ESPN and I still have some beefs to settle, so before I move on to bigger and better and more relevant things involving sports, like the actual sports, themselves. ESPN has four types of on-air personalties, "Analysts", "Anchors", "Commentators" and "Reporters". The commentators comment on the analysis of the analysts who are analyzing the reports that the reporters report to the anchors, got it? The anchors (most of which can be seen on "SportsCenter") tend to make snide, sarcastic comments throughout the highlights that have been put together by the technical side of the whole operation. Then the analysts and/or commentators are to expand or provide more evidence supporting their co-workers' sarcastic opinions. The smallest number of personalties can be found reporting as reporters, who essentially do a majority of the work providing inside access that goes beyond the facts (or not), seem to have the most knowledge, and yet get the least recognition. The reporters who actually comprehend the details of each story they report, rarely give more than a comment or two regarding their own opinion, while the analysts, commentators and anchors sit at a desk and all happen to share similiar sports theories. Sometimes it almost seems as if all the other on-air "talents" ignore the actual factual reporting from events such as NFL training camp, and instead, ESPN comes up with a general consensus that most of the personalties agree with. Confused? Me too. ESPN is all about power rankings and letter grades, be it by committee, or individual analyst. The ESPN NFL Pre-season Power Rankings, put together by their leading commentators, analysts, journalists and senior staff members emphasizes my points. Not only do they like to rank teams' seasons before training camp is even over (they are that obsessed with numerically or alphabetically ordering their own predictions), but as soon as ESPN sets these pre-season "power rankings", the rest of ESPN's personalties appearing on each and every ESPN television program follow suit. Mike and Mike of ESPN's morning show, will tell you that the pittsburgh steelers are going to be crappy, and that the Jets are SuperBowl contenders because that is what ESPN told them. It's like a cycle, the analysts and commentators watch each other on television and see these rankings and ultimately their opinions end up being eerily similiar. ESPN figured this out a little more than 5 years ago, and so now they've brought in a few personalties such as Skip Bayless, who is a ridiculous independant journalist who doesn't follow the ESPN way of thinking, but instead incites riotous outrage with his sensationalism. He disagrees with most of the general opinion ESPN promotes, (you would think that would be a good thing.) unfortunately, he disagrees with rational and reasonable facts, and has no evidence to back up his own opinions. By the end of his insane desk-pounding rants about how overrated Tiger Woods and Lebron James are (on ESPN First Take), viewers and readers are left thinking they have no choice but to side with ESPN's general views because they certainly don't want to agree with skip bayless's idiocy. Thusly, once again, ESPN wins, so many journalists are so intent on giving you an alternative view that they don't realize ESPN is partially right most of the time. Therefore ESPN can promote the teams and players that give them the most access and provide the most controversy, but they still have enough integrity and factual support that challenging them by trying to discredit them altogether only leads to failure and irrelevancy. And of course, the truth gets lost in this epic battle between ESPN and everyone else.
That's why I'm here.... What I'm trying to say is that the New York Jets are ranked #7 in ESPN's pre-season "Power Rankings" because Rex Ryan has a big mouth, Mark Sanchez has a pretty boy image, They're on HBO's "Hard Knocks", and ESPN needs ratings. Big city teams bring more ratings in general, and the Jets are full of personality and drama. "Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh"... thats how I feel. But as usual, most of the "Power Rankings" are seemingly fairly reasonable and if you're to disagree with them entirely, it only hurts your own credibility as a journalist. On the other hand, here's what I think I know, The New York Giants are a better team than the New York Jets. The NFC East has been one of the best and most powerful divisions for years and it's better than having three teams ranked #16-20. Of course, ESPN will slowly adapt to the actual NFL climate, and the NFC East teams will slowly and subtely climb up the charts as the Jets slip into oblivion this season. The eagles don't suck just because they lost Donovan Mcnabb, they would've never traded him if they didnt have the utmost confidence in Kevin Kolb, and they were a playoff team just last year. The Redskins have a new coach and a new quarterback named Donovan Mcnabb, and even though making very few changes like that doesn't usually propel a team to greatness....they are going to be pretty damn good, especially since they've had one of the best defenses in the league for years now. None of that matters, because in my heart and in my head, even in my subconscious, or in my stats, facts, and hopes... The #16 ranked New York Giants are going to be a better team than the #7 New York Jets this year. That doesn't mean the Giants are truly the seventh best team as the Jets fall to number eight...its probably more like the giants are #13 or 14 and the jets are #15 or 16. In other words, since I feel as though the New York Giants are just slightly underrated (being that they're above average as opposed to below average), this is really all about the New York Jets being over-hyped, overrated, over-analyzed, and inferior.
