Newsday's look ahead to the 2019 NFL season for the Jets and Giants and how they compare with the rest of their division and the league as a whole.

Sports

Football

Bob Glauber

There is an inevitable changing of the guard with the Giants, a seismic quarterback shift that is only a matter of time from taking place. It may not be this month, or even this season. But it’s coming. Of that, there is no doubt. 
There is a quarterback maturation process with the Jets, with Sam Darnold transforming from uncertain rookie starter to self-assured leader of a team that is suddenly filled with expectation. That may not mean a stratospheric improvement from last year’s 4-12 season to a playoff run just yet, but there is legitimate hope around here for the first time in years. 
Welcome to the 2019 NFL season in New York, where both teams are undergoing fundamental and consequential changes the likes of which we have rarely seen occurring simultaneously. 
With Eli Manning’s heir apparent, Daniel Jones, already flashing signs that he can one day take over the offense and flourish the way a No. 6 overall pick is expected, the Giants are at a flashpoint similar to the one that Manning was at the center of 15 years ago. That’s when he took his first uncertain steps as the team’s starter on the way to developing into a two-time Super Bowl MVP. 
That is an awful lot to ask of any quarterback, but Jones understands the burden of expectation now that he is in position to eventually take over for&nbsp;Manning. In fact, he welcomes it. 
“It’s part of the position, part of the role here,” Jones said about playing in the crucible that is the New York market. “I’m certainly accepting of that and willing to take that on.” 
It is a daunting scenario for any athlete, but particularly one who must eventually follow in the footsteps of a potential Hall of Fame player whose place in franchise history is secure. Manning experienced a different pressure when he arrived&nbsp;here in 2004, although being the No. 1 pick and coming to the Giants after a blockbuster draft-day trade certainly had its challenges. 
For Jones, his eventual ascension&nbsp;carries a somewhat more complicated equation. Even though Manning’s best days are behind him, the fact that Jones will some day follow in his footsteps means a potentially higher degree of difficulty in trying to live up to Manning’s legacy. 
Giants fans may be weary of Manning’s inability in recent years to consistently get the most of out his offense, but we’ve seen it time and time again when aging stars leave the game. Once they are gone, their flaws are soon forgotten or overlooked, and the peak moments are remembered most. So, while there might be a short-term bump Jones might enjoy simply by beginning with a clean slate, his&nbsp;growing pains will be a reminder that there is a long way to go before his career can be mentioned in the same breath as Manning’s. 
Will he be a two-time Super Bowl winner with historic victories over a team like the Patriots? Or will he turn out to be good, not great? Or, worse yet, will he disappoint&nbsp;and set the Giants back? It’s all too soon to know, but at least we are about to find that out. And the answer will likely determine whether the Giants can move forward as a championship contender or not. And whether Dave Gettleman’s legacy as the general manager who staked his reputation on Jones will be among the most important in franchise history. 
It’s a consequential time for the Giants, all right. One of the most consequential in their nearly century-old history. 
The same holds true for the Jets, who believe that Darnold may be their best chance at being the next best thing to Joe Namath, the only quarterback to have raised a championship trophy for a team so often used to disappointment. That was more than half a century ago, and the Jets haven’t returned&nbsp;to the&nbsp;Super Bowl since. 
But Darnold does not shrink from the daunting task.&nbsp;Rather, he&nbsp;welcomes the opportunity of&nbsp;&nbsp;turning the Jets into champions. He showed plenty of promise as a rookie, especially in the final month of the season after recovering from a foot injury. And with quarterback whisperer coach Adam Gase now calling the shots on what should be an imaginative offense that also features tailback Le’Veon Bell, Darnold can expect to flourish.
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“I’m ready to roll,” Darnold said. “As a quarterback, you have to be able to lead. There’s not a better way to put it, I don’t think. On Sundays, there’s no room for error. I have to be very outspoken about what’s right and what’s wrong.” 
Darnold has checked all the right boxes so far: experience as a rookie starter, improvement in the off-season program, training camp and preseason, and a high football IQ that makes him able to adapt to unforeseen circumstances. 
Two young quarterbacks, two teams in transition, and all of it happening at the same time. 
There hasn’t been a more collectively consequential time in New York football than now.

Columnists

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The Giants and Jets are two teams in transition at the same time

Glauber: Giants, Jets are two teams in transition

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Tom Rock

What should Giants fans want this season? 
That used to be a very simple question. The answer usually entailed playing meaningful games in December, getting into the playoffs, and making a run at a championship. Even when many of those objectives seemed unrealistic at this point in seasons past, that was the goal. 
But this season is unlike any in the past two decades. It is, in many ways, a more complicated season for the Giants, especially when it comes to their present and future at quarterback. And so, the answer to the normally routine question becomes a little more complex. 
There are, in other words, a number of ways that this upcoming 2019 campaign can be judged as a success or a failure, and most of them have little to do with a Lombardi Trophy. The minute the Giants used the sixth overall pick to select Daniel Jones in April’s draft muddied those perspectives. 
“I want to feel like at the end of the season we’re moving in the right direction,” co-owner John Mara said earlier this summer of the rubric from which he will judge 2019. “I’m not going to say it has to be a minimum number of games that we have to win, or we have to make the playoffs. I want to feel when I’m walking off the field after the last game of the season, whenever that is, that this franchise is headed in the right direction. That, to me, is the most important thing.” 
Even that gets fuzzy when weighing now impulses against later needs. 
A .500 record or better would seem to be a step in that “right direction” for a team that has won eight games in the past two seasons combined. A fan base tired of losing should embrace that. But if Eli Manning is the quarterback the entire year and Jones spends it standing on the sideline, has it done anything to push the franchise toward progress? Won’t 2020 feel like another restart rather than the next phase in a long-term transition? 
What if the Giants take a step backward from their five victories a year ago and win just three or four games . . . &nbsp;but Jones plays the last half of them and goes through some growing pains but also flashes some of the abilities that the Giants think he has? Would that not be planting seeds for the future? Could that not be seen as heading in the “right direction”? 
General manager Dave Gettleman has said it is possible to win and rebuild at the same time. In the offseason that could be true. At some point in the coming months, though, he may have to make a choice. This season will be a step in a direction, for sure. It’s his job to make sure it’s the right one. 
That’s not to say the Giants should tank for the sake of playing a rookie quarterback, even though last time they did it and Tom Coughlin pulled the plug on a potential playoff team in the middle of 2004, the Giants won the division the following year, went to the postseason four straight years, won a championship three years later, and set the foundation for a second title four years after that. Giants fans, perhaps more than those who follow any franchise, love to play the it-happened-that-way-once-it-will-happen-that-way-again game. Sometimes they’re even right. Most times, though, each decision and outcome is unique to its own circumstances. 
Jones may look and act and sound like Manning, but asking him to follow each and every footstep of his mentor’s career is absurd . . . and even a little creepy. 
Internally, the Giants seem optimistic that they can succeed in an old-fashioned definition of the word. 
Manning — the hinge of this season whose play will determine where it goes and how it is viewed by both contemporary and historical standards — is of course bullish about his 16th and perhaps final year with the Giants. 
“It’s making the playoffs to start with, and then making a run in the playoffs,” Manning said of his objective for 2019. “Obviously, the goal is to always win a championship, and you can’t do that without making the playoffs. I think the goal is to win the division and go from there.” 
Even younger players seem to be buying in. Saquon Barkley is the player who should most urgently like to see the Giants move into their next stage. He’ll likely play many more seasons here with Jones as his quarterback than he will with Manning, and the window for a running back’s prime can be a brief one. If the Giants are going to win with Jones, as they believe they will, he should be the one screaming ‘Let’s get on with it, then!” But he also wants to win games and thinks these current Giants can. 
“We know what we have with this team,” Barkley said. “We know we have a lot of talent, and we can be special and we can compete his year.” 
To what end remains to be seen. 
Some teams have all-or-nothing barometers when their season starts. It’s the Super Bowl or bust. The Giants used to have that kind of standard, and they may again very soon. But 2019 presents this team with a hazier demarcation of what they can achieve, what they would be best served to achieve, and what they might want to achieve. Chances are strong that 2019 will be framed in the context of upcoming seasons’ successes or failures rather than its own. It will be seen as a steppingstone toward one era, or a tombstone for another. 
So, what do you want?

New York Giants

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Eli Manning will start at quarterback, but how long before Giants turn to Daniel Jones?

How long before Giants turn to Jones?

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The Jets have been looking up at New England almost as long as Sam Darnold has been alive. But the Jets are under new leadership, one that’s trying to build a winning culture and perennial playoff contender that can ultimately beat the Patriots. 
Someday. 
“We’re worried about dethroning those guys up North and winning the AFC East,” Sam Darnold said. “If we can do that, we’ll have a really good chance at the playoffs.” 
The last time the Jets made the playoffs was eight years ago. Darnold was in grade school. Now the Jets believe Darnold’s arm, skills and overall makeup will help them end their postseason hiatus —&nbsp;and eventually their five-decades long Super Bowl drought. 
But it could take some more time before they beat Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots. The process has just begun for the Jets. 
The more-offensive minded Adam Gase replaced coach Todd Bowles, who was let go after a 4-12 finish last season. Gase brought in the aggressive and proven Gregg Williams to run the defense. General manager Mike Maccagnan also was fired and was succeeded by Joe Douglas, who helped build Super Bowl-winning teams in Baltimore and Philadelphia. 
Same old Jets, not anymore. 
“Everything seems different,” safety Rontez Miles, a Jet since 2013, said. “It just feels different. Everything feels different, in a good way. Change is good.” 
The Jets made significant changes to the roster, too. 
They signed elite playmakers on both sides of the ball in running back Le’Veon Bell and Pro Bowl middle linebacker C.J. Mosley. The Jets also acquired former Pro Bowl left guard Kelechi Osemele and convinced ex-Panther center Ryan Kalil to unretire. 
The O-line is stronger and better equipped to protect Darnold and open holes for Bell and versatile back Ty Montgomery, an under-the-radar signing who will be a big part of Gase’s offense. 
The offense should be creative and more up-tempo. The Jets will run plenty of no-huddle and use many formations, including both Bell and Montgomery lining up wide. Gase’s goal is to get everyone involved. New slot receiver Jamison Crowder join returning wideouts Robby Anderson and Quincy Enunwa to give Darnold more weapons. 
“If we get the details right, I think we’ll be hard to beat,” Darnold said.&nbsp; 
Darnold and the first-team offense had some impressive drives in the preseason, and that was without their projected starting offensive line and Bell. 
Gase rested Bell, who sat out last season over a contract dispute with the Steelers, in the preseason. Bell got extra reps in practice to get him ready for his first football game since January 2018 when the Jets open on Sept. 8 against the Bills. But the Jets are brimming with excitement to unleash their new dynamic back. 
“I can't wait to see what he does on a Sunday,” Gase said. “You can tell the guy is a special player and to see him on Sunday, that's going to be fun.”
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Bell is eager to play his first game as a Jet and show that he and Darnold can be a great duo. 
“I just can’t wait,” Bell said. “I want to be in there with him because I know how special he is, and I want to play with that. He’s a special player. I can’t wait to be out there and be special with him.” 
The Jets hope the defense can be special under Williams and with Mosley, Pro Bowl safety Jamal Adams, Leonard Williams in a contract year, and rookie lineman Quinnen Williams. But Gregg Williams, known for his exotic blitzes and multiple looks and fronts that confuse offenses, will have to be at his mad-scientist best. 
They lost inside linebacker Avery Williamson, their leading tackler last year, for the season to a torn ACL. Cornerback is a weakness, and the Jets still don’t have an impactful edge rusher. But Williams will try to mask those issues and shortcomings. He’s overseen seven top 10 defenses, and has this group believing it can be nasty and dominant. 
Williams and Gase, both strong personalities and demanding coaches, created a very competitive atmosphere at practice with both sides taking pride in beating the other. They believe they have more than enough to beat other teams and finally end their playoff skid. 
“It would mean a lot,” Leonard Williams said. “It would mean a lot for sure. I’m definitely tired of losing. The way our team is going now we’re going to be able to turn those close games into the wins and hopefully we end up in the playoffs this year.” 
“We have good players, good schemes and we’re building a good culture here,” Darnold added. “If you have those three things the sky’s the limit.”

