What a nice holiday present for NY fans…

Tomorrow morning a lot of people will wake up and see if they have been naughty or nice, and for that you have Santa Claus to thank. But today, any football fan that resides in New York is going to get an early girl, and here you have the National Football League to thank. At Metlife Stadium, with kick off being at 1:00 pm EST (televised on FOX), the New York Gians (7-7, 4-3 on the road) will be playing a road game against the New York Jets (8-6, 6-1 at home), with the winner thinking playoffs and the loser thinking anything but. In what is going to be a cold day in East Rutherford, N.J., thanks to Jets coach Rex Ryan, the pre-game hype has been pretty hot…

"“To say a team’s better than you that never made the playoffs is ridiculous. Clearly, we were the better team my first two years. We get to prove it Saturday who the best team is this year.”"

On the other hand, Giants’ Tom Coughlin took the high road, but made his point as well while answering…

"“Talk is cheap, play the game. That is the way I’ve always believed,” the Super Bowl-winning coach said. “It will be one of those knock-down, drag-out games without a doubt.”"

And they were not the only ones to speak, or should I say trash talk, about this game, which will last sixty minutes, but can have effects way past the final whistle. For Gang Green, which you can check out the FanSided page at The J-E-T Presss, this is a must win game, being the last wild-card spot in the AFC, for their counterparts, which you can read all about at FanSided’s G Men HQ, it’s a must win game as well if they want to win the NFC East. Both sites are well done and will get you ready for the game. For me, it’s more about pin pointing a couple of things in thsi game.

Will Eli Manning step out from behind older brother’s shadow for good with a great performance on a team that can not run the ball. Is Mark Sanchez going to show his critics they are so wrong about him, or so right about his talents. An interesting stat: since 2009, when Jets’ QB came into the league, the two QBs to have thrown the most interceptions at home are Manning with 26 and Sanchez with 24. Or could it be that in the game where most have talked about the two quarterbacks it’s going to be the running backs that make the difference in this one. Is Plaxico Burress going to give his team a nice present or will he catching coal and not footballs. On the other side, will the wide outs for the G Men be able to catch the pigskin or will they catch heat for doing more talking than playing. Lastly, is the outcome going to be a direct correlation to what happens to the Giants’ coach.

All of these questions, and much more, will be answered in less than six hours, just in time to get some more football games in later and then get ready for the holiday gift, which for us at Empire Writes Back means… recapping this game, the Buffalo game and see how the New York Knicks begin their season.