ELI MANNING DESERVED BETTER FROM THE GIANTS
Eli Manning was unceremoniously dumped Tuesday as starting quarterback for the New York Giants. Like he’s the one to blame for the team’s wretched 2-9 record this season.
After 210 consecutive regular-season starts and two Super Bowl victories, management decided to replace him with Geno Smith and rookie Davis Webb.
Oh sure, coach Ben McAdoo said Eli could start to keep his streak alive, but would be benched in favor of Smith or Webb during the remaining games this season. Not surprisingly, Manning’s response was thanks, but no thanks.
This is a very big story in New York City. It made the front page of both major tabloids:
New York Post – BIG BLEW IT...14 seasons, 210 starts, two Super Bowl titles, now Giants callously bench Eli
New York Daly News – SAD SACK...Two-time champ benched for Jets reject Geno Smith.
I’m not a big fan of Eli, but I support him on this one. The Giants are 2-9 and going nowhere. The offensive line stinks. His best receivers are all sidelined with injuries.
Manning obviously is on the downside of his career but he deserved to go out as this sorry team’s quarterback for the rest of this lost season.
Then the Giants could dispose of him.
Is Eli Manning a Hall of Famer? Why not? Any QB who wins two Super Bowls merits serious consideration for Canton. Twelve QBs have won at least two Super Bowls. Seven are Hall of Famers (Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, Bart Starr, Roger Staubach, Bob Griese and John Elway) and three surely will be (Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger and John Elway).
That leaves Jim Plunkett and Eli Manning.
Plunkett had a 72-72 record in the NFL regular season (8-2 in the postseason). He had 164 TD passes and threw 198 INTs. His completion percentage was .525. He ranks 67th in career passing yards (25,822).
Eli has a 110-100 record in the NFL regular season (8-4 in the postseason). He has 334 TD passes and 222 INTs. He’s seventh on the career list for yards passing (50,625) and tied for seventh with Drew Brees for TD passes.
I don’t consider Eli Manning to be among the top 20 QBs in NFL history. But two Super Bowl rings and his volume stats make him a Hall of Famer in my book.
WHY ISN’T TOM BRADY THE FAVORITE FOR NFL MOST VALUABLE PLAYER?
With five weeks remaining in the 2016 NFL season, Most Valuable Player appears to be a two-quarterback race --with Philadelphia’s Carson Wentz the favorite over New England’s Tom Brady.
The rest of the field hasn’t yet been lapped but is far behind the two pace-setters.
I’m not Brady’s biggest fan but I’m wondering why Wentz appears to have a clear lead over him.
The Eagles and Wentz have a slightly better record (10-1) than the Patriots (9-2) and Brady. Wentz is in his second NFL season and the exciting new face. Brady is 40 and in his 18th NFL season.
Wentz leads the NFL with 28 TD passes. But Brady is second with 26 TD passes.
Brady overall has much the better resume’:
Brady -- 279-of-408 (.684) for NFL-most 3,374 yards and 26 TD passes; 8.27 yards per pass attempt; 3 INTs; NFL-most 307 yards passing per game; NFL-best 111.7 passer rating...Low marks for mobility: 21 “carries” for 24 yards and 0 TD; sacked 24 times for 144 yards.
Wentz – 213-of-354 (.602) for 2,657 yards (11th in the NFL) and NFL-most 28 TD passes; 7.51 yards per pass attempt (11th); 5 INTs; 242 yards passing per game (15th); 104.0 passer rating (4th)...More mobility than Brady (55 carries for 253 yards and 0 TDs); also sacked 24 times for 131 yards.
If Philadelphia finishes the regular season with a better record than New England (and the best record in the NFL), there would be more logic to Wentz as MVP. But Brady is at the very least a live long shot.
THOUGHTS ON THE BILLS
Nice comeback by Coach Sean McDermott. Two weeks ago, he benched veteran QB Tyrod Taylor in favor of rookie Nathan Peterman and the Bills were demolished 54-24 at the Los Angeles Chargers. Then Buffalo upset the host Kansas City Chiefs 16-10 last Sunday and Peter King of MMQB named McDermott NFL Coach of the Week.