New York Jets

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Same old Jets? Not anymore, as big changes have brought about confidence

Same old Jets? Not anymore, as changes breed confidence

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Saquon Barkley cheats. 
That was one of the things Sterling Shepard learned about his teammate when the two of them spent a few weeks this past offseason training together in Los Angeles. They lived in the same house, grinded through the same drills, dreamed the same optimism about the upcoming season. 
But when it came to some of the sprints, when they were going head-to-head to chug up Pacific sand dunes, and they came close to the finish line, well… 
“He’ll try to stick his hand out or something and try to cheat a little bit,” Shepard said. 
Barkley’s response to such an aspersion? 
“Come on man!” the second-year running back blurted. “That’s Sterling Shepard for you.” 
Whether or not Barkley actually broke any unwritten rules in the workouts may never be settled. 
“Number one, if you’re not cheating you’re not trying,” Barkley said. “He says if you are running a race, what are they going to count, your chest or [sticking out your arm], and I don’t do that. Why would I do that during a race? If anything, I was the one who was running through because I know…” 
Barkley stopped for a moment. He was getting too excited. He gathered himself. 
“I’m sorry,” he said. “You can see how passionate I’m getting about that.” 
And you can imagine that if he gets so revved up about footraces on the beach, so intense about edging out a teammate by the length of an extended body part, so invested in coming in first when no one is watching, that proving himself as the top running back in the NFL this upcoming season is probably something that matters to him. 
He’ll say that he just wants wins, that he’ll trade rushing titles and MVP talk and all the other accolades that lay in front of him as his career is beginning to take off for a Super Bowl win. And that’s probably true. But the reality is that for the Giants to achieve that ultimate team goal, they need their best individual player to thrive. And that’s Barkley. 
He already showed what he’s capable of in his first season with the Giants when he ran for 1,307&nbsp;yards, caught 91&nbsp;passes for another 721&nbsp;yards, scored 15&nbsp;touchdowns, and was named the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year. Now, his job is to top it. 
Even if it means figuratively sticking his arm out at the finish line.
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“He’s a year two guy, and usually, for talented people that work hard at what they do, you can see an improvement between year one and year two,” coach Pat Shurmur said. “Sometimes it’s their biggest improvement.” 
In other words, you ain’t seen nothing yet. 
But can Barkley really get better? Isn’t it asking way too much of someone to splash into the NFL with a record-setting performance and then top it? 
“Maybe for some guys that will rest on their laurels,” Shurmur said. “But I don’t see that in Saquon. He’s a guy that’s just trying to get better every day.” 
And every night. 
Even when he is not training, not preparing for the upcoming season, not focusing on carrying the Giants back to a level of glory that was last witnessed nearly a decade ago and is quickly fading toward ancient history (there are only two players left on the team who were part of a Super Bowl champion here), he is brainstorming ways to improve. 
“You have so much time, especially when you’re laying in bed at night in the hotel and you’re just looking up at the ceiling, to just think,” Barkley said. “So, in those moments, I’m just trying to find ways that I can improve.” 
If he starts to think about running inside zone plays, he may hop out of bed and pull up some tape&nbsp;of Ezekiel Elliott or Todd Gurley demonstrating how they handle such schemes. If he dropped a pass that day — or earlier that week, or earlier in his life, really — he’ll start flogging himself over the mistake and then cue up some clips of great receivers past and present to watch their route-running and handwork on the football. 
“I don’t think I was really awful in anything, but there’s a lot of things that I can work on in my game,” he said. “All those little things are where I try to get better. I don’t really try to just have one focal point because I think when you do that, you kind of just put yourself in a box. I try to make sure I maintain the same mindset to continue to get better at everything.” 
Which brings us back to Los Angeles. 
Barkley spent his first offseason as a professional football player this summer far away from the buzz and expectation in New York. He and Shepard were both planning to train separately in Southern California and they were looking for places to live when Barkley found one first. It had enough room for Shepard and his family to move in, too. 
“It’s good to train with your teammates,” Barkley said. “Obviously, you have respect for each other, but it’s a different respect when you’re actually living with each other, playing video games, and going from fighting each other to chilling to competing at this and that. It makes you grow and respect each other and the game so much more. Not only as a player but as a person, to respect each other.” 
Both had been like little brothers to Odell Beckham Jr. when he was with the Giants. Now, they are the men of the house in the Giants locker room. 
The two had always been close, but the experience of sharing a house and a training regimen forged something more than a friendship. 
“I love that dude,” Shepard said. “We push each other every day. We compete with everything, who can swim the fastest or whatever, and I think it’s all in good nature, and it’s ultimately going to make us better.” 
Barkley admits that he isn’t as talented at what he calls “tier-two sports” like pingpong or handball, and concedes defeat to Shepard and other teammates in those contests. But to him, that’s not the point of such events. 
“It brings out [the competitiveness]&nbsp;in everybody when everyone is playing ping-pong or we are playing card games or when we come out here on the field,” Barkley said. “We didn’t have that last year, we didn’t have that competitive nature that we have. That’s why I think we can have a really special year. If we continue to build, continue to build on that with the long hard days, and put in the work and focus on details, I believe we can have a great season.” 
That’s what Barkley wants, for himself and the Giants. 
“For me, I consider a proper encore would be just doing whatever I can to help my team to get in position to compete in the playoffs, and compete for a championship,” Barkley said. 
He’s shown he’ll do everything he can to achieve that. 
Even if he has to stick out his arm at the finish line.

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Saquon Barkley is passionate, especially when it comes to getting even better for Giants

Giants' Barkley has a passion to run

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It was another steamy training camp practice and C.J. Mosley was hot. But it had nothing to do with the temperature. 
The Jets offense had little trouble moving the football against their defense. Mosley, the new leader of the defense, doesn’t say much. But he said something to ratchet up the unit and directed some of his words at Adam Gase. 
“He knows when to pull guys together and say something,” Gase said. “He made the comment to me, ‘Hey, you guys are done moving the ball, we're going to straighten this thing up right now. This is not acceptable for us.’ And then it changes. He has great timing when it's time to speak up.” 
Change is the operative word for the Jets this season. They’ve undergone many changes, and they’ve added some game changers. Le’Veon Bell was the marquee signing during the offseason, but Mosley could prove to be the bigger pickup. 
Mosley&nbsp;is widely considered one of the best middle linebackers in the league. He’s made four Pro Bowls in five years, and was the play-caller on the Ravens top-ranked defense last year. Gase called Mosley “a culture changer.” 
That moment in practice was an example of how prideful Mosley is, how serious he takes his role and the impact he can have on a defense. His teammates respond to him. 
“If you’re going to let things slide in practice they’re going to slide during the game,” Mosley said. “That’s how a losing culture begins. Little things always matter. When you do the little things right the big things don’t seem as hard because you’re always in the right position.” 
<h2>WRITE IT DOWN</h2> 
Mosley, 27, usually is in the right position, and he has his teammates in the right spot as well. 
He’s the quarterback of the defense, proficient at reading the offense and adjusting&nbsp;before the snap, or settling everyone when there’s any confusion or when a late call comes in from the sideline. It’s no coincidence that the Ravens were a Top 10 defense in four of Mosley’s five years in Baltimore. In that same time frame, the Jets finished 22nd or higher four times in points allowed. 
Former Ravens linebacker Albert McClellan, who the Jets signed late in camp, said Mosley is a tremendous leader and his best attribute is "getting the people around him to play better and come together as one." 
Jets senior defensive assistant Joe Vitt has been in the NFL since 1979. He’s seen and coached many great players, and he said Mosley’s ability to fix the defense quickly is a “unique” quality and skill 
“You have to have a player that has the confidence to get a defense lined up and then pre-snap make adjustments when the offense goes to a shift in their motion to get us out of a bad defense. He excels at that,” Vitt said. “You got a guy like that who’s smart, takes on that responsibility, he’s big, he’s physical, he can tackle, he’s got character, he’s got production — that’s a special guy.” 
It’s all about pre-snap recognition for Mosley. 
“I don’t say a lot, but I observe a lot,” Mosley said
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To be as prepared as he possibly can, the Alabama product watches a lot of film. But he’s also picked up a different form of studying from former Ravens teammate and fellow linebacker Terrell Suggs. 
Mosley said Suggs took notes on every team Baltimore would play, particularly within their division. Mosley decided he would do the same. Now, he’s a major note taker. 
“He showed the way,” Mosley said. “When you have a guy like that, in year 17 still taking notes even though he knows, still writing down the same things, that repetition mentally helps you.” 
Mosley took notes on his iPad with Baltimore, but he’s handwriting his notes with his new team. 
Vitt said Mosley had his book open at his very first defensive meeting, sat in the front, and took “meticulous notes.” Mosley brings that notebook with him to every meeting, then home with him at night and reviews it and highlights the important stuff. 
“It’s easier to remember things when you write it down,” Mosley said. “That’s a good switch-up for me. I feel like every year you should always try to do something new to make your game better. 
“My handwriting isn’t good, but the notes are.” 
<h2>WORTH THE MONEY</h2> 
Mosley is on the quiet side. He lets his play do his talking, and that comes across loud and clear. 
As a rookie, his teammate Elvis Dumervil called Mosley “half-man, half-amazing.” The nickname stuck. Last year, when legendary Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he said Mosley was the best middle linebacker in the NFL. 
The Ravens didn’t slap the franchise tag on Mosley, but they had never allowed a first-round pick who made multiple Pro Bowls to leave after his rookie deal expired. It was a surprise to many that Mosley was even available. 
Even Jets safety Jamal Adams, who was on a free-agent recruiting mission, didn’t attempt to attract Mosley when the two played together in the Pro Bowl. He figured Mosley was returning to Baltimore. 
“I never saw C.J. hitting the market,” Adams said. “I definitely told him if I played with a linebacker like you it would be fun. My wishes were granted, and we’re excited to have him.” 
The Jets didn’t give Baltimore the chance to bring back Mosley.&nbsp;They gave him&nbsp;a five-year, $85 million contract, with $51 million guaranteed, to lead new coordinator Gregg Williams’ defense. With a contract like that comes great responsibilities and pressure. But Mosley isn’t feeling any of it and for good reason.
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Mosley is putting in the work on the field, in the classroom and at home. He hasn’t missed a practice, which has shown tremendous leadership to not only his younger teammates but some veterans that he’s hungry to be the best player he can be and help the Jets end their eight-year playoff drought. 
“With a new contract, I won’t say all guys, but sometimes the routine slips when you kind of get what you’re looking for for a while,” Mosley said. “I came here to win. That’s what upstairs has done, too. They made moves, they made changes, the brought the right guys in.” 
The 6-2, 240-pound Mosley has wrecked offenses to the tune of 597 tackles, 43 for a loss, 65 quarterback hits, nine interceptions, 8.5 sacks, six forced fumbles, five recoveries and he’s missed just three games in his career. 
Mosley is one of two players with more than 500 tackles, eight interceptions and eight sacks since 2014. Panthers inside linebacker and former Defensive Player of the Year Luke Kuechly is the other. 
“He’s a guy that does everything right,” said Jets running back Ty Montgomery, who finished last season with the Ravens. “I remember seeing it in Baltimore. Just watching him, I was like, ‘That guy is everywhere.’ ” 
“He's an action guy,” Gase said. “Everything he does, there's a reason why he's been as good as he's been. There's a reason why he's a leader.” 
<h2>WIN NOW, BABY</h2> 
Mosley read the offense and Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield’s eyes. It was the closing seconds of the last game of last&nbsp;season and the Browns were driving, down 26-24. 
A Cleveland win, and the Ravens are bounced from the playoffs. A Ravens&nbsp;win, and they capture the division. The Ravens blitzed, and Mosley stayed in coverage. Mayfield threw the ball, but couldn’t get it over Mosley. He was in the right position, of course. 
Mosley tipped the pass, grabbed it, fell to the ground for his only interception of 2018 and saved the Ravens season. 
Hours earlier, the Jets completed a 4-12 season with a loss in New England. Adams railed in the locker room about the Jets needing more “dawgs.” They got one in Mosley. 
&nbsp;“We’re here to win the Super Bowl,” Mosley said. “It was a great feeling winning the division championship last year. I definitely want to get that again. What better place than to start a new chapter with another great organization? We got a lot of young guys and coaches that want to win now and are ready to win. 
“That’s my plan — to try and get that same feeling.”

