"Five Frozen Flings, Four Falling Favres…"

Five days until Christmas and Sunday’s NFC prime-time showdown will be a frozen fling-fest. Temperatures in New York will not be friendly to foes or footballers from home. Eli Manning and the Big Blue front five men will find a frigid Panthers defense.
Out on the west coast, Brett Favre has to find a way to win a game for the Jets. This is the fourth trip west for New York and each of the three previous games were losses. The Seattle Seahawks will try hard to hand the falling Jets their fourth failure on their coast.
All talk in New York this month has been centered on the free falling football teams. The Jets and Giants were headed on a collision course to the championship in February only a month ago. Both teams were on top of their respective divisions and only expected to excel from there. December delivered cold blows to not only residents but also to the football teams. The Jets are coming off a win against Buffalo they should have lost. If not for a blundering Dick Jauron coaching call late in the fourth quarter, the Jets would have walked out of the Meadowlands losers of three straight games. The Gang Green team who defeated the Patriots in Foxboro and the undefeated Titans in Tennessee has been transformed into a defensive-less, mistake-filled, Grinch green. And the New York Giants went down twice to division rivals the Eagles and Cowboys. The Giants are missing rumbling back, Brandon Jacobs, due to knee problems. The offensive line that once looked as solid as any in the league suddenly could not defend the likes of DeMarcus Ware and the Dallas Cowboys last Sunday night. Eli Manning ate turf eight times during the loss to Dallas. Are the New York teams caving or can they bounce back to finish the month on the up?
The Jets are sending seven players to the ProBowl in Hawaii, including Brett Favre. Kris Jenkins was the frontrunner for the team MVP during the first ten weeks of the season. No one is even looking his way now. He has been merely invisible. The entire Jets’ defense has been a non-effective no factor. Brett Favre is opening up the pass more often and making fewer mistakes, but it is not enough. Thomas Jones continues to run well and Eric Mangini needs to get him the ball on more plays. Sunday the Jets are playing in Seattle against one of the toughest teams to face on the road. In addition, the game is Seattle head coach, Mike Holgrem’s, final one. It will be an emotional afternoon when the Seahawks take the field, so the Jets need to limit mistakes and take the crowd out of the game early. Seattle has nothing to play for but will probably bask in playing the spoiler role. The Jets need to win the final two games. They control their own destiny. If they win out, they go to the playoffs as AFC East champions. A loss and a Miami win means the Jets will have to play the Dolphins for the division in week 17. If I were Eric Mangini, I wouldn’t even want that to be a possibility. Chad Pennington returning to New York to knock the Jets out of the playoffs would be the end of his tenure here.
The Giants are not in dire need of a win. However, beating Carolina at home this Sunday night would give them home field throughout the playoffs. It would also cool off the red hot Panthers and retrieve the confidence of the Giants fans. Brandon Jacobs is not 100 percent but he will play. The key to beating Carolina is controlling the line of scrimmage and their powerful dual running attack. Jonathan Stewart and Deangelo Williams are arguably the best backfield in the NFC. The Giants defense has the ability and talent to limit their breakaways. I am confident the Giants will get the job done, but look for a close game. The weather could be the x factor and advantageous to the Giants. The Panthers are not a very good road team either. In the NFL, home field advantage in the playoffs sometimes does not matter as much as getting “hot” at the right time. Right now, the Panthers are a hotter team. But I like the chances against a shaky Jake Delhomme calling plays. And I think the secondary is sufficient enough to cover the slick, Steve Smith at wide receiver.
How much difference a month makes! I am still trying to figure out how the Jets looked so poorly this month. Their weaknesses are glaring. Even if this team creeps into the playoffs, I can’t see them beating teams with strong-armed quarterbacks. The Jets will have to go through Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Jay Cutler or Kerry Collins. The Giants are definitely beatable, as Philadelphia and Dallas proved. The Cowboys are hot right now and a meeting in the post-season would be scary. The Giants need to run the ball or they will not be successful. If Brandon Jacobs is a no-go, Eli Manning needs to be crafty. He has the receivers at his disposal to make big plays but his frozen fingers might be a problem. He tends to fold under those circumstances. Manning must learn to throw the ball with more muscle.

Parting points: Shout-out to my father because tomorrow is his birthday. Happy birthday, dad, and a Happy winter to all.