--When McDermott says, “Trust the process.” What exactly does he mean? And what to his players think about it? Of the 53 players on the current 53-man active roster, how many will break training camp at St. John Fisher next August -- maybe 20 – max? I assume most of the current players are not part of “the process.”
--Great stat from Mike Rodak of ESPN:
Through Week 4 – Buffalo allowed 13.5 points per game (1st in the 32-team NFL)...New England allowed 32.0 PPG (31st).
Since Week 5 – Buffalo allowed 29.4 PPG (t31st)...New England allowed 13.1 PPG (1st).
--Do you think this is the main reason so many football fans in western New York hate New England QB Tom Brady?: He’s 26-2 versus the Bills when he plays the entire game.
BILLS UPSET WIN DIDN’T UPSET NEVADA’S LEGAL BOOKMAKERS
The Buffalo Bills saved Nevada’s legal sports books from a completely disastrous NFL Week 12.
Including the three games on Thanksgiving Day and the eight early games on Sunday, the betting favorites were 10-1 outright and 10-1 against the point spread (ATS). The betting public tends to play favorites and the books were taking a bath.
The only underdog to win outright and against the spread was Buffalo (16-10 at Kansas City).
For the month of November, favorites were 38-16-5 against the point spread. According to ESPN Stats and Information, it was the best month for favorites ATS in the Super Bowl era.
Buffalo is a respectable 6-4-1 ATS this season. Philadelphia is tops at 9-2 ATS. Minnesota is 8-3. Denver is worst at 2-8-1 and Cleveland is 2-9.
6-0 SYRACUSE WILL BE BIG UNDERDOGS SATURDAY VS. KANSAS
Syracuse U.’s men’s basketball team is 6-0 after Monday night’s exciting 72-70 home victory over the very good Maryland Terps.
SU will take on an elite opponent – No. 2-ranked Kansas --Saturday in the Hoophall Miami Invitational (5:30 p.m., ESPN, News Radio WHAM 1180).
The Jayhawks, of course, are loaded. They beat Kentucky 65-61 November 14 and have since crushed South Dakota State 98-64, Texas Southern 114-71 and Oakland 102-59.
They hosted Toledo Tuesday night.
SU beat Texas Southern 80-67, Oakland 74-50 and Toledo 72-64. Comparing the scores doesn’t look good for SU.
Kansas coach Bill Self is using a seven-man rotation as he awaits the additions of hot-shot freshman Billy Preston (KU is investigating the financing of a car he’s been driving around campus) anda highly-touted transfer 6-foot-9 power forward Silvio De Sousa.
SU coach Jim Boeheim is doing another fine job with a young team. He has an eight-man rotation but it isn’t quite as talented as Self’s squad (outscoring opponents 94.2 to 62.2 points per game; 53.0 field-goal percentage; 43.0 3-point FG percentage).
If SU football could upset Clemson, why not SU basketball over Kansas?
THURSDAY NIGHT’S “BEST BET”: REDSKINS OVER THE COWBOYS
Dallas running back Ezekiel Elliott is halfway through his six-game suspension and he’s proving how important he is to the team’s success. The Cowboys are 0-3 in his absence (outscored 92-23 in losses to Atlanta, Philadelphia and the Chargers) and quarterback Dak Prescott hasn’t been able to pick up the slack.
Dallas is struggling on defense, too. Opponents have a 101.4 passer rating this season and Washington’s Kirk Cousins is another tough test.
Thursday night’s “Best Bet”: visiting Washington over the 1 ½-point favored Cowboys 27-20.
SETH GRIFFITH ADDS MORE FIREPOWER TO THE ALREADY-POTENT AMERKS
Forward Seth Griffith cleared waivers after starting this season 18 games with the NHL Buffalo Sabres and he figures to make Rochester’s roster even more potent.
Griffith is 24 years old, 5-foot-9, 190 pounds and a fast skater with a proven AHL scoring touch.
With the Providence Bruins in the 2016-17 AL season, he had 24 goals and 53 assists in only 57 games and was an AHL’s First-Team All-Star at right wing.