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Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley is a quarterback for the defense

New Jets linebacker Mosley is a QB for the defense

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<h3>AND AT QUARTERBACK . . .</h3>

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At some point this season the Giants are likely to be faced with a question they have not had to give serious consideration to for most of the past 15 years: Who is our starting quarterback? They’ll start the season with Eli Manning in that familiar role, but if he or the team falters it may be time to replace him with rookie Daniel Jones. 
<h3>CHASING TIKI</h3>

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Tiki Barber gained 2,390 all-purpose yards in 2005, a franchise record that has stood for 13 years… and may fall before this season is over. Saquon Barkley racked up 2,028 total yards rushing and receiving as a rookie last season, and if he can average an extra 23 or so yards per game more in 2019 he’ll break Barber’s standard. 
<h3>WILL WE MISS OBJ?</h3>

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The Giants’ offense won’t be as exciting without Odell Beckham Jr. It won’t be as explosive or dynamic. But can it be better? Maybe. The Giants will need big efforts from a lot of directions – Barkley, Sterling Shepard, Evan Engram and others – to make up for Beckham’s production. But if they get it, they might find they have improved despite trading away one of the most talented players in the NFL. 
<h3>THE RUSH IS ON</h3>

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A strong pass rush has been the backbone of just about every winning Giants team in the Super Bowl era. For this year’s squad to be successful, they’ll need to find some players to provide it. Veteran Markus Golden, second-year player Lorenzo Carter, and rookie Oshane Ximines have to fulfil expectations on a team that finished next-to-last in sacks a year ago. 
<h3>FOLLOW THE LINE</h3>

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An offensive line is the engine of a team, and over the past few years of woeful football the Giants have had some clunkers. Now the unit is completely refurbished with five new starters from the time Dave Gettleman and Pat Shurmur arrived following the wreckage of the 2017 season. It has been improved in theory. Now it just has to prove that it is street-ready and able to carry the team where it wants to go.

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Five storylines facing the Giants in 2019

<h3>BELL'S BACK</h3>

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Le’Veon Bell was the Jets’ marquee offseason signing. He’s out to silence his critics who think he won’t return to elite running back status after holding out all of last season. Bell believes he can be even more dangerous and productive in Adam Gase’s system than he was in Pittsburgh. We’ll see. 
<h3>DARNOLD'S DEVELOPMENT</h3>

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It’s a big season for Sam Darnold. As a rookie, he showed some flashes of growing into the franchise quarterback the Jets believe he will be. He’ll have more on his plate this season. But Sam seems ready for it, and he’s driven to lead the Jets to the playoffs. Can he? 
<h3>GASE'S GENIUS</h3>

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There’s been plenty of talk about Gase being a mastermind who will elevate Darnold’s game and make the Jets’ offense explosive. Gase’s offense in Miami was less-than-memorable, but injuries played a factor. Pressure will be on Gase to deliver with the Jets. 
<h3>WILLIAMS, WILLIAMS &amp; WILLIAMS</h3>

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The defense should be improved under coordinator Gregg Williams. With his track record, many are counting on Williams to get more out of Leonard Williams than past coaches, help rookie Quinnen Williams become a force and fix the Jets' unsettled cornberback and linebacker situations. 
<h3>CULTURE CHANGE</h3>

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Gase and Williams have created a highly competitive environment and expectations have risen throughout the organization.&nbsp; Gase and general manager Joe Douglas share the same vision on players and how to build a winning team. The Jets aren’t one yet -- but going forward, expect many moves until they are.

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Five storylines facing the Jets in 2019

<h3>OFFENSE</h3> 
Quarterbacks:&nbsp;We know who’ll start: Manning. The question is, who will finish? Jones, the sixth overall selection in the draft, is there as the heir apparent. Less apparent, though, is when he’ll get to heir. He looks and feels ready. The only thing that will keep him from playing, it seems, is Manning. He needs to win early and often – and play well -- to forestall the pressure to hand the franchise over to Jones. The last time the Giants were in such a situation was 2004, when the Kurt Warner-led Giants were 5-4 and Tom Coughlin inserted the rookie Manning as the starter. The Giants should have a fairly good idea of where this season is heading by the time they get nine weeks into it, plus they have their bye in Week 11. Keep an eye on that stretch of the season for the Giants to decide who finishes as their starter. 
Running backs: He runs, he catches, he blocks, he leads. If there is anything Barkley can’t do, the Giants have yet to find it. And chances are they won’t this season, either. After an exhilarating debut that earned him Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, Barkley is back to add on to his already impressive resume. The potential for his numbers is staggering. Could he run for 2,000 yards? His position coach said this summer he wouldn’t be surprised. Can he become just the second running back with 1,000 yards running and receiving in the same season? It’s certainly within reach. Can he go a second full season without a fumble? That may be the most unbelievable stat from his rookie campaign in which he also led the league in unbelievable. Barkley is the centerpiece of the Giants offense – really the entire organization at this point – and his production will determine whether the Giants have a successful season in 2019 or not. 
Receivers/Tight ends:&nbsp;You-know-who is long gone, which leaves the Giants with this group of steady but hardly star-worthy targets. The most accomplished of them all, Golden Tate, acquired as a free agent this offseason, will miss the first four games of the season suspended for violating the league’s PED policy. Shepard has an opportunity to step up and become a true No. 1, something he could never accomplish in the shadows of Odell Beckham Jr. during the first few years of his Giants career. He’s spent the preseason practicing with a fractured thumb that should be watched closely now that he’s in live action. The trio of veterans -- Latimer, Fowler and Russell Shepard – have never been go-to guys in their careers but will need to produce. &nbsp;Watch to see what rookie Slayton can do once he gets more integrated in the offense. He’s the fastest of the receivers and could become one of Daniel Jones’ favorite downfield targets for years to come. Engram, the tight end, feels like a player ready to pop, but after two seasons talking about his potential he needs to deliver. 
Line:&nbsp;It took less than two years for the Giants to completely overhaul this all-important group, with Zeitler and Remmers being the finishing touches. Zeitler, who arrived in the big Odell Beckham Jr. trade, has quickly become a leader of the unit both in terms of play and mindset. He’s a throwback to the days when Snee, O’Hara and Seubert manned the middle of the line. Remmers is back at tackle, his natural position, after a season struggling at guard. Hernandez figures to blossom in his second season, which should help Solder regain the championship form he showed in his eight seasons with the Patriots. The loss of Halapio to an ankle injury in Week 2 last year was often bemoaned by the Giants as one dramatically weakened the line. But he has just a handful of NFL starts, so if he stays healthy this season we’ll see what they were missing. 
<h3>DEFENSE</h3> 
Line:&nbsp;What the Giants like the most about a front of Hill, Tomlinson and the rookie Lawrence is that they can line up in any permutation. All of them can play anywhere from directly over center as a nose tackle to outside over a tackle as a pass-rusher. Lawrence, a first-round pick, has especially intrigued the Giants with his ability to rush into the pocket. He may look like former Giants DT Damon “Snacks” Harrison on paper (or, more accurately, on a scale), but he can create much more forward movement than the laterally dominant Harrison. McIntosh missed a ton of time early in his rookie year and will provide some depth along with Pierre, who will likely play on passing downs. 
Linebackers:&nbsp;The Giants haven’t had a player with double-digit sacks in a season since 2014 and finished next-to-last in the league in that category last season. They’re hoping Golden, a free agent acquisition, can regain the form he had in 2016 when he posted 12.5 of them for the Cardinals before an ACL injury in 2017 slowed his career. They also have high expectations for Carter in his second season along with the rookie Ximines. As for the interior, second-year player Davis is a converted college safety so the Giants like his ability to cover running backs and tight ends. Ogletree was last year’s captain and main signal-caller for the defense, but if he doesn’t produce he may find himself replaced by rookie Connelly who has shown a sharp ability to be in the right place at the right time this preseason. 
Defensive backs:&nbsp;The Giants like Peppers so much they got rid of TWO Pro Bowlers to bring him in, acquiring him in part of the Odell Beckham Jr. trade and letting Landon Collins walk away in free agency. Those are big cleats to fill, but Peppers seems poised to have a breakout year after two pedestrian ones in Cleveland. He and the veteran Bethea will be manning the deep secondary and coming up to the line to make plays. Jenkins is the only starter returning to the same spot in the secondary from a year ago, and he’s one of the few veterans among a very young crew of cornerbacks. Baker, a first-round pick, should develop into a physical, lock-down player. Love gives the Giants versatility and can play corner or safety. Haley and Chandler played significant roles as rookies toward the end of last season and are the “next men up” if the Giants need them. 
<h3>SPECIAL TEAMS</h3> 
Rosas went from a question mark to an exclamation point last year, emerging as a Pro Bowler in his second season. The Giants need his punctuation to remain unchanged in 2019. He can still have moments that baffle the coaches, but his strong accurate leg gives them a chance to score from nearly anywhere across midfield. Bold prediction: Rosas hits a 60-yarder in a game this season. Riley Dixon returns as the punter. Having veterans such as Michael Thomas, Cody Latimer, Russell Shepard and DeOssie gives the Giants more stability on their special units than most other teams that typically stack them with green rookies getting adjusted to such roles. Although he did not do it in preseason games, look for Jabrill Peppers to add a spark to the punt returns. 
<h3>COACHING STAFF</h3> 
Shurmur will call the offensive plays again this season, but perhaps most importantly, he’ll make the call on if and when to make the change from Manning to Jones. Balancing that internal battle with a feel for the locker room and the desires of the front office will be a challenge. His first year with the Giants saw him juggling a roster in transition due to everything from injury to absurdity. Now things look to have settled down in terms of personnel and Shurmur needs to start producing victories. He’s never had a winning season as a head coach. Bettcher has players many believe are better suited to his schemes than last year’s roster, including several he brought in from Arizona like Markus Golden and Antonie Bethea. If the Giants’ defense is a top-10 unit, this could be Bettcher’s last year with the Giants as he is seen as a potential head coach in the relatively near future.

