When we were here last week, we couldn't find much to be happy about with our two football teams.
The only real point to discuss was whether the Jets or Giants looked worse in their loss and it felt like this could be a really long winter on the football front. We're feeling a bit better this time around thanks to a pair of victories that restored some of the eroded faith of Week Five.
Neither team can feel great about where they are right now, but both of them did enough well that you can at least fathom feeling great about them again this season. Given how far they fell, that's about all you could ask from Week Six.
GOOD: Eli Manning took more than a few shots when he deemed himself an elite quarterback before the start of the season, but his first five weeks have made a pretty good argument. There are still a few too many turnovers for anyone's liking, but the Giants have relied heavily on Manning and he has delivered more often than not, including in Sunday's turnover-free beating of the Bills.
BAD: It is either unpreparedness or overconfidence or a combination of the two, but something is stopping the Jets from hitting the ground running every week. That has to change, because a halfway decent team would have had the Jets down two touchdowns on Monday night and we'd be writing an obituary for their season right now.
UGLY: Antrel Rolle isn't the worst player on the Giants, but he certainly talks a lot more than any other unproductive player which makes it hard to ignore how often he fails to make plays in the secondary. He gives up at least one huge play a week and then goes on the radio sounding like he's Deion Sanders, which we like to think makes Tom Coughlin sick even if he's too measured to say so.
GOOD: Saying Darrelle Revis saved the Jets' season with his two huge plays in the end zone on Monday night sounds like hyperbole, but that's definitely how it felt as he made his way 100 yards for a huge touchdown in the first quarter. When a team is lost, its best players need to step up and lead and that's just what Revis did Monday.
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BAD: There are probably plenty of people out there who would never believe you when you told them the Giants once had the best linebacking corps in the entire NFL. It has been almost that long since the Giants were even halfway decent at that spot.
UGLY: Things still need a lot of work on the Jets offensive line when it comes to running the ball. It picked up a bit in the second half, but it felt like that had more to do with the Dolphins giving up than the Jets stepping up their game.
GOOD: That said, the committment to running the ball was very welcome from the Jets. The Giants get a big thumbs up on that front as well as both New York teams showed a willingness to get down to business the right way.
BAD: Rolle isn't the only slacker in the Giants secondary. Deon Grant took a terrible angle on Fred Jackson's 80-yard touchdown run, the latest misplay in a season overflowing with them for a player who must have something on Jerry Reese to be brought back to the team this season.
GOOD: The hysteria over Kevin Boss' departure was a bit difficult to understand in the preseason and it seems even stupider now that we've seen Jake Ballard. Reese will always have the black mark of Travis Beckum on his resume, but give him kudos for unearthing a real contributor in Ballard.
BAD: Justin Tuck, for the umpteenth time, said that he's definitely going to play against the Dolphins after the bye week. Maybe just shutting up, getting healthy and playing would stop people from thinking you're healthier than you when you skip games?
UGLY: The Jets' attempt to have LaDainian Tomlinson to Mark Sanchez in the first half would have made sense for an offense that was working and capable of fooling a defense. For an offense that couldn't even run the basic plays, though, it was a frustrating headscratcher.
GOOD: Neither team played all that well this week, but you don't have to apologize for winning games in the NFL. You get to celebrate them, but not so much that you lose sight of the fact that this is just a building block for the weeks to come.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter and he is also a contributor to Pro Football Talk.
