Silverman: Jets Grasp The Little Things; Giants Have Forgotten Them
By Steve Silverman
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Sometimes, it just pays to be a professional.
There's no reason to call out opponents or to label games as being huge or a test of character in the NFL. That's what fans and talk show hosts do.
Head coaches don't have time to start bloviating to the press.
It's about preparing a game plan, making sure players understand it and providing them with short cuts on how to execute on a weekly basis.
Todd Bowles understands this better than most coaches. Even though the 2015 season is his first as an NFL head coach, he has excelled at keeping his team on point all season.
Unlike past Jets teams, there are no huge emotional swings with Bowles. He understands that life in this league is about plugging away and moving on to the next game.
If Bowles was not in control of his emotions and didn't understand the big picture, he would have lost it when the Jets dropped four of five midway through the season. Instead of challenging his team's manhood, he kept it all in-house and demonstrated his confidence in himself, his coaches and his players.
He stayed the course and the Jets have done all the little things needed to win games down the stretch. Five straight wins later and the Jets are on the verge of earning a playoff spot.
It will not be easy, because they are playing an up-and-down Buffalo Bills team that has plenty of talent -- particularly on the defensive side -- but you just get the feeling that if Ryan Fitzpatrick can keep it close through the third quarter, they will simply out-execute the Bills in the fourth quarter. That's how the Jets have been playing during this winning streak.
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They are not making mistakes when it's all on the line. They are thriving under the pressure, and if they can do it one more time, they will be back in the playoffs for the first time since the 2010 season.
Doing the little things right has long been a path to success in the NFL, and it's something that four of the greatest coaches in NFL history -- Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry, Don Shula and current Patriots head coach Bill Belichick -- all have in common.
Tom Coughlin is one of 13 head coaches in NFL history to win multiple Super Bowls, and you would think he knows about the small details. He certainly has in the past, and has shown he knows how to prepare a team for a playoff run under the most challenging of circumstances.
But his inability to handle end-of-game situations has cost the Giants all season long. It started in Week 1 when Eli Manning threw an incomplete pass on third-and-1 from the Dallas 1 with 1:43 remaining and the Giants leading by three points.
If the Giants had run the ball and failed to get into the end zone, Josh Brown would have kicked his 19-yard field goal with about 50 seconds remaining in the game. Instead, he kicked the three-pointer with 1:37 remaining, and the Cowboys used the extra 47 seconds to score the game-winning touchdown in a 27-26 victory.
If that wasn't bad enough, the Giants followed with another end-of-game disaster against Atlanta in Week 2. The Giants had a 10-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Falcons went on to score two TDs to steal the game.
After that game, Coughlin railed against his team's inability to finish, and how the Giants had to turn that around. They must not have been listening, because late-game weaknesses came to the forefront in losses against the Saints, Patriots, Jets and Panthers.
So did abominable defensive play, but that's another story.
If the Giants had won two of those six giveaways, they would still be alive in the final weekend of the regular season.
Instead, it will all be over around 4 p.m. on Sunday.
The Jets have learned the lesson about the small things, while the Giants have forgotten them.
Follow Steve on Twitter at @ProFootballBoy
