Jets 2011-12

Besides the fact that I don't know if the Jets are any better this year than last, I thought this was a glaring statement in Rich Cimini's "Camp Confidential" today on ESPN.com

The Jets are going to be vulnerable in the middle of the field in pass coverage. The safeties have suspect speed and the front seven also is short on the quicks. Opponents with athletic tight ends and crafty slot receivers are going to cause major issues for the Jets.

Great! Fortunately the Jets don't play any teams with athletic tight ends and crafty slot receivers!

That's Not Joe Torre

I was reading this story and noticed an interesting photo of Brian Cashman captioned as Joe Torre. It may be fixed by the time you click the link.

The Amazing Spider-Man

Spider-Man by Sam Raimi came out in 2002, it seems a little early to re-tell the origin story of Spider-Man again, doesn't it?

Facebook Chat

I don't use Facebook chat much, but the system seems to have declined recently. Not sure why I would want people offline to show up in my chat list. Seems like Facebook is trying to become more of a Gmail / GChat replacement as well as social networking.

Carmagedon

Isn't it just going to be a bigger traffic jam than usual? Also it's on the weekend. Seems overblown.

NBA Finals

We could be headed towards an "all-American Airlines" NBA Finals with Dallas playing in the AA Center and Miami at the AA Arena.

He must have been watching the show this season...

Christopher Meloni to leave Law and Order: SVU

iPads at Yankee Stadium

YES Network just showed someone in the front row during the Royals / Yankees game with an iPad 2. But iPads are banned at Yankee Stadium!

Superman is not a US Citizen anymore

Fox News seems to be getting a lot of mileage out of this backup story from Action Comics #900, where Superman renounces his US Citizenship. I want to know why they aren't asking the real questions, like, "When can we see Superman's long form birth certificate?" and "Isn't Superman an illegal alien?"

American Airlines

Strangely enough, the two TNT games are being played in arenas sponsored by American Airlines. That's right, game 1 is the Lakers at Heat (American Airlines Arena) and game 2 is Knicks at Mavs (American Airlines Center). Is this the only sport with two arenas named for the same corporate sponsor?

Waiting Game #2

Which happens first?

HTC Thunderbolt released by Verizon

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark opens for real (not previews)

New NFL Labor Agreement

Sheen

Wow, I didn't realize how crazy Charlie Sheen was until I watched his 20/20 interview.

CNN is citing Twitter?

Watson beats humans. Yes, we all know the story by now. But CNN posted a story about it and at the end, cited reactions from "Twitter users." That's right, they wrote, "Several Twitter users were awed by the computer's smarts."

How is this any form of journalism? If they wrote, "several random people on the street were awed by Watson," you'd think, who cares? Why should we care what "several Twitter users" think? Are they even real people?

I don't read CNN that often - do they do this frequently?

Bieber Fever

I know Justin Bieber is kind of a dork but did you see him at the Grammys? I thought it was a great performance with Jaden Smith and Usher. The kid seems pretty talented. This was the first time I watched any part of the Grammys in a long time, and I was impressed. Gaga was fun, Cee-Lo and Gwyneth Paltrow weren't bad, and Mick Jagger was pretty entertaining too.

The Bieber story is kind of amazing, a Canadian kid puts his videos on YouTube and suddenly becomes this big pop star. It will be interesting to see how his career goes. Most kid pop stars don't do well in the long run career wise or personally.

Waiting Game

Which will happen first?
Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks
Or
HTC Thunderbolt 4G phone released on Verizon

Fireman Ed

I love the Jets, and Fireman Ed starting the chant at the games is a ton of fun.

But Fireman Ed has his own iPhone app?
And it's not free?
Which is more surprising?

Jets vs Pats Round 3

After a tight playoff win last night, the Jets go to Foxborough to play the Patriots - site of their 45-3 loss earlier in the year. Now for some observations and predictions:

Jets are 2-1 vs the top 2 seeds in the AFC this year
Tom Brady is 1-2 vs "Ryan brothers" coached defenses this year
Jets are 2-2 vs Patriots last two years
The last time the Patriots scored less than 30 points was in November, vs Cleveland!
In their two losses this year the Patriots only scored 14 points
The Jets have lost only 1 game this year when they score a TD on offense

The Jets will use the 45-3 loss as motivation to show that "nobody shows them any respect" and "nobody thinks they can win." What will be hilarious is how the Patriots will feel the same way! We will also hear a lot of "we haven't done anything yet" and "they have a good football team over there."

The following quotes will be food for the media "I didn't come here to kiss Belichick's rings" and "Peyton Manning studies more than Tom Brady."

And so, here's how it boils down.

When the Jets have the ball: They need to score. They should expect to need to put up 30 points. The Patriots like to take away the things you do well, so they will stuff the box with 8 and dare Sanchez to beat them. Interestingly, the Jets ran against 8 in the box against Indianapolis. In addition, the Pats will probably try to shut down Edwards and make Keller and Holmes do the heavy work. I wouldn't be surprised if the Jets try to do a few misdirection things with formations like they did with Pittsburgh where they get in run heavy formations and try some play action. No drops!

When the Patriots have the ball: They will score. The key is keeping them to FG's but an aggressive Belichick showed that he's willing to go for it on 4th & short in the last meeting (even when up by 30+). The defense did a good job creating 3rd & longs vs Indy, and will have to do the same here. The Jets are built for beating the Colts, but less so for the Pats. NE is going to show a lot of heavy run formations and then pass to their pass happy TE's. In the game vs the Colts, the Jets also used a lot of DB's and again, it wouldn't be surprising if they did the same here. The Jets would probably be content to let NE to run against them because that plays to their strengths and it means they're shutting down the pass.

Special Teams: The Jets have a better chance of breaking a big return but also a better chance of missing a FG or shanking a punt (12 yd punt?)

So who will win? Patriots are big favorites here. Jets have to execute perfectly and fool Brady with formations in order to win this one.

Additional footnote: You know the "home unbeaten streak" of New England, and the "interception-free streak" of Tom Brady? Apparently this doesn't include last year's playoff game where they lost and Brady threw 3 INT's.