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Scouting the 2019 Giants

<h3>OFFENSE</h3> 
Quarterback: It’s Sam Darnold’s show. He seems poised to take that leap that many top quarterbacks take in Year 2. Darnold has more weapons now, he’s playing in a new wide-open scheme and for a creative offensive coach. Adam Gase was hired to bring out the best in Darnold, and help the Jets become more explosive. Darnold grew at the end of last season, and he’s continued that growth. He’s looked more comfortable as a leader and in the huddle. Darnold has the ability to throw on the run and keep plays alive with his legs, and many inside the Jets feel his arm has gotten stronger. He has the physical and mental tools to be the starter&nbsp;for many years. Trevor Simien, a former full-time starter with Denver, will back up Darnold. Simien didn’t take a snap last year, though, playing behind Kirk Cousins in Minnesota. 
Running backs:&nbsp; The Jets upgraded this position in a big way when they signed Le’Veon Bell and bolstered it with versatile Ty Montgomery. Bell has been one of the best all-around backs in the NFL and wants to regain the title of THE best after sitting out last season over a contract dispute in Pittsburgh. Remarkably productive with the Steelers, Bell caught at least 75 passes three times in four years and averaged 2,015 yards those seasons. Gase wants to spread the ball around, but Bell needs touches. He can be a security blanket for Darnold and make things happen. Bell demands so much attention he could open up things for the receivers. Montgomery is another dual-threat who can be a major weapon. Gase can play Bell and Montgomery together, and have the defense guessing. This position should be a strength with Bilal Powell and Trenton Cannon back to provide depth and different skill-sets. 
Receivers/Tight Ends: The Jets have talented receivers, but no clear No. 1 and not a lot of depth. Deep threat Robby Anderson is playing for a contract and wants to prove he’s a No. 1 receiver. Newcomer Jamison Crowder could be busy. Slot receivers were targeted most in Gase’s system. Physical receiver Quincy Enunwa is reliable when on the field. He may try to avoid running over defenders to stay healthy. But Enunwa doesn’t want to change his style entirely. All three receivers should benefit from Bell’s presence. Ex-Bear Josh Bellamy and unproven Brexton Barrios are among the backups. Montgomery, a converted wideout, can line up wide. But the Jets have to hope the top three receivers stay healthy. The Jets will try to overcome the loss of tight end Chris Herndon (four-game league suspension). Ex-Texan Ryan Griffin, Daniel Brown and rookie Trevon Wesco (a good blocker, who also can be used as an H-back) should get an opportunity. Gase likes to run some two tight-end sets.&nbsp; 
Line:&nbsp;Gase and GM Joe Douglas, a former O-lineman, know protecting Darnold is the key to everything. The Jets added two former Pro Bowlers in left guard Kelechi Osemele and ex-Panthers center Ryan Kalil. Osemele is looking to bounce back after a down and injury-plagued 2018 with the Raiders. Douglas helped coerce Kalil out of retirement. They limited Kalil and didn’t play him in the preseason, but the Jets are confident the two-time First-Team All-Pro has plenty left and will be a big help to Darnold. Left tackle Kelvin Beachum, right guard Brian Winters and right tackle Brandon Shell all return. But the starting group was slowed by injuries during preseason. The line will need time to click but should be improved. Jonotthon Harrison, who began camp as the starting center, can play multiple spots when needed. The Jets also acquired former Minnesota starting guard Tom Compton, Alex Lewis from Baltimore and they like rookie Chuma Edoga. All three played with the starters in the preseason. 
<h3>DEFENSE</h3> 
Line:&nbsp;New coordinator Gregg Williams will play a 3-4, but he’ll go 4-3, too. Leonard Williams, who has only eight sacks in his last 41 games, is in a contract year and wants to get paid. He could finally break out. End Henry Anderson wants to build off his team-high tying seven sacks last year. The Jets believe third overall pick Quinnen Williams can make an impact and hope he’ll take some double teams away from Leonard Williams. Quinnen, the top interior lineman last season, has been compared to Aaron Donald. With no established edge rushers, Gregg Williams may rely on an interior pass rush. Veteran nose tackle Steve McLendon remains a defensive leader and end Bronson Kaufusi, after a good spring and camp, should play much more. Williams plans to use a rotation with this group and split snaps as evenly as possible to keep the line sharp. 
Linebackers: The Jets signed game-changing middle linebacker C.J. Mosley. The four-time Pro Bowler has 597 tackles, nine interceptions and six forced fumbles in five seasons. The leader of Baltimore’s top-ranked defense last year will quarterback the Jets’ D. But they took a major hit when inside linebacker Avery Williamson (team-high 120 tackles last year) tore his ACL in the second preseason game. Neville Hewitt should slide into Williamson’s spot. Hewitt played well last year after Darron Lee was suspended. Outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins (seven sacks last year) has improved each season. He’s playing for a new contract, so Jenkins could be extra motivated. Brandon Copeland, a starter last year, was suspended four games for taking PEDs. Frankie Luvu,&nbsp;ex-Patriot Harvey Langi and Tarell Basham are&nbsp;in line to replace Copeland.&nbsp;Rookie Blake Cashman impressed with his play in the preseason. 
Defensive backs: Pro Bowl safety Jamal Adams is a star who Gregg Williams can play just about anywhere. If Marcus Maye can stay healthy – he missed 10 games last year - the Jets are solid at safety. Veteran Rontez Miles provides depth there. But cornerback is their weakest position. Trumaine Johnson, who had a rough and injury-shortened 2018, hurt his hamstring the second week of camp. The Jets targeted Week 1 for Johnson’s return. They already were thin at corner after not to re-signing Morris Claiborne. Darryl Roberts will start at one corner with ex-Falcon Brian Poole at nickel. The Jets acquired veteran Nate Hairston last week and claimed Bennett Jackson, who has yet to play in a regular-season game. Douglas will keep looking for help. 
<h3>SPECIAL TEAMS</h3> 
This was a strong unit last year under coordinator Brant Boyer. Boyer is back but gone are Pro Bowl returner Andre Roberts (Buffalo) and Pro Bowl kicker Jason Myers (Seattle), and it led to a messy camp and preseason. Veteran kicker Chandler Catanzaro struggled and retired after the first preseason game. His replacement, Taylor Bertolet struggled and was cut Sept. 1 after the Jets claimed Kaare Vedvik, who was cut by Minnesota and has never kicked in an NFL game. Quick and elusive undrafted rookie Greg Dortch was tough to bring down returning punts in the preseason, but he was cut the same day as Bertolet and later signed to the practice squad. Former Patriot Braxton Berrios, claimed Sept. 1, is expected to handle the punt returning now. Trenton Cannon is expected to return kicks. He seems more surehanded than last year when he muffed some in camp and the preseason. Punter Lachlan Edwards has a consistently strong leg. He ranked ninth in average yardage (45.9) last year and had the fifth-most punts. Gase hopes his offense will keep the ball off Edwards’ foot. 
<h3>COACHING STAFF</h3> 
Adam Gase helped Peyton Manning have the most prolific passing season in NFL history. Now Gase will try to mold and shape young Sam Darnold into an elite franchise quarterback. Gase has plenty to prove as a head coach after going 23-25 in three seasons running the Dolphins, including 13-19 the last two. Miami’s offense finished 24th, 25th and 31st in total yards, and 17th, 28th and 26th in points. Injuries at quarterback, receiver and on the line contributed. But some players reportedly weren’t upset to see Gase go. He’s a strong personality and he’s breathed life into the Jets, though. Gase probably learned from his first head coaching job. He seems adaptable and willing to scrap plays if his players aren’t comfortable with them. Gase, Williams and Boyer have the players’ attention. It could be an interesting season and the start of something.

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Scouting the 2019 Jets

PASS INTERFERENCE NOW REVIEWABLE 
After years of resisting the idea of having penalties subject to replay review, the NFL will now include pass interference. Thanks to the missed pass interference call in last season's&nbsp;Rams-Saints NFC Championship Game, owners finally relented. The system isn’t perfect, and there is sure to be controversy, but the NFL is hoping it’s one more way of making sure the final calls are correct. Buckle up for this one. 
CLEVELAND: CENTER OF THE NFL UNIVERSE? 
The Browns are the must-see team of 2019. With outspoken quarterback Baker Mayfield now throwing to outspoken wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., and with a bunch of other big-personality players in the mix, the Browns have been the most talked about team in the preseason. Now we see if they live up to the hype. 
BOOM-OR-BEST RAIDERS 
Jon Gruden came out of retirement last year and signed a 10-year contract, and he’s all in on 2019. The question is: Can the Raiders be a factor in the AFC West, especially now that mercurial receiver Antonio Brown is in town, or is this a meltdown in the making for the team’s final season in Oakland before next year’s move to Las Vegas? 
THE&nbsp;PATRIOTS AGAIN?
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In a league where change is almost always inevitable, the Patriots are an incredible example of continuity. It’s now Year 20 of the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady alliance, and with the Patriots coming off a remarkable sixth Super Bowl title, there’s no reason to think they won’t be a factor yet again in the championship equation. 
CAN PATRICK MAHOMES OUTDO HIMSELF? 
The Chiefs’ star quarterback burst onto the scene last year in his first full season as a starter, winning MVP honors after throwing a remarkable 50 touchdown passes. The Chiefs’ offense is still loaded at the skill positions, so Mahomes has every chance for an encore performance – unless defensive coordinators have figured out something that can at least contain the All-Pro passer. 
SAM DARNOLD AS THE ANSWER TO ADAM GASE'S PROBLEMS 
The Jets are giving Adam Gase another shot after his three-year run in Miami, but this time, the coach has a quarterback who seems legitimately good. Darnold has a much higher ceiling than former Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill, so Gase now gets to operate his offense with the kind of quarterback who can turn him into a consistent winner. 
DANIEL JONES AS THE ANSWER TO THE GIANTS' PROBLEMS 
It seems only a matter of time before rookie quarterback Daniel Jones takes the reins from Eli Manning, a remarkably similar scenario to Manning’s rookie season in 2004, when he took over for veteran Kurt Warner midway through the season. Manning will do his best to keep Jones on the bench as long as possible. Just not quite sure how long – or short – that might be. 
THE BOY WONDER COACH NOW FIGHTS HISTORY
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Sean McVay had a terrific year in getting the Rams to the Super Bowl last season, but now comes the hard part. Only once since the 1993 Bills has a team lost the Super Bowl one year and gone back to the Big Show the next. And that was last year’s Patriots, who beat McVay’s team in Super Bowl LIII. 
KYLER MURRAY AS THE NEXT BIG THING 
The Cardinals ditched the Josh Rosen era after just one year because newly hired coach Kliff Kingsbury believes Murray can reinvent the way offense is played in the NFL. Kingsbury recruited Murray out of high school and now gets the chance to see if the quarterback can make the coach’s “Air Raid” offense work in the pros.&nbsp; 
DO THE COWBOYS PUT IT ALL TOGETHER? 
Can this (finally) be the year of the Cowboys? Owner Jerry Jones hasn’t won a Super Bowl since Barry Switzer rode Jimmy Johnson’s coattails to the championship nearly a quarter century ago, but the Cowboys believe they have the makings of a winner. The Ezekiel Elliott holdout certainly puts pressure on that thinking, but Jones is a gambling man who still likes his chances.

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Rams Bye Football

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Celebrating a century of the NFL in 100 ways

