Sunday Will Be a Huge Day for New York Football

Technically speaking, the Buffalo Bills are the only football team that truly makes their home on New York soil. 

Although the Jets and Giants currently play out in New Jersey, both teams used to play in New York many years ago and are still referred to as the New York Jets and New York Giants. So, for arguments sake, let’s just consider them New York football teams.

Okay, so now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s look towards tomorrow, which is arguably one of the most important days New York football has seen since the Giants defeated the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.   

Why?

Because both the Jets and Giants have an opportunity to establish themselves as legitimate contenders.

Last Sunday, after Mark Sanchez settled down, he looked like the quarterback the Jets’ front office was hoping and praying he would be.

Sanchez threw for 272 yards and a touchdown while completing 18 of 31 passes in convincing 24-7 victory of the Houston Texans.

Tomorrow, the stakes will be raised significantly.

Tomorrow, the New England Patriots come into town.

Since Bill Belichick arrived in New England back in 2000, the Jets have won just six of 13 games against the Patriots.

Although the Patriots defense may be weaker and less experienced than in recent years, with the return of Tom Brady, they’re still the hands down favorite to win the AFC East.

It’s one thing for the Jets to pummel the Texans, but it will be quite another thing for them to go out and defeat the Patriots. A win by the Jets tomorrow will make all of New York and the entire NFL stand up and take notice of a new and improved Jets football team that may actually contend for the AFC East this year.

A terrible loss will have the opposite affect. It would scream out loud and clear that the Jets are not quite ready to compete with the big dogs.

The Giants have a huge game of their own tomorrow night, when they head to Dallas take on the Cowboys.

Although the Giants are considered to be the favorites in the NFC East, a win tomorrow will be no easy task.

First off, they will have to play at the new $1 billion Cowboys Stadium that looks more like it should be on an episode of The Jetsons rather than host an NFL football game here on planet Earth.

Second, since finally tossing Jessica Simpson to the curb prior to the start of the 2009 season, Tony Romo is once again whipping the football around the field.

Last week in Tampa Bay, Romo threw for 353 yards and completed three touchdown passes in a 34-21 win over the Buccaneers.  

The Giants defeated the Redskins 23-17 last week. Although the defense looked as solid as expected, the offense wasn’t firing on all cylinders. Eli Manning, who now has more money being wired to his bank account than any other quarterback in the league, completed 20 of 29 passes and threw for 256 yards.

The Giants' struggles on the offensive side were due more to their inability to move the ball on the ground.  

Bradshaw and Jacobs combined to rush for just 106 yards on 28 carries.

Considering how explosive the Cowboys' offense looked last week, the Giants will probably be required to score more than 23 points if they want to have a chance at handing the Cowboys their first loss on the Moon...sorry, at the new Cowboys Stadium.

A win by both the Jets and Giants this weekend may actually boot the Yankees off the front page of every sports section in New York for good.

After all, does anyone really care about baseball after football season has begun?