I just wanted to just throw it out there as food for thought.

Barkley strained his hamstring and probably won’t play in Friday’s contest against the Jets. Giants’ fans and Jets fans alike would have loved to see him play for various reasons since it is considered the most important preseason game. Darnold, although head coach Todd Bowles artfully dodges the questions, is likely to be the Jets’ starting quarterback come the season opener. Although, others may think to start Teddy Bridgewater since he had a good camp, he’s still young and experienced all at the same time.

“I knew he was smart, everybody learns differently,” said Bowles. “You don’t know until you get in and throw the playbook at him and see what they can comprehend and what they can’t. He’s done a great job of remembering everything and playing with poise and control. I’m happy with where he is.” Maccagnan says he’s unflappable which really says a lot.

Bowles has to be happy right now with his quarterback situation.

Safety Jamal Adams, who was the Jets’ top pick in last year’s draft and whose father, George, was the Giants’ first round pick in 1985, says the game has extra incentive, but that it’s really ‘just another game.’

“It’s not about the Giants, it’s about us,” Adams said via the Jets official website. “We’re not out there to show anybody or prove anything. We just want to be consistent in our job, as a group. So long as the Jets come out there and play fundamentally sound, look at the right things as far as our eye keys, and just be disciplined and not have penalties, we’ll be fine.” This should primarily be the mentality for the Giants too but the media dramatically builds this game up. Like, all the talk of which team from the New York area will have a better season. It shouldn’t be like that at all since it’s just a preseason game.

The Giants will likely be led by quarterback Eli Manning, who is playing in his 15th preseason game against the Jets. He did not play in last week’s victory in Detroit.

“[Head coach Pat Shurmur] kind of told me early on I probably wouldn’t play,” said Manning. “So, I knew I had to get the most out of the practices with Detroit, which I thought we got some good work. I always want to be out there and play, but I understand it. I look forward to this week getting out there.”

The Giants will also be giving their backups, Davis Webb and Kyle Lauletta, plenty of snaps in the game as they are in a heated battle for depth chart placement.

By the sound of all this quarterback talk from both teams, the Giants may regret they didn’t take Darnold. This still has to play out and that may take a full season.

As for wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr., his status is still up in the air. With the team taking extreme caution with him and his surgically-repaired ankle, he’s been getting the kid glove treatment.

“We’ll see,” Shurmur said when asked if Beckham will make his 2018 debut against Gang Green. “You knew I was going to give you a real short answer on that one.”

Jets Woody Johnson Ranked 17th Best Business Person Amongst NFL Owners

September 29, 2017

Victoria's Secret PINK Model Jessica Hart Attends The Jets Game To Celebrate The NFL Victoria's Secret PINK Collection

Fortune took a look at the business backgrounds of the NFL owners and ranked Woody Johnson seventeenth in the aspects of being a businessperson.

Johnson’s great-grandfather founded the pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson so he’s never been wanting for money.

He’s also a friend of President Donald Trump, who named the New York Jets owner as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom this summer (his brother has taken over day-to-day operation of the team). That appointment required Johnson to submit financial disclosures to the government that revealed a net worth of roughly $4.2 billion, according to Bloomberg.

A large chunk of that fortune comes from the Jets, which Johnson bought for $635 million in 2000. The NFL team’s value is now estimated at $2.75 billion, though the NFL team’s recent run of futility hasn’t made Johnson any more popular with Jets fans. The Jets are worth an estimated $550 million less than the Giants despite sharing the same lucrative market and New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, which is one of the highest-grossing stadiums in the world.

If Woody Johnson wasn’t a business person, he would’ve never bought the New York Jets but this purchase was just another investment to add to his portfolio. I can say this because the team would’ve fared better over the years if he was a spending-type of owner. Little does he know, if the team won a couple of Super Bowls while he was at the helm, his investment would be worth even more than it is today.

Billionaires normally make these type of investments due to their net worth value and have some type of long-term plan for their purchase. I’ve seen this from other wealthy business people with other types of businesses, too.

So far, it looks like his brother Christopher has already made a stand on the 2017 season saying; the team is not tanking. This basically says to me that the team wants to produce wins and they have already won one game and have a shot going 3-2 (playing the Jaguars and Browns next) after five games. Just remember, the NFL is a week-to-week thing. That would be a big accomplishment for the team.

If Christopher has a different mindset (and he seems like he does) than his brother, as far as the Jets team is concerned, he could be what the fans have wanted for a long time now. Maybe one day he will  find himself as the number one businessperson on this list.

Is Woody Johnson to Blame For Jets Failures?

August 31, 2017

WJ4

For starters, in 17 years under Woody Johnson’s ownership, the Jets are eight games under .500. This, by all means states inadequacy.

What caused this?

Let’s see.

Johnson hasn’t shown much dedication to football matters regarding the team like other NFL team owners (Jerry Jones) do. The first item that comes to mind is the idea of spending money to obtain better talent. He has sometimes gone on spending sprees while in other years, he has backed off from that philosophy for some unknown reason. Johnson hasn’t been consistent in this area which disappoints the fan base immensely. Successful teams stand by this type of methodology creating a pattern of indistinguishability and culture that fans can get used to for a long time but not the Jets fans, thus far.

The last three general managers under Johnson all had different management approaches. First was Mike Tannenbaum who was a very aggressive deal-maker but he always gave too much guaranteed money in contracts which put the team in cap hell for a number of years. Then there was John Idzik who was a slow-builder. He didn’t last long, either, and you can probably guess why? It wasn’t a good marriage with him and Coach Ryan and they really didn’t have anything in common, either.  Mike Maccagnan is the current general manager who possesses both predecessors’ traits.

See what I’m getting at now?

Then the coaches Johnson hired all had different styles. First, there was Herm Edwards who was basically a players’ coach which is not exactly what the team needed at the time. Eric Mangini followed who many fans liked, including me. He had some good seasons and had the team going in the right direction. He drafted nice players but losing four of five games towards the end of the 2008 season dashed any playoffs hope, so the team fired him. Then the Jets went back to another players coach in Rex Ryan. He also started off good, took the team to two AFC Championship games in the first two years. Then, like the prior coaches, the team began to lose. Bowles is the current coach who is a disciplinarian, just like Mangini was. Most likely, he will be given another two more years, to see if he can right the ship. The only thing all the coaches had in common was that they were defensive-minded coaches. As you probably know, they didn’t get the team to the Super Bowl. This probably also explains why the Jets haven’t had a good quarterback in a while with these type of coaches. Another common thing amongst them was none had prior coaching experience, either. That would explain the struggles the team had during their tenure.

In 2015 and 2016, the Jets had the third largest cash payroll using the win-now approach but they had an older roster then. They ended up missing the playoffs again and again. This probably is the reason why they went with the youth movement in 2017 letting go of the last two veteran players on the roster in Eric Decker and David Harris which signified commitment to one plan. It was a plan that was never instituted by the New York Jets since the other strategies weren’t successful. Let’s see if this one is, because they are certainly running out of plans.