OK. This is as good a time as any, I would think, to take stock of the football locals, both of whom have an awful lot of heavy lifting ahead of them if they’re going to make the playoffs, a point that Our Man Steve Serby wrote about the Giants in today’s Post, and a point that Our Man Me wrote about the Jets in the same edition.
Both teams, logic dictates, need to find 10 wins. That means a 5-2 finish for the Giants and a 6-2 finish for the Jets, and that means if both teams do start taking off like that we are going to be twisting ourselves into hype and hyperbole tops that might not stop spinning until August.
Can they do it? I would think a game-by-game best-case scenario breakdown is in order, don’t you?
First the Football Giants, following this week’s bye:
Atlanta: It’s at home. And this may well be a tiebreaker they’ll need. Whatcha got, Big Blue? (W, 6-4)
At Denver: Maybe the Broncos have started a free-fall, having lost two in a row. Still … a Thanksgiving Night home game? Don’t like this. Don’t like this one bit. (L, 6-5)
Cowboys: This is a best-case scenario, yes? And the Giants do know how to beat the Cowoys. Best case. (W, 7-5).
Eagles: We are leaning on the best-case, sure. But if the Giants are going to make a run, it must mean beating a team like the Eagles, at home. Must. (W, 8-5).
At Washington: Put it this way — if the Giants aren’t in a place where they can annhialate the Redskins in D.C., then they probably aren’t 8-5 heading into this game. (W, 9-5)
Carolina: The final home game should (or at least could) yield the magic No. 10. (W, 10-5)
At Minnesota: Put it this way — the Giants better hope that neither they not the Vikings need this one. Because if Brett Favre is still standing upright, they will not get out of the Metrodome alive. (L, 10-6)
And then the Football Jets, starting with …
Jacksonville: Put it this way — if they don’t win, they’ll instantly become more invisible than the Knicks and Nets combines, and that’s hard to fathom. (W, 5-4)
At New England: Hoo boy. Rex Ryan said the Jets will be facing a tough, tough team this game … and that the Patriots will too. I fear he is only half-right. (L, 5-5)
Carolina: This is a best-case scenario, yes? Best case, the Jets not only win, they roll. Best case. (W, 6-5)
At Buffalo: They’ll win this, because the Bills are awful. Of course, they were awful in Week 6, too. (W, 7-5).
At Tampa Bay: The Buccs are playing better. They may have found a quarterback. This is still a game a team like the Jets, sniffing playoffs, has to get. (W, 8-5).
Atlanta: You know how you can tell this is a best-case list? Because we now have both New York teams beating the Falcons, a team that may well be better than both of them. (W, 9-5).
At Indianapolis: Next! (L, 9-6)
Cincinnati: If they are at home, against the Bengals, with a win-to-get-in game … I mean, wouldn’t it be so … so … so Jetsian, if Laveranues Coles catches the game-winning touchdown pass for the Bengals? But this is a BEST CASE, so … (W, 10-6).
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Kareem’s Plight: He’s not always been the most effervescent personality, but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar remains one of New York City’s enduring gifts to sports and the world. It is well to keep the Big Fella, as Earvin Johnson called him from Day 1 in L.A., in your thoughts today as he fights a rare form of leukemia.
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Oh, Mets. Oh, oh, oh Mets: If, as Joel Sherman suggests, some in the Mets hierarchy may be leaning toward letting a healthy version of their team play it out next year (read: a third-place version) — and since Joel has a better success rate than the 4077th’s old 97% cure rate — we would strongly urge someone within that hierarchy to, you know, open their eyes and change their mind. Quick.
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Those Were the Days: I swear, I am officially pining for the days when Animal Bannister and Eddie Lee Wilkins and Pat Cummings ruled the Garden.