As we enter the final lead-up to Christmas, Sunday’s non-competitive games played by both the Giants and Jets ensured that it’s essentially a wrap on the local football season.
Any illusions (delusions?) or visions of sugar plums dancing in fans’ heads that Tommy DeVito could lead the Giants to an improbable playoff push or that Zach Wilson could keep the Jets afloat to make Aaron Rodgers’ unlikely return to the Jets a meaningful possibility were, as noted by The Post’s Mike Vaccaro, all but obliterated Sunday when the two teams got trounced by a combined score of 54-6 in their respective losses to the Saints and the Dolphins.
Let’s start with Robert Saleh’s Jets, who were a complete no-show on both sides of the ball in a 30-0 loss in Miami, which could be perfectly summed up by the shots of Rodgers shaking his head and rolling his eyes on the sidelines.
The Jets have employed various configurations on a makeshift offensive line all season, but Sunday’s showing may have been the ugliest of the year, beginning with the opening drive, when Zach Wilson got stripped and slammed to the turf before eventually leaving the game before halftime with what later was ruled as a concussion.
The 40-year-old Rodgers has talked all along about returning only if he could protect his surgically repaired and somewhat rehabbed Achilles tendon and if the Jets (now 5-9) were alive in the playoff hunt.
Sunday’s loss — their fourth game this season without scoring an offensive touchdown — officially eliminated the Jets, extending the longest active postseason drought among all NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL teams to 13 years, and their string of consecutive losing seasons to eight.
It makes zero sense to trot out a compromised Rodgers — even if he gets medically cleared to return this week — to play on Christmas Eve against the Commanders in his first game action since the first offensive series of the season opener.
Obviously, the four-time MVP wanted to make it back this season to prove that he could after undergoing a cutting-edge procedure and an aggressive rehabilitation for this type of injury.
Just being back on the practice field already has accomplished that goal, and there’s no reason for the Jets to risk getting their franchise player reinjured by putting him on the field now at less than 100 percent health when he is under contract for 2024.
It also should be noted that Saleh’s signature defensive unit got punched in the mouth by Tua Tagovailoa, Jaylen Waddle and a Dolphins offense that played without speedy wide receiver Tyreek Hill — and also was banged-up along the offensive line.
While the Jets’ defense only registered three sacks, Wilson and backup Trevor Siemian were brought down a combined six times. Left tackle Mekhi Becton was regularly beaten by Bradley Chubb, who recorded three sacks.
DeVito also couldn’t avoid the pressure for the Giants, getting sacked seven times for 57 yards in the Giants’ 24-6 loss in New Orleans. Their 76 sacks allowed through 14 games are the most by any NFL team this season.
With two of their final three games slated to be against the Eagles, the Giants weren’t likely to run the table and reach the postseason anyway. But DeVito’s fun local story after posting three straight victories came back to earth a bit in Sunday’s loss with the Giants managing only 193 yards of total offense and no touchdowns against the Saints.
In the opposite of the Rodgers situation, the Giants have nothing to lose by continuing to play the New Jersey product over veteran backup Tyrod Taylor the rest of the way to gain more intel about his future with the organization — with a top-10 pick in next year’s draft now the most likely scenario.
The Giants (also 5-9) currently sit in the seventh draft position, one slot behind the Jets at No.6.
Outside shots at a playoff berth for both local teams made for a nice holiday dream while it lasted.
Bah, humbug.
Today’s back page
Hello, ‘Moto
Hopefully, New York’s baseball teams are prepared to take the reins this week with an old-fashioned bidding war for Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
The Yankees already made a huge offseason splash by acquiring superstar outfielder Juan Soto, and they remain engaged with the 25-year-old Yamamoto, which could make for quite the December haul if they can pull it off.
Yamamoto was slated to meet with both New York ball clubs this weekend, Saturday night at Mets owner Steve Cohen’s home in Connecticut and Sunday with the Yankees, as Post baseball columnist Jon Heyman first reported.
The Mets already had visited the free agent righty in Japan, and the Yankees pitched him last week in Los Angeles, so additional meetings this weekend likely mean that both are in contention for the three-time reigning pitcher of the year in Nippon Professional Baseball.
With the Dodgers, Red Sox, Giants, Phillies and Blue Jays also involved, the bidding could exceed $300 million for Yamamoto — and quite possibly might exceed the $324 million the Yankees gave Gerrit Cole as the richest deal ever for a pitcher.
The Yankees and Mets rarely have competed for the same free agents, so this could get very interesting in the coming days and weeks.
How the West was lost
The Knicks will look to salvage a split of their four-game West Coast swing Monday night against the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena after coughing up a 144 points in the building Saturday against the Clippers.
Tom Thibodeau’s team needs to rediscover its identity, as the Knicks own the worst defensive rating in the NBA in December. They’ve allowed an average of 132 points over their past six games (2-4), beginning with a 146-122 loss to the Bucks in the In-Season Tournament knockout round on Dec. 5.
Some of that has to do with the absence of Mitchell Robinson (ankle surgery), with the Clippers netting 60 points in the paint to go along with a 16-for-33 night (.485) from 3-point land.
Jalen Brunson isn’t going to score 50 or shoot a perfect 9-for-9 from long distance regularly, as he did the previous night in a win over the Suns, earning him a premature “future Hall of Famer” compliment from Kevin Durant.
The Knicks need to rediscover their defensive principles to get back on track against the Lakers, who have dropped two of three since capturing the inaugural NBA Cup title earlier this month.
What we’re reading 👀
🏈 As if getting beaten down by the Saints wasn’t bad enough, Tommy DeVito also had to endure the Saints mocking the Italian hand-pursing gesture he had made famous on “Monday Night Football.” “It’s just all fun and games, part of the game,” DeVito told Cannizzaro.
🏒 Only 11 of the Islanders’ 30 games have been decided by more than one goal, and while the team has found itself on the right side of the final score more often than not lately, its inability to put together a 60-minute performance consistently has been confounding, writes Ethan Sears.
🏀 Once arguably the NBA’s worst rebounding team, the Nets have been better on the glass of late. The problem is they’re still giving up too many second-chance opportunities to opponents, and that’s becoming a big problem, writes Brian Lewis.
⛳ It’s been a while since Tiger Woods was on a golf course, but he spent this past weekend at PNC Championship pro-am in Orlando playing with his son Charlie and alongside his daughter Sam, who caddied. Best news of all for golf fans: Tiger got through the event still planning for a much more rigourous tournament schedule in 2024.