NFL at 100: Our favorite things

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Neil Best

By the late summer 1920, professional baseball was entrenched at the heart of American sports, a big business with big stars and big headlines in the daily newspapers. 
The National League was 44 years old. Babe Ruth was en route to 54 home runs in his first season as a Yankee. Even the unfolding stain of the previous year’s Black Sox scandal illustrated the big stakes in the big leagues. 
Meanwhile, a group of men at a Hupmobile auto showroom in Canton, Ohio, were meeting to discuss bringing competitive and financial order to the chaotic world of pro football. 
It worked, eventually, and now the NFL is celebrating its 100th season, long since having surpassed baseball as Americans’ favorite spectator sport. 
But to understand what those men in Canton were up against, one must turn back the clock to the decades that led to it. Pro baseball had had about a generation’s head start on its football counterpart, and it showed. 
It was not until the early 1970s that historians could even agree on the identity of the first football professional, and that distinction could well change if a pay stub from before 1892 surfaces in a dusty attic somewhere. 
For now, though, William “Pudge” Heffelfinger it is, and why not? He comes complete with a catchy nickname, a pedigree that includes having played for football pioneer Walter Camp at Yale and a patriotic back story. 
His father, Christopher, was wounded at Gettysburg four years before Pudge was born, part of the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which suffered an 82 percent casualty rate. (The elder Heffelfinger was said to have been saved by a book in his pocket when struck by a bullet to the chest.) 
Pudge’s historic moment came on Nov. 12, 1892, when he was paid $500 to play for the Allegheny Athletic Association against its rival, the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, in a rematch of an Oct. 21 game that ended in a 6-6 tie. That is equivalent to about $14,000 today – not exactly Eli Manning money, but still a nice 19th century payday. 
AAA won, 4-0, on a forced fumble by Heffelfinger, who returned the ball 35 yards for a touchdown, worth four points at the time. 
PAC was unamused, what with Heffelfinger recently having played the Chicago Athletic Association, as had two other AAA ringers, Ed Malley and Ben “Sport” Donnelly. 
According to a history of the early pro game by Beau Riffenburgh in the NFL-sanctioned 1999 book “Total Football II,” PAC’s regulars walked off the field in protest, and the game began with substitutes before PAC agreed to play. 
Other accounts say the argument centered on the fact that both teams had betting money riding on the game, and the addition of ringers had altered the odds. Eventually it was decided that all bets would be off. 
By then, talented jocks for years had been getting paid “expenses” and often “double expenses” by athletic clubs, among an assortment of elaborate pay schemes to maintain an aura of amateurism. 
It is likely Heffelfinger and others had been receiving outright cash, too, before that 1892 game. (Not to mention active college players going by assumed names, a practice that continued for decades.) 
But Heffelfinger’s status was secured when a AAA ledger for the 1892 game surfaced, listing him as having been paid $500 in cash – after the PAC reportedly had offered him $250 first. 
Paying players openly became commonplace as the decade wore on, with the AAA fielding the first entirely pro team for two games in 1896 and the Latrobe Athletic Association doing so for an entire season in 1897. 
The practice grew in Western Pennsylvania through the end of the century. Still, the college game was far more popular and accomplished, and more organized. 
(In 1898, the Morgan Athletic Club began as an amateur team in Chicago and 22 years later became a charter member of the NFL. As the Arizona Cardinals, it is the oldest continuously operated pro football team in the U.S.) 
The first pro “league” was a venture in 1902 called the National Football League that included three teams – two backed by the owners of baseball’s Philadelphia-based major league baseball teams and another from Pittsburgh. 
According to Riffenburgh’s history, Christy Mathewson, an accomplished punter, played the first half of the ’02 season for Pittsburgh before the Giants stepped in and told their young pitcher to stick to baseball. 
Another star pitcher, the Athletics’ Rube Waddell, was on the A’s football roster, but baseball manager Connie Mack decided during practice the sport was too dangerous to risk Waddell’s arm, and he never played. 
At year’s end, pro football arrived in New York City in the form of an indoor, five-team tournament at Madison Square Garden. 
The Syracuse Athletic Club, featuring Glenn “Pop” Warner, won the title over a New York team before 3,500 or so fans on Dec. 29. The Times reported the field was 70 yards long and 35 yards wide, and that uncertain footing on the makeshift field precluded fast cuts. 
Pittsburgh’s early status as the capital of pro football soon gave way to Ohio, where the “Ohio League” would rule the sport and become the direct ancestor of the NFL. 
The rivalry between Massillon and Canton in particular drove the league in its early years. 
Massillon’s coach and quarterback was Ed Stewart, who also was editor of the “Massillon Evening Independent.” The conflict of interest gave him a visible platform during a game-fixing scandal involving Canton in 1906. 
Other nearby cities fielded teams, too, including the Shelby Athletic Club, which in 1904 signed Charles Follis, the first known black pro player on an integrated team. 
The game grew in popularity after rules changes in 1906 initiated by the college game legalized the forward pass, among other reforms, several to make the game safer. 
The Ohio League stabilized through the 1910s, highlighted by Canton’s signing of Jim Thorpe in 1915 for $250 a game. (Thorpe was a decade older and far less effective by 1925, when the Giants cut him after three games.)
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But the end of the decade brought a reckoning for the league, which was having money problems caused in part by raids from teams outside the state and players jumping from team to team within the league. 
Organizers needed a plan to normalize and nationalize, and it began in Ralph Hay’s auto agency on Aug. 20, 1920, with a meeting that included Thorpe but represented only four Ohio cities. The men agreed to ask Hay to contact other pro teams from around the country for another gathering that would set the parameters of a new league.
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The second meeting was on Sept. 17 and included George Halas representing the Decatur Staleys, who later became the Chicago Bears. (They and the Cardinals are the only remaining original members of the league.) 
According to a history by Jack Clary in “Total Football II,” it was a hot day, and the room was crowded, forcing Halas and others to sit on fenders and running boards while talking and drinking beer from buckets. 
The league established a salary cap and a $100 entry fee, which according to Halas no one actually paid. 
Thorpe was named president, largely for publicity purposes, after Hay, owner of the Canton Bulldogs. declined. By most accounts Thorpe spent the majority of his attention in his one year in office on his duties as a player for Canton, not on league business. 
The league, called the American Professional Football Association for its first two seasons, mostly succeeded in bringing contractual and roster order. 
Mostly. The Staleys signed Paddy Driscoll, the Cardinals’ star, for a big late-season game against Akron, violating league rules against jumping teams. 
But there was much disorder beyond that. Fourteen teams participated, but their schedules were haphazard and included many games against non-league teams. It was not until the following April that a champion was named, when the owners selected Akron and its 8-0-3 record. 
Attendance records are haphazard, and where available they range from 800 to 17,000. 
On Dec. 4, Thorpe and the Bulldogs faced the Buffalo All-Americans before 12,000 at the Polo Grounds, the new league’s attempt to showcase itself in the biggest city in hopes of evolving beyond its small-city roots.
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The well-received game in upper Manhattan was a promising end to a season of fits and starts that followed decades of growth pains. 
It was only nine days after the second meeting in Canton that the first game involving an APFA team was played, in Rock Island, Illinois, with the Independents defeating the non-league St. Paul Ideals, 48-0. 
On Oct. 3, the Dayton Triangles defeated the visiting Columbus Panhandles, 14-0, in the first game between APFA teams. Lou Partlow, born a month before Heffelfinger’s well-compensated fumble return in 1892, scored the first touchdown. 
The Panhandles’ owner was Joseph Carr, a former sportswriter who in 1921 succeeded Thorpe as president of the APFA – a job he held until his death in 1939, shortly after he had been elected to a new 10-year term. 
He also was an influential basketball and baseball administrator. 
Carr made many contributions to the early NFL, but one of his most enduring came in 1925, when he persuaded a popular New York bookmaker named Tim Mara to buy a franchise in the still-young NFL. 
But that’s another story.

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NFL at 100: A league hatched in an Ohio auto showroom in 1920    

NFL at 100: League hatched in Ohio auto showroom in 1920

There was no live sports broadcasting when the NFL was founded – not even on radio. But from the start, the men behind the business of pro football understood the importance of being in the biggest media market. 
In 1920, the inaugural season for the American Professional Football Association, Jim Thorpe’s Canton Bulldogs visited the Polo Grounds to face the Buffalo All-Americans to show off to the big city – and its newspapermen. 
In 1921, Charles Brickley, a former Harvard star, brought a team he had formed in 1919 called the “Giants” into the fledgling APFA. The team played only two league games, losing to Buffalo, 55-0, and Cleveland, 17-0. 
So much for that idea. 
But one of the backers of the team known as “Brickley’s Giants” was boxing promoter Billy Gibson, so it was to him that NFL president Joseph Carr turned in 1925 in an attempt to get his league back into Gotham. 
Carr visited Gibson’s New York office on Aug. 1, two months before the start of the season, and brought along Harry “Doc” March, an old sportswriter and physician from Canton who had been the doctor for the Bulldogs. 
Gibson, still scarred from the Brickley’s debacle, was not interested. But he figured his friend Tim Mara, a popular local bookmaker and businessman with a knack for promotion, might want a crack at it. 
Mara was a horse racing and boxing aficionado and did not know or care much about football – certainly not the largely irrelevant pro game. 
But eventually he came around, for a price of $500 or $2,500, depending on the account. Carr and March had their New York money, and New York franchise. 
“Doc March was looking for an angel, and I was it,” John Eisenberg quoted Mara saying in his history of the NFL’s early years, “The League.” 
Gibson was named team president while March assembled a solid roster of familiar recent college stars.
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But Mara – foreshadowing the behavior of many New York sports owners to come – went for a bigger, way-past-his-prime name and signed 38-year-old Jim Thorpe. 
On Sept. 9, March met with reporters at the Hotel Alamac in Manhattan to talk about the new “All-Collegians,” alternatively known as the “Giants,” and said he was “confident that after this season professional football will be a permanent institution in this city.” 
Former Navy coach Bob Folwell said at the Alamac that it was his “plan to organize a football machine in New York on the same basis that I would a college team.” 
In his 1963 book on Giants history, Barry Gotthrer wrote that Hinkey Haines and Century Milstead were the highest-salaried players at $4,000, but Thorpe initially got only $200 to play half of each game, in hopes he would get in shape later in the season. 
He wound up getting cut after three games. 
Such was the chaotic, make-it-up-as-you-go-along nature of the early NFL, which that first season of Giants football illustrated well. 
Take their first official league game: On Oct. 11, the Steam Roller beat them, 14-0, at the Providence Cycledrome on a field with end zones five yards deep and surrounded by a banked wooden cycling track. 
When 27,000 fans showed up at the Polo Grounds for the home opener, Allison Danzig of The New York Times – a longtime Roslyn resident – wrote “New York, evidently, is ready to support a professional league football team.” 
But the biggest game of the season, and one of the biggest in NFL history, was the Dec. 6 visit to the Polo Grounds by former Illinois star Red Grange and the Bears. 
More than 70,000 fans and 100 newspaper reporters showed up to see the Bears win, 19-7. Grange earned about $30,000 from his share of the gate receipts, and about 10 times that from a movie contract he secured while in New York. 
There would be many ups and downs for the Giants and the NFL over the coming three decades before the game took hold of the American public starting in the mid-to-late 1950s, and the Giants thrived under two more generations of Mara leadership. But that December day in 1925 hinted at what was possible.

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NFL at 100: Giants took root in 1925

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The fledgling American Football League needed attention – and a strong national television contract – so naturally it turned to New York for one of its inaugural franchises. 
Enter Harry Wismer, a colorful, volatile character with a long history as a sports announcer. In 1953, he had done play-by-play for the first prime-time, national NFL television package, Saturday nights on the DuMont Network. 
Among many other things, he was a part-owner of the Redskins in the 1950s, during which time he feuded with owner George Preston Marshall over Marshall’s controversial foot-dragging in signing African-American players. (It took him until 1962 to do so.) 
Wismer was not as deep-pocketed as many of his fellow new AFL owners, and he did have financial partners, especially from the oil business, in which Wismer also served as an executive. 
But long term, the hope was that being in New York would pay off for him and for the league, as it had for the Maras and the NFL Giants decades earlier. 
Wismer was granted control of the franchise at the AFL’s organizational meeting in Chicago in August of 1959 and quickly set out to sell his new project. He called the team the Titans. Why Titans? 
“Titans are bigger and stronger than giants,” he explained. 
At that point there were only six AFL franchises, in New York, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul. But Wismer, head of the league’s television committee, promised two more teams would be added, and that the league would seek a TV contract worth $2.5 million. 
(Minneapolis eventually bailed in favor of an NFL expansion team, and the AFL added Boston, Buffalo and Oakland.) 
There initially was confusion over where the Titans would play. The New York Times speculated about ancient baseball stadiums in the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field, or a planned new baseball stadium in Flushing, Queens. 
Wismer wooed New York sportswriters with a series of news conferences at his apartment on Park Avenue, hiring recently fired Penn coach Steve Sebo as general manager and Hall of Fame quarterback Sammy Baugh as coach. 
Newsday’s Stan Isaacs wrote of Baugh, a Texan, “He looked as if he had just parked his horse on Park Avenue.” 
Baugh was 45, but many journalists and fans suggested he might be the best choice to play quarterback, given the challenges the AFL faced in signing talented players. 
Receiver Don Maynard, who had played for the Giants in 1958 and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL in 1959, was an early signing. 
Newsday’s Ed Comerford wrote Maynard “didn’t impress in two seasons with the Giants and played Canadian football last year. His scouting report says: fast, but butterfingered.” 
Maynard was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987. 
The lordly Giants did not take any of this lying down. In January 1960, owners Jack and Wellington Mara sent AFL commissioner Joe Foss a letter offering the possibility of cooperation between the leagues. 
Just two little requests: 1. Void the contract fullback Charlie Flowers had signed with the Los Angeles Chargers after the Giants thought they had secured his services. 2. Move the Titans to a different city. 
“It is our opinion that every city is a one-team city,” the Giants wrote in their letter. 
“I violently disagree with the Giants’ view about a one-team city,” Wismer responded, then added, “I also resent the lack of confidence the Giants have in the people of New York.” 
Things started out a bit rocky for Baugh’s boys, who found less-than-ideal conditions at training camp in Durham, New Hampshire, including food so awful it turned into a story in the Times. 
As it turned out, the Titans were not terrible on the field. They finished 7-7 and led the AFL with 382 points. But they had plenty of hiccups. 
That included a play in their second game, a 28-24 loss to the Patriots at the Polo Grounds on Sept. 17. Chuck Shonta returned a fumbled punt by the Jets 25 yards for the winning score on the last play of the game. 
Wismer later called it “stupid football.” 
Baugh responded, “I don’t give a goddamn what Mr. Wismer says.” 
Wismer said he had lost $250,000 in the first season. By 1962, the league had to take over the team’s financial affairs. In 1963, they became the Jets upon being sold to a group headed by Sonny Werblin. 
Wismer died at 54 in 1967. He fell down the stairs of a Manhattan restaurant and fractured his skull.

