Big Apple Sports: All New York Sports. All The Time.

What an unbelievable game by Gang Green this past Thursday. The Jets without a doubt sent notice to the rest of the AFC by eeking out a victory against the defending AFC Champion Patriots. Brett Favre was absolutely dominant in this game, and that is certainly high praise coming from one of his biggest critics. For once, it was good to see Favre managing a football game instead of trying to dominate it. When you have the skill set and take a step back and use your brain, it really vaults you into the upper echelon of quarterbacks. When you are as talented as Brett Favre, it puts you in another dimension. Hats off to Dustin Keller as well, who over the past two weeks has become Favre’s favorite target. I think that Keller is going to be quite a player over the next couple of years. Finally, would the old Jets have won that game after Randy Moss almost potentially ruined their entire season? I don’t think so. I think the Jets are finally for real, and I am salivating at the potential Super Bowl match up.

The Giants once again dismantled another formidable opponent in the Baltimore Ravens by a score of 30-10. The pace of the game was set by their running game once again, putting up over 200 yards combined. That was the first time that the Ravens had allowed 200 yards or more of rushing in over 10 years. For all of the talk that Ray Lewis was doing during the week, he sure didn’t back it up. I don’t want to jump ahead of myself here, because as we already know that championships are not won during the regular season, but I cannot find a glaring weakness on the Giants. The only place where I would like to see some improvement would be in their secondary, where Michael Johnson and James Butler are not exactly striking fear into opponents. However, Kenny Phillips has definitely brought a nice element to the team. The Giants go to the site of their Super Bowl XLII victory next week against former Giant and potential MVP candidate Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals. Hopefully this will not become a trap game for Big Blue.

The Knicks continue to look good despite dropping a heart breaker to the Dallas Mavericks last night. It is great to see them actually playing as a team and not the sum of the parts. Mike D’Antoni has made every game exciting with his fast paced style, and guys like Zach Randolph and new point guard Chris Duhon have played tremendous basketball. Donnie Walsh must be happy to see Randolph playing as well as he has, because it will make him that much easier to move at the deadline. But here is the thing. Is it even worth it to move him at the deadline? You are not going to get equal value back for a guy who is capable of going for 20 and 10 every night. However, you also don’t know when Randolph is going to have his next brush up with the law (don’t forget he played for the Jailblazers back in the day). Hopefully the Knicks can continue to make basketball memorable again in New York.

The Rangers stole yet another game this weekend against the Boston Bruins. It makes me want to invent a real life Tivo just to fast forward the Rangers to the third period, where they always seem to play their best hockey. Chris Drury really is the most clutch players that I have ever seen in hockey, and potentially out of any sport. He is always in the middle of a game tying or game winning goal, and Saturday was no different in the shootout, where he scored the game winner. Henrik Lundqvist is without a doubt the MVP of this team thus far. He continues to keep the Rangers in every single game. For more on the Rangers, check out my article about them from yesterday here.

The Islanders wore their new third jerseys on Saturday in their win over Ottawa. The jersey’s are meant to be a throwback to the 1972-73 jersey’s. I actually do like the jerseys, which can be found here, but honestly, if you are going to have throwback jersey’s, why not do it for a prosperous time like the Islanders dynasty in the 80’s, and not a meaningless season.

The Devils are really starting to miss Martin Brodeur. Kevin Weekes has looked terrible thus far, and even though Scott Clemmensen got them the victory last night, he still let up five goals in the process. I mentioned in an earlier post that the Devils should give the Blackhawks a call about Nikolai Khabibulin. I’d also consider placing a call to the Bruins about Manny Fernandez who has been buried behind the great Tim Thomas. They cannot keep going out there trying to outscore their opponent. It isn’t how the Devils have been built.

The Mets are still quietly lurking on the outside waiting for the closer market to shape up. I am very interested to see if they are going to get K-Rod to lower his asking price by waiting. He is the guy that I want to see the Mets sign, just because of his makeup which is ideal for NY. I understand the questions about his loss of velocity and violent arm motion, but if he gets us at least one World Series, it will be all worth it. One guy that I don’t want to see the Mets deal for? Bobby Jenks. Shouldn’t there be a few red flags being waved if the White Sox are looking to move a young, cheap, battle tested closer with no one really in the wings waiting?

I love the Yanks acquiring Nick Swisher. You aren’t going to find a better bargain for 7M per year, especially a guy who is as versatile as Swisher is. And by the way, as a Mets fan, is anyone else as scared of what the Yankees’ rotation might be next season. If I had Joba Chamberlain as my fifth starter, I would cry. I am already foreseeing a Sabathia, Lowe, Burnett, Wang, and Chamberlain rotation. Ugh.