Giants vs Jets at Metlife Stadium – EWB Staff Predictions
By Ed Stein
The New York Giants and New York Jets meet on Sunday in a battle for “Bragging Rights” at Metlife Stadium. The EWB staff gives our predictions.
When the NFL schedule came out, Metropolitan area football fans looked forward to Sunday’s showdown between the New York Giants and New York Jets. Nine weeks into the season and the excitement is tempered by yet another disappointing year by both teams. Big Blue enters the contest at 2-7, while Gang Green is 1-7. Not exactly a battle for league supremacy.
Neither team is going to win their division or even make the playoffs in 2019, but it doesn’t mean that this game is unimportant. The battle for “Bragging Rights” is a big deal. Not as much for the winner, as it is for the loser. Coming out of the game on the losing end, guarantees weeks of back-page headlines, for all the wrong reasons. Not to mention legions of fans calling to complain on sports talk radio.
Actually, this game may be more for the fans than the teams themselves. It’s like Presidential Primary season, where candidates are out to appease the party base, rather than the general electorate. A win energizes your fans. They get to put down their rivals for the next several months. Or the other way, they don’t have to listen to that annoying guy at work put the team down for the rest of the season.
Aside from the fan’s bragging rights, there is one another set of parties who have a strong vested interest in winning, the coaches. Neither Gang Green’s Adam Gase or Big Blue’s Pat Shurmur has to be feeling good about their respective job security. Neither team has lived up to its preseason hype. The winning coach will solidify his footing just a little bit, while the other slips.
Here is how the Empire Writes Back staff sees the game.