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NFL at 100: How the New York Jets came to be

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<h3>1. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS</h3> 
Coach/GM: Bill Belichick (20th yr., 225-79-0, .740) 
2018:&nbsp;11-5-0, 1st in AFC East. Playoffs: Divisional round def. Chargers, 41-28; Conf. Championship def. Chiefs, 37-31; Super Bowl def. Rams, 13-3. 
Outlook: 
If it feels like forever that the Patriots have dominated the NFL, well, it almost has been that long. At least in football terms. 
Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have been together for 20 years, a partnership that has been — by far — the most successful in NFL history. The greatest coach in NFL history and the league’s greatest quarterback have produced six Super Bowl championships in that time. 
And while they are both much older now than when they started, they are no less effective. The Patriots are coming off yet another Super Bowl win, and there’s no reason to think they can’t get in position to win once more. Especially with the signing of receiver Antonio Brown, who was released by the Raiders. 
It won’t be easy, just as it wasn’t last year, when they needed overtime to vanquish the Chiefs on the road in the AFC Championship Game. But if we have learned anything about Belichick and Brady over the last two decades, it is to never count them out. Ever. 
Brady is now 42, an age most quarterbacks can only dream of playing until. And while he may not have the arm strength he once did, he certainly hasn’t lost much off his fastball. And it seems that Belichick, at age 67, can coach &nbsp;as long as he wants. 
What’s their secret? Talent, an iron will, and excellent training techniques are at the heart of Brady’s success, while genius is Belichick’s biggest asset. 
But there’s something else at work here, something that no amount of ability or intelligence can equal. It’s the incredible ability of both men to start at the &nbsp;beginning every single season, whether they’re coming off a Super Bowl win or a devastating playoff loss.&nbsp; 
“Every year has its different challenges,” Brady said. “We’ve got to find ways to make improvements. That’s what this time of year is all about.” 
“Every year is its own year,” Belichick said, “so we start all over again every year. We’re not really worried about last year. We do what we need to do. We need to have as productive a practice as we can have every single day. Our focus is on what we can do to get better. I don’t see that changing.” 
It’s a simple strategy, but it also requires Herculean discipline to pull it off. After all, even the greatest champions surely experience some form of complacency. But the Patriots are the rare team that so successfully fights against it. 
Their reign of supremacy is unlike any other we’ve seen in the NFL. Yes, there have been dynasties — the Packers of the 1960’s, the 1970’s Steelers, the 49ers of the 1980’s and ’90s. But never has a franchise produced the extended period of domination as the Patriots. 
Two decades and counting.&nbsp; 
<h3>2. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS</h3> 
Coach: Andy Reid (7th yr., 65-31-0, .667) 
GM: Brett Veach (3rd yr.) 
2018:&nbsp;12-4-0, 1st in AFC West. Playoffs: Divisional round def. Colts, 31-13; Conf. Championship lost to Patriots, 37-31 (OT). 
Outlook: Patrick Mahomes had a breakout year in 2018 and would have gotten to the Super Bowl had it not been for the Chiefs’ leaky defense in an overtime loss to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. Mahomes led the NFL with 50 touchdown passes – at age 23. The sky is the limit for this amazing talent, and the Chiefs’ outside speed at receiver featuring Tyreek Hill, as well as tight end Travis Kelce give him plenty of options. The big key for the Chiefs is if new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo can put it together – a big if, considering a significant roster transition. Spagnuolo replaces longtime coordinator Bob Sutton, who finally ran out of chances for the uber patient Andy Reid. There’s not only a big transition on defense with the coach, but the players as well. Gone are veteran pass rushers Justin Houston and Dee Ford. The Chiefs acquired Seahawks pass rusher Frank Clark in a bid to keep the pass rush viable. &nbsp; 
<h3>3. PITTSBURGH STEELERS</h3> 
Coach: Mike Tomlin (13th yr., 125-66-1, .654) 
GM: Kevin Colbert (20th yr.) 
2018:&nbsp;9-6-1, 2nd in AFC North. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: The Steelers lose a major weapon after the Antonio Brown trade, but they believe it will be addition by subtraction (of the distraction). JuJu Smith-Schuster now leads the receiving corps, while James Conner, who had a terrific 2018 season in the absence of holdout Le’Veon Bell, returns at running back. Ben Roethlisberger remains an elite quarterback at age 37 and entering his 16th NFL season. He has the luxury of playing behind an elite offensive line that features guard David DeCastro and Maurkice Pouncey. The Steelers believe they finally have a defense that is now capable of contending with the NFL’s best offenses. Linebackers T.J. Watt, the younger brother of J.J., and Bud Dupree are coming into their own, and veteran cornerback Joe Haden and second-year safety Terrell Edmunds anchor the secondary. 
<h3>4. CLEVELAND BROWNS</h3>

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Coach: Freddie Kitchens (1st yr., replaces Hue Jackson) 
GM: John Dorsey (3rd yr.) 
2018:&nbsp;7-8-1, 3rd in AFC North. 
Outlook: After year&nbsp;of futility – decades, actually – the Browns come into the season full of optimism, and much of it well-earned. Baker Mayfield showed plenty as a rookie last year, and the addition of Odell Beckham Jr. will only help. Jarvis Landry came over from Miami last year, and tight end David Njoku looks like he is ready to flourish. Much of the type surrounding the Browns centers on the offense, but the defense is potentially quite good. Pass rusher Myles Garrett has been dominant at times and hopes to be a more consistent force. Cornerback Denzel Ward might to turn into one of the league’s best defenders, and the Browns acquired former Giants linebacker/defensive end Olivier Vernon. 
<h3>5. SAN DIEGO CHARGERS</h3> 
Coach: Anthony Lynn (3rd yr., 21-11-0, .656) 
GM: Tom Telesco (7th yr.) 
2018:&nbsp;12-4-0, 2nd in AFC West. Playoffs: Wild Card def. Ravens, 23-17; Divisional round lost to Patriots, 41-28. 
Outlook:&nbsp;It was a memorable playoff run for Philip Rivers last year, and he seems to have lost nothing off his fastball. Rivers is one of those quarterbacks who can carry a team on his back, and the Chargers will need him to do that once more in 2019. The Melvin Gordon holdout could factor in early and limit the Chargers’ running game, but Rivers has shown enough resourcefulness to overcome any issues. The defense looks strong once again, with Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram leading the way. The Chargers showed great versatility in fending off the Ravens in the wild card round by using seven defensive backs, but they were burned by that strategy the following week against the Patriots. They’ll need better play from the front seven to think about a Super Bowl run. &nbsp; 
<h3>6. BALTIMORE RAVENS</h3> 
Coach: John Harbaugh (12th yr., 104-72-0, .591) 
GM:&nbsp;Eric DeCosta (1st yr.) 
2018:&nbsp;10-6-1, 1st in AFC North. Playoffs: Wild Card lost to Chargers, 23-17. 
Outlook: Lamar Jackson got plenty of experience as a rookie, and coach John Harbaugh believes his quarterback will be a phenom this year. He has a terrific arm, but his running ability is simply exceptional. And therein lies the riddle with Jackson; you can’t risk him running too much because of the wear and tear. New offensive coordinator Greg Roman will need to figure out a plan, but part of the answer will require making Jackson a better pocket passer. It helps that the Ravens brought in former Saints first-round running back Mark Ingram. The Ravens’ defense needs to find a pass rush after the departure of Terrell Suggs. Former Seahawks All Pro Earl Thomas takes over at free safety and adds a veteran presence the Ravens will need for a defense in transition. 
<h3>7. HOUSTON TEXANS</h3> 
Coach: Bill O’Brien (6th yr., 42-38-0, .525) 
GM: None (Bill O’Brien/Jack Easterby sharing) 
2018:&nbsp;11-5-0, 1st in AFC South. Playoffs: Wild Card lost to Colts, 21-7. 
Outlook: Houston did a nice job rebounding from a sluggish start last year to win the AFC South, with quarterback Deshaun Watson continuing to make improvement through the early part of his career. The season-ending knee injury to tailback Lamar Miller is a huge loss, but the Texans had wisely traded for Cleveland’s Duke Johnson before Miller was hurt. The Texans addressed their offensive line issues by trading for Miami's Laremy Tunsil. DeAndre Hopkins is one of the NFL’s top receivers, and he's now joined by Kenny Stills after the trade with Miami. J.J. Watt returned to form last year after two injury-riddled seasons, producing 16 sacks and a league-high seven forced fumbles. The Texans will need another dominant year from their best defender, especially after they traded Jadeveon Clowney to the Seahawks.&nbsp; 
8. <a href="http://newsday.com/jets">NEW YORK JETS</a>
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Coach: Adam Gase (1st yr., replaces Todd Bowles) 
GM: Joe Douglas (1st yr.) 
2018:&nbsp;4-12-0, 4th in AFC East. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: Sam Darnold looks like he’s ready to take a big step forward in Year 2, and Adam Gase gets another chance as a head coach with a legitimate quarterback. Darnold had a solid rookie year, especially after he returned from a foot injury, and he is now fully in control of the offense. He has an offensive-minded coach in Gase, who comes to the Jets after three seasons with the Dolphins, and also has the benefit of working with newly signed running back Le’Veon Bell, who returns after missing the entire 2018 season in Pittsburgh because of a contract dispute. The Jets also signed inside linebacker C.J. Mosley to improve a defense that will be led by coach Gregg Williams. The Jets’ biggest problems: a lack of depth at cornerback, a four-game suspension for tight end Chris Herndon, and a banged-up offensive line. 
<h3>9. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS</h3> 
Coach: Doug Marrone (4th yr., 16-18-0, .471) 
GM: David Caldwell (7th yr.) 
2018:&nbsp;5-11-0, 4th in AFC South. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: Nick Foles nearly retired from the NFL a few years ago and climbed to the mountain top with the Eagles in their Super Bowl run of 2017. Can he do the same for the Jaguars, who imploded last year under the weight of injuries and Blake Bortles’ regression? Foles will be asked to bring some much-needed stability on offense, but he can only do so much. Running back Leonard Fournette needs a big year to help the play-action passing game. But it’s the defense that needs to step up even more. A once-dominant unit that got to within a game of the Super Bowl in 2017, the Jaguars badly underperformed last year. 
<h3>10. INDIANAPOLIS COLTS</h3> 
Coach: Frank Reich (2nd yr., 10-6-0, .625) 
GM: Chris Ballard (3rd yr.) 
2018:&nbsp;10-6-0, 2nd in AFC South. Playoffs: Wild Card def. Texans, 21-7; Divisional round lost to Chiefs, 31-13. 
Outlook: It was all looking so good for the Colts, who produced an unexpected playoff run last season with first-year coach Frank Reich and built up the talent base on both sides of the ball, thanks to some smart drafting by general manager Chris Ballard. But Andrew Luck’s lower leg problems now cloud their outlook. At first, it was a calf injury, then an ankle problem. Whatever the case, the Colts are nowhere without their starting quarterback and most valuable player. Luck benefited last year from Ballard rebuilding the offensive line, and the defense was much improved with the addition of Pro Bowl linebacker Darius Leonard. Ballard worked on the secondary this year, making Temple cornerback Rock Ya Sin his centerpiece addition. Bottom line, though: It all comes down to whether Luck can play. 
<h3>11. BUFFALO BILLS</h3> 
Coach: Sean McDermott (3rd yr., 15-17-0, .469) 
GM:&nbsp;Brandon Beane (3rd yr.) 
2018:&nbsp;6-10-1, 3rd in AFC East. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: Josh Allen believes he’s ready for a breakout season, and he’ll need it if the Bills want to compete in the AFC East. The second-year quarterback has a big arm, but coach Sean McDermott would rather see Allen complete the shorter throws with greater frequency. That means a big role for former Cowboys slot receiver Cole Beasley. The Bills are counting on an improved defensive performance, which means second-year linebacker Tremaine Edmunds needs to establish himself, as well as former first-round cornerback Tre’Davious White. 
<h3>12. TENNESSEE TITANS</h3> 
Coach: Mike Vrabel (2nd yr., 9-7-0, .563) 
GM: Jon Robinson (4th yr.) 
2018:&nbsp;9-7-0, 3rd in AFC South. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: This might be Marcus Mariota’s last chance to prove he is the Titans’ answer at quarterback. Second-year coach Mike Vrabel won’t commit to Mariota for the long haul unless he sees genuine improvement this season. Mariota was one of college football’s all-time greats at Oregon, but he hasn’t lived up to his billing so far in the NFL. Tailback Derrick Henry offers reliability in the running game, and Tennessee boasts a solid offensive line. The Titans’ defense is good, not great. Pass rush remains the biggest challenge, although the secondary is solid. 
<h3>13. OAKLAND RAIDERS</h3> 
Coach: Jon Gruden (6th yr., 42-38, .525) 
GM: Mike Mayock&nbsp;(1st&nbsp;yr.) 
2018:&nbsp;4-12-0, 4st in AFC West. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: They gambled on WR Antonio Brown to spark the offense, but he spent most of training camp embroiled in controversy and was finally released two days before the opening game. How will any of this help QB Derek Carr, who lost his favorite receiver, Amari Cooper, in last year’s trade with the Cowboys. The Raiders hope first-round TB Josh Jacobs can infuse the running game. There’s still no adequate replacement for Khalil Mack, who was traded last year to the Bears. 
14. DENVER BRONCOS 
Coach: Vic Fangio (1st yr., replaces Vance Joseph) 
GM: John Elway (9th yr.) 
2018:&nbsp;6-10-0, 3rd in AFC West. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: John Elway tore things apart in the off-season, bringing in Vic Fangio as coach and Joe Flacco as quarterback. He also drafted Missouri’s Drew Lock in April, although Lock will have to wait his turn now that the former Ravens Super Bowl MVP quarterback is under center. Free agent running back Phillip Lindsay was terrific as a rookie last season, and he’ll need to be at least as good this year to help an offense in need of playmakers. The Broncos hope the pass rushing tandem of outside linebackers Von Miller and Bradley Chubb can create havoc, and Chris Harris remains one of the NFL’s most reliable cover corners. 
<h3>15. CINCINNATI BENGALS</h3> 
Coach: Zac Taylor (1st yr., replaces Marvin Lewis) 
GM: Mike Brown (29th yr.) 
2018:&nbsp;6-10-0, 4th in AFC North. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: Andy Dalton gets another chance – possibly his last – with Sean McVay protégé Zac Taylor. The Bengals finally parted ways with longtime coach Marvin Lewis, hoping Taylor can get more out of Dalton. That’s a tall task, considering Dalton’s limitations that have already been exposed. The Bengals already suffered a major injury with the loss of first-round left tackle Jonah Williams. A.J. Green is one of the NFL’s best receivers, but recent injury problems have limited his effectiveness. He'll now miss some time with an ankle injury. Geno Atkins remains the centerpiece of the defense, but he’ll need plenty of help around him. Cincinnati has finally moved on from hot-tempered linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who is now with Raiders. 
<h3>16. MIAMI DOLPHINS</h3> 
Coach: Brian Flores (1st yr., replaces Adam Gase) 
GM:&nbsp;Brandon Beane (3rd yr.) 
2018:&nbsp;7-9-0, 2nd in AFC East. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook:&nbsp;First-year coach Brian Flores won a Super Bowl with the Patriots last season as defensive coordinator but will be hard-pressed to win five games with a talent-starved Dolphins’ roster. Miami picked up journeyman quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and former Cardinals first-round passer Josh Rosen in the off-season. Wide receiver DeVante Parker is the team’s best offensive player now that tackle Laremy Tunsil, along with Kenny Stills, was traded to the Texans. The Dolphins added former Clemson defensive lineman Christian Wilkins, but Flores will need a lot more than that to compete in the AFC East, especially against his former team. This will be a long rebuilding process.&nbsp;