First of all, everyone agrees that the patriots and dolphins also have a shot to win the AFC East. How are the Jets a top ten team when they might not even win their own division? Forget last post-season's first round blow-out loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the New England Patriots have acquired tons of young talent in the draft, Tom Brady is not coming off of an injury, the team chemistry is better, the ground game and secondary have improved mildly, and Bill Belichick knows how to coach and win football games. Brandon Marshall and Karlos Dansby provide legitimate superstars to an already impressive young Miama Dolphins roster. Chad Henne will finally have a big, talented target to throw to and he will be twice as good as Mark Sanchez on a bad day. The New York Giants won the Super Bowl three years ago and were 13-3 in the regular season two years ago. Last year, the offensive line, running backs, and defense all did worse than expected while the Giants stayed competetive late into the season as Eli Manning and Steve Smith had their best seasons respectively. The giants were also plagued with injuries throughout the defense. The Giants still have that talented defensive line that lead the league in sacks in 2008, Justin Tuck is a superstar type talent who was hobbled with a leg injury for most of last season. Osi Umenyora played badly, everyone is entitled to a poor season. More importantly, the giants have now added two new free agents, defensive leaders Keith Bullock and Antrell Rolle, while their extremely talented young safety Kenny Phillips has also returned from a career threatening injury, making their linebacker core and secondary much improved. Eli continues to become a consistent qb, while Steve Smith has established himself as a #1 possesion receiver. Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw are both looking to have bounce back seasons in the running game. Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham have alot of potential at the wid receiver spot. With all that said, even if a few of the Giants players on offense and defense turn out to be busts, the fact that their roster is similiar yet arguably better than the team that went 13-3 just two seasons ago make the New York Giants a formidable playoff contender. Which brings us to the green team that doesn't even have their own stadium. Last season Mark Sanchez threw 12 td passes and 20 interceptions during the regular season, not to mention that his accuracy was deplorable. He threw 5 interceptions to the Buffalo Bills and virtually did everything he could to ensure that his team lost a critical game to a pathetic opponent. He didn't just have a bad rookie season, he was a bad NFL rookie. Then the 7-7 New York Jets faced two straight opponents (Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals) that were either resting their starters for a majority of the game, or giving a terrible effort because they (the bengals) WANTED to face the dismal New York Jets in the first round of the playoffs. Mark Sanchez played well in one of the three playoff games, and wasn't too bad in the other two, which leads me to believe he really does have some potential. But the fact is, good young quarterbacks like Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco did worse in their sophmore seasons than in their rookie seasons. Mark Sanchez set the bar so low for himself that it seems as though he can play quite average this year, and it would be a signifigant improvement over last year. Sanchez is a question mark, but I think everyone can agree that he probably won't be that good, and he certainly won't be a great difference-making type of quarterback. He's supposed to have an unbelievable offensive line and great running back core to take much of the pressure off which brings me to my most important point about the Jets. The jets released their best offensive lineman, Alan Faneca, as well as a vocal team leader. Who knows how that will affect the chemistry of the offensive line. They also got rid of their starting running back of the last few years, Thomas Jones, who was one of the best backs in the league last year, along with their most explosive play-making runningback in Leon Washington. Therefore, there offense looks questionable at best, but at least they still have that great defense right? Not exactly, the Jets were so good on defense because they blitzed often and they disguised the blitz so well, and they were able to pressure the quarterback better than any other team. However, the defense was great because the secondary covering the receivers and tight ends were so great, because Darelle Revis, (the best defensive player who) took the best receiving option and/or reciever on the opponent's offense completely out of the game. Darelle Revis is continuing to demand more money and isn't expected to join the team in time for the start of the regular season as of yet. The Jets may have the support and the hype and the talk asking to bring on the expectations, but I don't think they have the talent or the team. LaDainian Thomlinson is old, in case I forgot to mention that? Shonn Greene, like Sanchez, has potential, but a young unproven running back isn't going to be able to carry the team on his back. Even if the defense stays solid in the absence of their best player and cornerback, is there really enough here to believe this is a team on its way back to the playoffs? They wouldn't have made the playoffs last year if not for luck and fluke scheduling. The running game and secondary, the strengths of this team last year, are the two areas of the roster that the Jets have changed the most. Their lack of sense in the front office and their lack of talent on the field combined will make this one dissappointing seasons for all of those delusional New York Jets fans.
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