To start the new NFL season, the New York Jets, New York Giants, and the Buffalo Bills all had disappointments.
The Giants who are coming off a great season, were going through contract conflicts with running back Saquan Barkley for most of the offseason. Despite this, they felt poised to show everyone why he was worth a lot of money.
The Giants opened their season debut against “America’s Team,” the Dallas Cowboys. As most NFC games go, most expected this to be back and forth and come down to the fourth quarter.
As the Giants are driving down the field gaining momentum into the game, the Cowboys’ defense comes forcing the Giants to attempt the field goal.
At the 8:03 mark in the first quarter, Giants’ kicker Brandon Aubrey attempted a 58-yard field goal that got blocked and returned for a touchdown by Noah Ighinoghene of the Cowboys.
From that moment on, the Giants could not get anything going offensively. Things started to go downhill for them. Later in the first quarter quarterback Daniel Jones threw a pick-six to Cowboys’ cornerback Daron Bland.
As the defense of the Cowboys kept getting stops, the new offense run by Head Coach Mike McCarthy started to pour on points. Once the offense got the ball inside the 5-yard line, Dallas running back Tony Pollard ran the ball into the end zone for his first touchdown of 2023.
To end the first half, the Cowboys led 26-0.
As the second half got going, Brian Daboll, head coach of New York tried to get the offense going, but the Cowboys had an answer for everything. Five minutes into the third quarter, quarterback Dak Prescott had his offense in position to score again inside the redone. And once again, they scored. Tony Pollard ran the ball again for his second touchdown of the game. At this point, the Cowboys led 33-0.
The game concluded 40-0, leaving the Giants as the only team to be held scoreless on opening weekend.
After the game, Hunter Anderson, a SUNY Cortland student stated, “Last season was a fluke year for the Giants, so this year we see what they’re really about because their schedule is drastically more difficult.”
As for the second New York team, the Jets entered this season with high hopes. In the offseason, they revamped the team by trading for superstar Aaron Rodgers, Allen Lazard from the Packers, and late free-agent addition Dalvin Cook. From that moment on, the Jets fanbase knew that Rodgers was going to do everything he could to get the Jets back to the playoffs.
As the season began, MetLife stadium was sold out on September 11th to see Aaron Rodgers take the field for the first time as a Jet.
Not even one minute into A-Rod’s opening drive, he scrambled out of the pocket and was unable to stand up on his own power. As he was assisted off the field everyone at Met Life stadium was in complete silence. At a loss for words. After the four-time NFL MVP went into the medical tent, he went in a cart back into the locker room for further evolution. Throughout the game’s entirety, fans speculated that it was just an ankle injury and he would be back.
With players on the Jets sideline disappointed that their starter went out like that, they still had a game to play. Everyone stepped up to the plate and got the job done as if he was there. They defeated the Bills 22-16 in overtime.
After further testing, all Jets fans are back to square one with all post-season and Super Bowl anticipation. Their starting quarterback is scheduled to miss the remainder of the season with a torn Achilles.
With that being known, now New York fans are starting to wonder if he is going to come back for another season. Would he want to go through the rehab process to give it one more shot? SUNY Cortland student who is a big fan of the Jets stated, “This is horrible. We went from being Super Bowl contenders to now not even being a playoff team.”
As for the Buffalo Bills, fans feel like they can make the Super Bowl if everything goes right with returning superstars receiver Stefan Diggs and Quarterback Josh Allen.
Well, things didn’t get off on the right foot as Allen threw three interceptions all to Jets player Jordan Whitehead.
Despite this, the Bills still had a chance to win going into overtime.
In the period, the Bills won the toss and went three and out in the ensuing drive, forcing head coach Sean McDermott to punt the ball. Jets’ receiver Xavier Gipson returned the punt for a touchdown to end the game.
After the game, Anderson stated, “The Bills are going to have their ups and downs, but they should definitely be a playoff team at the end of the day, and by far should win the AFC East.”
Once again Josh Allen failed to get the job done in overtime, Dropping his career record to 0-5 in OT.
It was not a great week for New York Football.