spfAFC190908

AFC power rankings: Patriots are No. 1

Glauber's AFC power rankings: Patriots are No. 1

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<h3>1. LOS ANGELES RAMS</h3> 
Coach: Sean McVay (3rd yr., 24-8-0, .750) 
GM: Les Snead (8th yr.) 
2018: 13-3-0, 1st in NFC West. Playoffs: Divisional round def. Cowboys, 30-22; Conference Championship def. Saints, 26-23; Super Bowl LIII lost to Patriots, 13-3. 
Outlook: It was one of the best, albeit most painful learning experiences of his life. And truth be told, what happened in Super Bowl LIII might haunt Sean McVay the rest of his days. Losing championships can do that to a coach. 
“Like any game, you want to be able to learn from some of the decisions that you would make differently, and from a preparation standpoint what can you do to put your players in a better spot,” McVay said of the Rams’ 13-3 loss to the Patriots last Feb. 3 in Atlanta. 
What he learned most: 
“When (the Patriots get in those games, and not just exclusive to the Super Bowl, they don’t do things to beat themselves,” McVay said. “They play their best in those crunch time moments. But we’re excited about moving into the next season.” 
History has not been kind to Super Bowl losers, but McVay hopes the Rams can avoid the pitfalls experienced by so many other teams. In fact, last year’s Patriots became only the first team since the 1993 Bills to come back from a Super Bowl loss one year and get back to the Big Show the next. 
It won’t be easy for the Rams, because the NFC is loaded with plenty of competition at the upper reaches. The Saints, Seahawks, Bears, Falcons, Eagles, Vikings and Cowboys all present challenges. And there always seems to be an outlier that produces an unexpectedly good season. But chances are any one of those teams will have to deal with the Rams at some point to reach Super Bowl LIV in south Florida next February. 
McVay’s brilliance at such a young age – he’s still only 33 – gives the Rams a bright long-term outlook, but he’s certainly not thinking past this year. And while his play-calling magic might not produce the kind of consistently dominant performances that marked last year’s run to the Super Bowl, it should be good enough to lead Jared Goff to another strong season. 
“With Jared, one of those things you love about him is he’s able to learn from both the good and the bad,” McVay said. “And I think the experience thing is something that can’t be underappreciated, specifically, really for myself and for him. What’s unique about it is, when you get a chance to really go through the early stages of, whether it be a play-caller and a quarterback working together, head coach-quarterback, you see some of those things that we’re really navigating through together that’s what’s exciting. And I don’t think Jared has never been somebody that can’t respond from some adversity. That’s been demonstrated throughout the course of his career.” 
McVay and Goff are about to find out how they respond to the adversity of losing a Super Bowl. They’ll have to overcome history to get another shot to win it all. 
<h3>2. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS</h3> 
Coach: Sean Payton (13th yr., 118-74, .615) 
GM: Mickey Loomis (18th yr.) 
2018: 13-3-0, 1st in NFC South. Playoffs: Divisional round def. Eagles, 20-14; Conf. Championship lost to Rams, 26-23. 
Outlook: Drew Brees turned 40 in January, and there was a noticeable dip in his production late last season. A sign of slippage perhaps, but Brees is still good enough to think about a second Super Bowl title. Brees finished with 32 touchdown passes and just five interceptions, but over his last four games, he had just three TD passes and three INTs. The Saints’ defense, long a source of concern, finally appears ready to become a consistently reliable unit. The front seven is now solid, giving the secondary, featuring former first-round pick Marshon Lattimore, a fighting chance to make plays. 
<h3>3. CHICAGO BEARS</h3> 
Coach: Matt Nagy (2nd yr., 12-4-0, .750) 
GM: Ryan Pace (5th yr.) 
2018: 12-3-0, 1st in NFC North. Playoffs: Wild Card lost to Eagles, 16-15. 
Outlook: The Bears’ “Monsters of the Midway” caliber defense can carry them again this season, but the real key is whether Mitch Trubisky takes a significant step forward. Trubisky showed improvement last year, with 24 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions, but he’ll need to step it up a notch for the Bears to be considered worthy Super Bowl contenders. Tarik Cohen is a terrific play-making running back, but at just 5-foot-6, 181 pounds, he’s not an every-down back. The Khalil Mack trade last year shored up the defense, and 2018 first-round linebacker Roquan Smith can be a major force. 
<h3>4. SEATTLE SEAHAWKS</h3> 
Coach: Pete Carroll (10th yr., 89-54-1, .622) 
GM: John Schneider (10th yr.) 
2018: 10-6-0, 2nd in NFC West. Playoffs: Wild Card lost to Cowboys, 24-22. 
Outlook: Russell Wilson got his wish of signing a blockbuster deal to remain in Seattle, and he’s one of the few players capable of carrying a team. Wilson has been to the Pro Bowl three of his last four seasons, and he was the major reason for the Seahawks’ surprising 10-6 record last year. He needs help in the running game, though, and 2018 first-round pick Rashad Penny was a major disappointment with just 419 yards and two touchdowns. That’s a far cry from the days of Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch. Pete Carroll’s revamped defense will also need to dominate, and they’ll have to do it without pass rusher Frank Clark, who is now with the Chiefs. First-round defensive end L.J. Collier hopes to pick up the slack along the line. 
<h3>5. DALLAS COWBOYS</h3> 
Coach: Jason Garrett (10th yr., 77-59-0, .566) 
Owner/GM: Jerry Jones (31st yr.) 
2018: 10-6-0, 1st in NFC East. Playoffs: Wild Card def. Seahawks, 24-22; Divisional round lost to Rams, 30-22. 
Outlook: The Cowboys believe Dak Prescott is an elite quarterback and that the time is now for him to make a Super Bowl run. Prescott has certainly proven to be an able quarterback, but elite? He’s got a ways to go, for sure. He hasn’t thrown more than 23 touchdown passes in a season, and while he is as tough as they come and will get the tough yards on the ground when necessary, he still isn’t in the same stratosphere as the NFL’s top-tier quarterbacks. Ezekiel Elliott signed a six-year, $90 million extension days before the team's opener, and although Elliott held out for the entire preseason,&nbsp;he's one of those players who still can perform well in the absence of training camp. He’ll have to be at his best, because Prescott needs the benefit of a play-action passing game to thrive. The defense is quite good, and the addition last year of linebacker Leighton Vander Esch was huge. Demarcus Lawrence is an elite pass rusher who got the long-term contract he deserved in the off-season. 
<h3>6. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES</h3> 
Coach: Doug Pederson (4th yr., 29-19-0, .604) 
Vice president football operations: Howie Roseman (10th yr.) 
2018: 9-7-0, 2nd in NFC East. Playoffs: Wild Card def. Bears, 16-15; Divisional round lost to Saints, 20-14. 
Outlook: The Eagles struggled to get back to the playoffs a year after their Super Bowl win, and Nick Foles is now gone after signing with the Jaguars. So, it’s Carson Wentz’s show now, and there’s plenty to like about a team that could be capable of another title run. Wentz was playing at an MVP level when he got hurt late in the 2017 season, and he went out late last year with a back injury. But he’s back to full strength, and that’s good news for an Eagles’ offense that will need him at his best. Wentz’s favorite targets will receivers Alshon Jeffery and Desean Jackson, who returns to Philadelphia after playing in Washington and Tampa, and tight end Zach Ertz. The defense looks very good, particularly in the front seven, where Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham and Derek Barnett lead the way. &nbsp; 
<h3>7. MINNESOTA VIKINGS</h3> 
Coach: Mike Zimmer (6th yr., 47-32-1, .594) 
GM: Rick Spielman (14th yr.) 
2018: 8-7-1, 2nd in NFC North. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: Kirk Cousins put up decent numbers last year with 30 touchdown passes and 4,298 yards, but he didn’t play up to expectations after signing a fully guaranteed three-year, $84 million contract. Coach Mike Zimmer believes Cousins will settle down this year after becoming fully acclimated since coming over from the Redskins. The return from injury of tailback Dalvin Cook is huge and should help Cousins, who will benefit from a more balanced attack that doesn’t revolve solely around the passing game. Zimmer has a reliable defense that wasn’t up to its usual standards last season, but the talent is there, especially at safety with Harrison Smith and cornerback with Trae Waynes and Xavier Rhodes. 
<h3>8. ATLANTA FALCONS</h3> 
Coach: Dan Quinn (5th yr., 36-28-0, .563) 
GM: Thomas Dimitroff (12th yr.) 
2018: 7-9-0, T-2nd in NFC South. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: Matt Ryan and Julio Jones remain one of the NFL’s best quarterback-receiver combinations, and they’ll no doubt power a productive offense in 2019. Ryan has been a machine over his last seven seasons. In that span, he has thrown for 36,659 yards, 229 touchdown passes and 99 interceptions to go with a 97.3 rating. As Ryan goes, so goes the offense. Jones remains his primary target and comes off a 2018 season with 1,677 yards and eight touchdowns. It’s still somewhat mystifying he’s not more of a target in the red zone. With the offense almost certain to produce, the biggest question is whether Dan Quinn’s defense can be counted on. This has not been a consistent strength the last two seasons, and Quinn, who was hired in large part because of his defensive brilliance with the Seahawks, needs to produce a big-time pass rush if he’s going to compete in a division with Drew Brees and Cam Newton. 
<h3>9. GREEN BAY PACKERS</h3> 
Coach: Matt LaFleur (first season; replaces Mike McCarthy). 
GM: Matt LaFleur 
2018: 6-9-1, 3rd in NFC North. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: The Packers hope Matt LaFleur can add some of the magic that his former boss, Sean McVay, provided for the Rams. LaFleur has Aaron Rodgers still in his prime, so that’s the biggest thing he has going. Rodgers is capable of throwing 50 touchdown passes in a season, but he had just 25 last year in Mike McCarthy’s final season as coach. Rodgers does have an elite receiver in Davonte Adams, but he doesn’t have the benefit of a reliable running game. So yes, Rodgers will once again need to be a one-man show. Green Bay’s defense has been a consistent source of worry over the last several seasons, and second-year coordinator Mike Pettine, who replaced Dom Capers in 2018, has his work cut out. He has a middling corps of linebackers on a defense that no longer features Clay Matthews III. 
