By Ryan “The Goose” Gosiker
A couple months ago, I wrote an article declaring the NY Jets and Giants season’s to be over. While that was true, this past Sunday was a gentle reminder that, again, another season goes by without a NY sports championship. The last one being the Giants in the 2011 season. Obviously, the NY Rangers have the best chance to end that drought and the Yankees could threaten for a title as well. However, as the NFL regular season came to an end, let us look back on the year that was for both teams. The NY Jets came into the season with monster expectations and a first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. He recruited some of his friends from Green Bay and around the league to join him in Florham Park. The defense was said to be like the ’85 Bears. 4 snaps into the season opener on Monday Night Football against the Buffalo Bills, Aaron Rodgers tore his achilles and would miss the remainder of the season. Zach Wilson was thrusted to start, then was benched, then started again, then got benched. We discovered he will not return to NY next season. The defense collapsed as the year went on. Something the ’85 Bears would never do. They finally limped to the finish line by snapping their 15-game head-to-head losing streak to the New England Patriots in what could be legendary Head Coach, Bill Belichick’s final game in NE. The Giants were consistently beat down all season long. Their year began in disaster with a 40-0 home loss to the Dallas Cowboys which included a season-hampering injury to star LT Andrew Thomas. They could never get back to .500 on the year. Then, their $40 million-dollar QB Daniel Jones tore his ACL during a game in Las Vegas. The season, while likely over regardless, was completely finished once Jones got hurt. Then, the fairy tale of Tommy “Cutlets” DeVito was thrown into the spotlight after backup QB Tyrod Taylor got hurt. DeVito won 3 games and had the NY media draping all over him and his local roots. Eventually, Tommy and the media returned to Earth on Christmas against the Eagles when Tyrod Taylor had to save the day and nearly pulled the upset. They closed out their season by smacking those same Eagles that have embarrassed them the last 2 seasons. Philly pulled their starters down 24-0 before halftime. I do not care about draft position. If the Giants ever have an opportunity to smack around a division rival, they should do it every single time! It was a year of what ifs in NY. The Jets are running it back while the Giants will make some moves. See you in the fall, NY football. Check out my sports show: “Game Time with The Goose” every Saturday from 8:00 to 9:00 AM on WTBQ AM 1110 FM 93.5 and on WGHT Radio with co-host Zach Kruk, Sports Director of WTBQ and WGHT!
