Monday Night Football- Battle of New York

August 16, 2010

With all the hype surrounding the New York Jets, many people have forgotten that the New York Giants are just 3 years removed from winning the Super Bowl. A horrible second half of the 2009 season has put the Giants under-the-radar heading into this year. NFL experts have set the Jets win total at 9.5 this season and the Giants at 8.5. This is not a huge disparity, and could be due to the strength of the Giants division. Monday night, these 2 teams will meet up in their first pre-season game of the year.

Mark Sanchez has given the Jets fans life after a long stretch without a solid starting quarterback. Sanchez started off last year on fire, but the length of the season, and the speed of the game finally caught up to him. He finished the year with just 2444 yards and 12 touchdown passes to 20 interceptions, but his leadership skill became more evident as the season progressed. The minuscule passing stats may be skewed due to the fact that this is a run-first offense. Sanchez will not be asked to air-it-out game after game, but he will need to cut back on mistakes and take care of the ball in 2010.

Shonn Greene will get his first chance to start a full season at running back this year. He is fortunate enough to have LaDanian Tomlinson as a mentor as he has been brought in from the San Diego Chargers over the off-season. Rookie Joe McKnight may bring another element to the Jets run game as he has tremendous speed and agility. New York’s offense will not need to do too much, because their defense is that good.

The Giants are loaded on both sides of the ball, and relatively injury free. Injuries were the downfall for the G-Men last season. They have the potential to win double-digit games, and may be one of the surprise teams of the year. Eli Manning is coming off his best year at quarterback. He threw for over 4000 yards for the first time in his career, and had a career high 27 touchdown passes. Steve Smith has become his go-to target after the loss of Plaxico Burress.

Brandon Jacobs has been a beast for the Giants at running back. He has the ability to run through defenses, and is extremely hard to bring down. The Giants also have 2 shifty runners in Ahmad Bradshaw and Danny Ware that give them several dimensions at this position.

This should be a strongly contested game despite the fact that it’s a pre-season showdown as both squads are looking to take control of the New York football scene. This is a great match-up for the first Monday Night Football game of the year. Regardless of what coast you live in, this will be an entertaining game that shouldn’t be missed!

Written by Glenn Andrew · Filed Under NFL

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