<h3>10. CAROLINA PANTHERS</h3> 
Coach: Ron RIvera (9th yr., 71-56-0, .559) 
GM: Marty Hurney (14th yr.) 
2018: 7-9-0, 2nd in NFC South. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: Cam Newton comes off shoulder surgery and may not be the Superman he’s tried to be all these years. Newton was clearly not the same quarterback last year that he’d once been, but it turns out he was playing hurt almost the entire way. Off-season surgery has corrected the problem, but Newton may need time to get back into the kind of rhythm he’s used to – especially after suffering a foot sprain in the preseason. That may mean a bigger&nbsp;workload for tailback Christian McCaffrey, who has plenty of versatility. It doesn’t help that the Panthers don’t have a big-time receiving corps, although reliable tight end Greg Olsen is back. The defense needs work, and other than All Pro Luke Kuechly, there really isn’t a big-time player on that side of the ball. The Panthers hope former Bucs defensive lineman Gerald McCoy can help. 
<h3>11. DETROIT LIONS</h3> 
Coach: Ron RIvera (9th yr., 71-56-0, .559) 
GM: Marty Hurney (14th yr.) 
2018: 7-9-0, 2nd in NFC South. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: This is a big year for coach Matt Patricia, the Bill Belichick disciple who had a rough go in 2018. Players chafed under his authoritarian rule, and when coaches like that don’t win often enough, their shelf life is often limited. Patricia hopes two former stars with the Patriots – slot receiver Danny Amendola and versatile defensive lineman Trey Flowers, will bring some of the New England magic with them. The offense will continue to revolve around quarterback Matthew Stafford, who had just 21 touchdown passes last season. The running game needs to give him some support, but there’s no second coming of Barry Sanders among this group. The defense can be better, especially with the addition of Flowers, but it’s still going to be tough for this team to compete with the likes of the Bears, Packers and Vikings. 
<h3>12. WASHINGTON REDSKINS</h3> 
Coach: Jay Gruden (6th yr., 35-44-1, .444) 
President/GM: Bruce Allen (10th yr.) 
2018: 7-9-0, 3rd in NFC East. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: The Redskins are in quarterback purgatory; first-rounder Dwayne Haskins isn’t ready for prime time and veteran Case Keenum isn’t good enough to compete in an NFC East that includes the Eagles and Cowboys. Welcome to Jay Gruden’s world. No wonder the coach is considered one of the first to be fired if things don’t go his way this season. Haskins, the Ohio State quarterback and a personal favorite of team owner Daniel Snyder, has taken a while to adjust to the pro game, and Keenum, the journeyman who has been with three teams in three seasons, is a holdover quarterback at best. Josh Doctson is a speedy wide receiver who needs to show improvement, and tight end Jordan Reed is a reliable target who is injury-prone. The defense is the team’s greatest strength, particularly along the line with former first rounders Da’Ron Payne and Jonathan Allen. 
<h3>13. <a href="http://newsday.com/giants">NEW YORK GIANTS</a></h3> 
Coach: Pat Shurmur (2nd yr., 5-11-0, .313) 
GM: Dave Gettleman (2nd yr.) 
2018: 5-11-0, 4th in NFC East. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: Eli Manning remains the starter, but it appears to be only a matter of time before Daniel Jones gets his chance. Team president John Mara’s greatest hope is that Manning plays the entire season, which means the team will be in the midst of a playoff run. But at age 38 and with a group of average receivers that won’t have Golden Tate (four-game suspension for PEDs) to start the season, Jones had better be ready. The defense is badly in need of a pass rush, and while first-round lineman Dexter Lawrence can be a force up front, they still don’t have a legitimate sack specialist. It’s a promising young secondary with rookie corners DeAndre Baker and Corey Ballentine, but it’s also a work in progress. 
<h3>14. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS</h3> 
Coach: Bruce Arians (1st yr., replaces Dirk Koetter) 
GM: Jason Licht (6th yr.) 
2018: 5-11-0, 4th in NFC South. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: Bruce Arians will need to do his thing as a quarterback whisperer for Jameis Winston, who has yet to live up to expectations as a former No. 1 overall pick. Arians has a well-earned reputation of getting the best out of his quarterbacks – just ask Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger and Carson Palmer. But Winston might prove to be his most challenging pupil; the talent is there, but the former Florida State star has yet to put it all together. He does have the benefit of throwing to Pro Bowl receiver Mike Evans and former first-round tight end O.J. Howard and underrated Cameron Brate. The Bucs’ defense is getting better, with a promising secondary that includes cornerback Vernon Hargreaves and a linebacking core that features rookie Devin White, who the Bucs hope will be a close facsimile of Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks. 
<h3>15. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS</h3> 
Coach: Kyle Shanahan (3rd yr., 10-22-0, .313) 
GM: John Lynch (3rd yr.) 
2018: 4-12-0, 3rd in NFC West. Missed playoffs. 
Outlook: The 49ers hope Jimmy Garoppolo can come back from a knee injury and prove his value as the team’s franchise quarterback. It’s an absolute must that Garoppolo play up to his potential, because the entire offense is counting on his playmaking ability. The former understudy to Tom Brady is under tremendous pressure to deliver, and he must do so with a team still lacking in a number of areas. Tight end George Kittle has emerged as a star, but there are no game breakers on the outside. The team acquired former Chiefs pass rusher Dee Ford in the off-season, although he battled knee tendinitis during the preseason. First-round pass rusher Nick Bosa will be a huge key, although he’s already dealt with hamstring and ankle problems even before his first game. 
<h3>16. ARIZONA CARDINALS</h3> 
Coach: Kliff Kingsbury (1st yr., replaces Steve Wilks) 
GM: Steve Keim (7th yr.) 
2018: 3-13-0, 4th in NFC West. 
Outlook: The Cardinals took a calculated risk by pulling the plug on coach Steve Wilks and quarterback Josh Rosen after just one season. They hope they’re rewarded by the presence of coach Kliff Kingsbury and No. 1 pick Kyler Murray. It’s a huge gamble, but general manager Steve Keim believes that Murray is a generational talent, which is why he gave up so quickly on Rosen. Kingsbury ran the famous “Air Raid” offense at Texas Tech, and he’ll feature an up-tempo, wide open attack with the Cardinals. The big questions is whether the offense will work at the next level. Arizona’s defense still features cornerback Patrick Peterson, but the All-Pro cornerback will miss the first six games of the season after testing positive for PEDs. The defense will be helped by the signing of former Ravens pass rusher Terrell Suggs.

spfNFC190908

NFC power rankings: Rams are No. 1

Broncos Rams Football

All the best in the AFC this season: 
Best players 
1.&nbsp;Patrick Mahomes: Rarely have we seen a player develop so quickly as Mahomes, who put out an MVP season in his first full season as a starter with 50 touchdown passes last season. He has incredible arm strength, terrific mobility, and exceptional toughness. But what sets him apart even further is his football intelligence, which is off the charts. 
2. Tom Brady, QB, Patriots. 
3. J.J. Watt, DE, Texans. 
4. DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Texans. 
5. Von Miller, LB, Broncos. 
Best quarterback: Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs. 
Best running back: Derrick Henry, Titans 
Best wide receiver: DeAndre Hopkins, Texans 
Best tight end: Travis Kelce, Chiefs. 
Best offensive lineman: Quenton Nelson, G, Colts 
Best defensive lineman: J.J. Watt, Texans. 
Best linebacker: Von Miller, Broncos. 
Best defensive back: Stephon Gilmore, Patriots 
Best pass rusher: J.J. Watt, Texans. 
Best kicker: Justin Tucker, Ravens. 
Best punter: Brett Kern, Titans. 
Best kick returner: Andre Roberts, BIlls 
Best player over age 30: Tom Brady, QB, Patriots. 
Best offense: Chiefs. 
Best defense: Ravens. 
Best special teams: Patriots. 
Best general manager: Kevin Colbert, Steelers. 
Best head coach: Bill Belichick, Patriots. 
Best coordinator-Offense: Josh McDaniels, Patriots. 
Best coordinator-Defense: Don “Wink” Martindale, Ravens. 
Best uniforms: Broncos. 
Best stadium: Heinz Field. 
Best Jets player: Le’Veon Bell, RB.

spfabest190908

The best of the AFC in 2019

9973909h

All the best in the NFC this season: 
Best players 
1. Aaron Rodgers, QB, Packers: It wasn’t Rodgers’ best season in 2018, but only because he played hurt much of the year with a knee injury he suffered in Week 1. He’s still a wizard with the football, making extraordinary plays look simple. And he’s still the biggest reason the Packers have a chance. 
2. Aaron Donald, DT, Rams. 
3. Saquon Barkley, RB, Giants. 
4. Drew Brees, QB, Saints. 
5. Matt Ryan, QB, Falcons. 
Best quarterback: Aaron Rodgers, Packers. 
Best running back: Saquon Barkley, Giants. 
Best wide receiver: Michael Thomas, Saints. 
Best tight end: George Kittle, 49ers. 
Best offensive lineman: Zack Martin, G, Cowboys. 
Best defensive lineman: Aaron Donald, DT, Rams. 
Best linebacker: Luke Kuechly, Panthers. 
Best defensive back: Kyle Fuller, CB, Bears. 
Best pass rusher: Khalil Mack, DE, Bears. 
Best kicker: Aldrick Rosas, Giants. 
Best punter: Andy Lee, 49ers. 
Best kick returner: Richie James, 49ers. 
Best player over age 30: Drew Brees, QB, Saints. 
Best offense: Saints. 
Best defense: Bears. 
Best special teams: Rams. 
Best general manager: John Schneider, Seahawks. 
Best head coach: Sean Payton. 
Best coordinator-Offense: Sean McVay (HC), Rams 
Best coordinator-Defense: Jim Schwartz, Eagles. 
Best uniforms: Cowboys. 
Best stadium: Lambeau Field. 
Best Giants player: Saquon Barkley, RB.

spfnbest190908

The best of the NFC in 2019

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