Last season, in 38 games with the AHL Toronto Marlies, he had 10 goals and 34 assists.
In 203 AHL games, he has 66 goals, 136 assists, 202 points and a +27 plus-minus rating.
It is good to see a player with a First-Team AHL All-Star line in his resume’.
Let’s take a quick walk through Rochester’s First-Team All-Star memory lane:
Sixteen different Amerks earned First-Team All-Star recognition (that’s all folks): center Bronco Horvath (1956-57 season)...center Rudy Migay, RW Billy Hicke and LW Garry Aldcorn (1958-59; there were only six teams in the league but having the entire First-Team forward line was sort on neat)...left wing Stan Smrke (1959-60 season)...right wing Gerry Ehman (1963-64 and 1965-66 seasons)...left wing Dick Gamble (1965-66 season)...left wing Bob Barlow (1967-68 season)...left wing Don Blackburn (1970-71 season)...left wing Murray Kuntz (1973-74 season)...center Doug Gibson (1974-75 and 1976-77 seasons)...left wing Have Hynes (1975-76)...right wing Mal Davis (1983-84 season)...center Paul Gardner (1985-86 season)...right wing Jody Gage (1985-86, 1987-88 and 199-91 seasons)...right wing Donald Audette (1989-90 season).
Hard to believe, but it has been 26 seasons since Jody Gage was Rochester’s most-recent First-Team AHL All-Star Team forward.
SHORT SHOTS
The trusty FiveThirtyEight ELO compute’s updated probabilities for the Buffalo Bills: 8.4 wins...7.6 losses...minus 39.9 point differential...31 percent chance to make the playoffs...2 percent chance to win the AFC East...less than 1 percent to win Super Bowl 52.
The FiveThirtyEight Super Bowl 52 win probabilities: Patriots 28 percent...Eagles 17 percent...Steelers 14 percent...Vikings 12 percent...Saints 6 percent...Falcons 5 percent...Carolina, LA Rams, Kansas City and Seattle each 3 percent...Jaguars 2 percent...Ravens and Titans each 1 percent.
The Bills are No. 17 in this week’s ESPN Power Rankings.
Houston Astros sparkplug second baseman Jose Altuve is the Hickok Belt Pro Athlete of the Month for October. He also won for the month of July. Swimmer Michael Phelps won the 2016 Hickok Belt.
According to Major League Baseball, a full post-season share for the Houston Astros was $438,901.57 – a record for a World Series champion.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...
Wednesday, November 29
Julius Randle (23)...Stefon Diggs (24)...Russell Wilson (29)...Pavol Demitra (43)...Jamal Mashburn (45)....Brad May (46)...Mariano Rivera (48)...Dee Brown (49)...Howard Johnson (57)...Rich Camarillo (58)...Jody Gage (58)...Jerry Lawler (68)...Suzy Chaffee (71)...Vin Scully (90)...Minnie Minoso, who belatedly entered the American League mostly because he was a dark-skinned Cuban, was born on this date 92 years ago (1925). He died in 2015 at age 89. I believe he would be a worthy Hall of Famer. He couldn’t enjoy the honor now.
Thursday, November 30
Braxton Miller (25)...Mikie Mahtook (28)...Jordan Farmar (31)...Jason Pominville (35)...MMA fighter War Machine (36)...Shane Victorino (37)...Marcellus Wiley (43)...Bo Jackson (45)...Curt Giles (59)...Paul Westphal (67). Ben Stiller (52) is invited to the birthday party.
Friday, December 1
Javier Baez (25)...DeSean Jackson (31)...Jabar Gaffney (37)...Barry Sims (43)...Todd Steussie (47)...Reggie Sanders (50)...Larry Walker (51)...Steve Walsh (51)...former Red Wings catcher Jeff Tackett (51)...former Amerk defenseman Steve Dykstra (55)...Duane Bickett (55)...George Foster (69)...Lee Trevino (78). Sarah Silverman (47), Bette Midler (72) and Woody Allen (82) are invited to the birthday party.