Snow Storm Hits Home: get ready to feel hateful

New York City

MYFOXNY.COM - New York City and Long Island along with New Jersey are being hit hard.

Heavy snow with winds gusting 40-50 m.p.h. caused nearly impossible travel, especially along coastal areas. The brunt of the storm, with the heaviest snow and highest winds, was  from 5PM to 5AM Sunday. Around a foot of snow in the city was expected.

The city has 350 salt spreaders, 2,000 snowplows and 250,000 tons of rock salt at its disposal.

The MTA was putting its fleet of snow and ice-busting equipment into action to ensure minimal disruption to services over the weekend. The fleet includes superpowered snow throwers, jet-powered snow blowers and de-icing cars.

On Long Island up to 18 inches of snow was expected in some areas. Whereas other areas nearby received winter storm warnings, a blizzard warning was issued for Long Island.

Gate delays were being reported at Newark Liberty International, as well as LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy in New York.

A winter storm warning was in effect for most of the region through early Sunday, while coastal flood warnings and high surf advisories were also in effect.  Officials across the area stressed that car travel should be limited as street and road cleanup may not happen fast enough as the storm intensifies.

New York Jets' Losing Clinics Getting Old (Can anyone expect less)

New York

Everything aligned properly for the Jets when the game started.

The Falcons came to town knowing they were eliminated from the playoffs after the Cowboys' impressive performance against the Saints last night.

They had nothing to play for in this cold weather.

Teams tend to fold when they hear news like that.

Plus, the Falcons entered this game with the weather being cold, after a snowstorm last night at New Jersey.

The Jets loved their chances.

Then, the game started.

Falcons coach Mike Smith decided to start Matt Ryan in a game he didn't need to, and Ryan executed down the stretch that helped the Falcons earn an ugly 10-7 victory that basically ended the Jets' postseason hopes.

The Jets can only wish Mark Sanchez can grow up and do the things Ryan did out there.

If he does, maybe everyone would stop being cynical and feeling disappointed about the Jets.

It may happen one day or it may not. Time will tell.

Right now, it's tough to watch when a quarterback learns on the job. It leads to disastrous results, and that's what happened this afternoon.

Sanchez started off fine by throwing deep to the red zone in the first quarter, but after that, he struggled all day.

He threw three interceptions including the late interception that set up Ryan throwing the game-winning touchdown.

Talk about defense failing to finish, but it's hard to rip them. They played great all day.

They did their job. It came down to lack of offense and lack of execution by their reliable kicker in Jay Feely.

This sounds familiar, right?

It's just another day at the field where everyone expects bad things to happen when it comes to the Jets.

They saw this three times this year where the ending gets bad after what looked it was going to be a good day.

It's like watching a "Honeymooners" episode where Ralph Kramden thinks he knows what he is doing, yet everything backfires on him in the end.

With the Dolphins, Broncos and the Jaguars losing, this would have inched the Jets that much closer to a playoff spot, so it's inexcusable to see them put on a bad show.

This is nothing new, though.

The Jets pulled these stunts before. Heck, even Bill Parcells could not be immune from that.

The Jets needed to win their game against the mediocre Lions in Parcells' first season with the team.

A win would have put them in the playoffs, but, instead, Parcells decided to be selfish by using Leon Johnson at quarterback at times just to spite Neil O'Donnell.

The Jets eventually did not win the game, so the Jets did not make a playoff appearance in the 1997 season.

In Al Groh's lone season with the team, all the Jets needed to do is beat teams they should beat in the end, but Groh worked the team so hard that they worn down in December.

Pete Carroll never had any success either in his one-and-done season.

After a great start, the Jets fell apart after Dan Marino's spike in 1995.

Bruce Coslet's Jets choked a lot.

All the Jets needed to do was beat the Houston Oilers—that would have sealed a playoff spot. It didn't happen, and Coslet eventually was fired.

For Pete's sake, the Jets could not even win with Brett Favre as their quarterback last year.

One can make a case about how the Jets failed to finish the deal in the AFC Championship game against the Broncos in Parcells' second year, but let's leave that out since the Broncos were not going to be denied of losing at home in that game.

Notice the theme, though.

This team knows how to lose. Other teams expect the Jets to screw up all the time. It's no wonder why teams don't fear or respect the Jets.

It isn't going to change anytime soon.

Ryan talks about swagger and confidence, but it means nothing when they don't back it up.

This cynic wasn't fooled in Ryan's introductory press conference.

He heard it all from all these Jets coaches over the years—things will be different when they are introduced to the media for the first time.

Want to know when things are going to be different?

The day the Jets figure out how to end this type of predictable ending like today.

 

 

Atlanta Falcons Derail New York Jets get ready to feel terrified

New York

NFL News - December 20th, 2009 - Written by Bryan

At kick off the temperature was 29 degrees with a wind chill of 18, but that was not enough to phase the Atlanta Falcons. Matt Ryan's four-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tony Gonzalez on fourth down with 1:38 remaining propelled the Falcons over the New York Jets 10-7.

Despite being eliminated from playoff contention following Dallas' win over New Orleans Saturday night, the Falcons came out and played like the season was on the line. To them, there is still something to play for. Never in the history of the organization has the team had back-to-back winning seasons. At 6-7 entering the day, Atlanta must win the remaining games on their schedule. It started today with the Jets, in a game that featured only 17 total points. With the win, the Falcons are now 7-7 and in addition, likely ended the playoff hopes for the Jets.

Coming into the contest, the Falcons were a 5 1/2 point-underdog on the road in the NFL Betting Odds. The over/under was installed prior to kick off at 36 1/2, but with the game's total reaching only 17, it went the under.

Atlanta was glad to get their two offensive leaders back from injury. Ryan and running back Michael Turner had been sidelined the last few weeks with injuries, but were finally activated after an uneventful week of practice. Unfortunately for the Falcons, Turner once again went down with an injury in the game after only having one carry for seven yards. However, Ryan and the rest of the offense were able to compile enough points to defeat the Jets on the road.

Neither offenses could do much all game long until the game-winning drive by Atlanta. On the day, Ryan was held to only 152 yards passing on 16 of 34 attempts and one touchdown.

Atlanta relied on a tandem of running backs once Turner went out with an injury. Jason Snelling led the ground attack for the Falcons carrying the ball 16 times for 59 yards. Complimenting Snelling's power running game was Jerious Norwood, a speedy back who at any time can break for a big play. He had nine carries for 22 yards, but was used more effectively in the passing game. He accounted for two receptions for 47 yards, one of which went for 38.

It was the Atlanta defense however that kept the Falcons in the game, ultimately allowing them to win. They forced three turnovers that stalled Jets' drives. On the season the Falcons' defense has struggled winning the turnover battle, however, they were plus-three for the day.

New York quarterback Mark Sanchez accounted for all three turnovers, throwing three interceptions, and finished the day 18-for-32 for 226 yards one touchdown and the three interceptions.

With New England defeating Buffalo, the Jets have no chance of winning the AFC East. Mathematically, New York is still in playoff contention, but would need a lot to happen to reach post season play. This is made more difficult as the Jets play the only undefeated team in the NFL next week in the Indianapolis Colts.

The Falcons' 2009 playoff campaign has ended, but a chance at making history still has not. A win next week against Buffalo and the following week in the regular 2009 NFL season finale against Tampa Bay and the Falcons will secure the first back-to-back winning seasons in team history.