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Keidel: If Giants Don't Make A Serious Run, They May Pass The Torch To The Jets

By Jason Keidel
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It's not hyperbolic to say that the Jets may have had the best offseason in the NFL.

Perhaps the best player in the draft, Leonard Williams, fell into their collective laps. While that was accidentally brilliant, their other moves were hearty and healthy. Brandon Marshall. Darrelle Revis. Antonio Cromartie. Bryce Petty. Devin Smith.

Even the more nuanced moves keep the team afloat, like retaining Bilal Powell and David Harris. They don't nudge the PR needle. But keeping solid starters -- veteran voices to nurture the fresh, fertile draft class -- makes the Jets more formidable.

Not to mention a HC/GM tandem that actually functions. This is what happens when there's no football fissure at the top rungs of the corporate ladder. You get good drafts and sign fine free agents. Almost every NFL pundit blessed the Jets' draft with an A grade. NFL.com said Mike Maccagnan "crushed" his first foray into the college talent pool.

The only problem, of course, is that all the new talent at the skill positions needs a skilled quarterback to get it the damn ball (to paraphrase the beloved Keyshawn Johnson). Geno Smith is not going to make anyone forget Joe Namath, nor are the fledglings and failures competing for the gig this summer. Petty may wind up being the most naturally gifted QB on the roster, but he's got a lot of grooming ahead before he can even think about squatting under center with any regularity.

But if a few things fall right -- not a natural condition for the Jets, granted -- they can put a serious dent into their sordid past and putrid 4-12 record last year.

So is it possible the Jets can gain Gotham's affection in 2015? Can Gang Green hurdle Big Blue as the best football team in the Meadowlands?

For longer than their fans care to recall, the Jets have been more than an abject mess. They've not only been the punch line of pro football, but they have to share a building with the team that trumps them every year. They are the reckless, feckless kid brother to Big Blue, constantly reminded of their constant, collective incompetence while the Giants ran off two titles over the last decade, five Super Bowl trips since 1986 and four Lombardi Trophies. Meanwhile, the Jets have fizzled every season since Namath won the biggest game in team -- and perhaps league -- history 45 years ago. The Jets haven't sniffed a Super Bowl appearance since, which has become rote in the five boroughs and beyond.

But something feels different, cozy, even competent about the Jets now. No amount of mojo or magic can overcome a dubious quarterback situation. Until they find Smith's genome or a suitable replacement, they can't do anything beyond scratch back to .500. But what if, somehow, the Jets put the right seasoning on the QB soup they're serving now?

All the other pieces are pretty much in place. No one doubts the Jets' defense. Williams and Muhammad Wilkerson are going to be impossible to block sans a single double-team. With one stroke, the Jets are covered at cornerback. Revis and Cromartie have done this before, with skill, with the Jets.

The Patriots are having the worst summer outside of the New York State penal system. They may lose Tom Brady for four games, lost Revis forever and just cut a linebacker for abandoning his battered car in the middle of a Massachusetts highway.

And the Giants, while exponentially more sane and stable over the years, have been subpar since their last Super Bowl run. Tom Coughlin's fingernails are dug into the vocational cliff. They have questions all around the roster, except for QB. And, for some absurd reason, they feel no need to extend Eli Manning's contract. Though he's 33, Eli's pedigree and family tree have proved that age is indeed relative to the Mannings.

If history is any barometer the Giants are due for a run, their famous, four-year itch upon us. Every time Coughlin has squirmed on the hot seat, he's pulled his troops up the hill against all odds and logic.

But maybe their leap-year karma has run out. No matter how seasoned or how many seasons a coach has run a team, his message eventually dries up. Is Coughlin about to turn it around or turn in his employee ID card? By the end of September, we should know.

If the Giants don't make a serious run -- or pass -- they may pass the torch to the Jets for the first time in a long time.

Follow Jason on Twitter @JasonKeidel

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