The Rundown: The race to the bottom

As the saying goes, it was a banner weekend in New York sports. The Yankees clinched the AL East by sweeping the Red Sox. The Giants and Jets are both 3-0 for the first time since 2000. And the Knicks made themselves borderline watchable next season by re-signing their two key free agents.

I wrote that on September 27. And New York sports fans still have nothing to complain about after the Yankees' latest World Series title. But boy, does it seem like a long time until pitchers and catchers.

How bad is it? Let's compare.

NEW YORK JETS: Then: 3-0. Now: 4-5. The Jets may not have the best offense, defense, special teams, poise, or coach in the league, but they are certainly the class of the NFL at finding new and interesting ways to lose. Four weeks ago, it was a stalled offense and an overtime field goal that turned 318 rushing yards into a trivia answer. Last week, a 352-104 advantage in total yards wasn't enough to overcome two kickoff returns for touchdowns -- in the same quarter. And this week, the Jets did just enough to lose on the final play.

If Braylon Edwards holds onto Mark Sanchez's pass on a two-point conversion attempt late in the fourth quarter, maybe the Jets don't fall to the Jaguars 24-22, their fifth defeat in six games. And if Maurice Jones-Drew doesn't take a knee just before scoring a touchdown so Jacksonville can run out the clock before kicking the game-winning field goal, maybe the loss doesn't get its unique "fantasy owners are outraged" spin. But the real story is Gang Green's inability to overcome injuries to its biggest and fastest players.

First, 360-pound nose tackle and resident behemoth Kris Jenkins tore his ACL in the overtime loss to the Bills, ending his season and rubbing salt in the wound of a devastating loss. The following week, running back and kick returner Leon Washington broke his right fibula so badly the bone broke through the skin.

Jenkins and Washington are, in a word, irreplaceable to the Jets. No one jams up opponents' running games better than the four-time Pro Bowler Jenkins, and Washington filled three roles: spelling Thomas Jones, catching passes out the backfield, and blowing by opponents on kick returns.

The New York media has been all over the Jets' high-profile rookies, quarterback Mark Sanchez and coach Rex Ryan, for their inexperienced decisions. But Sanchez and Ryan are both in their first year. They will get better. Injuries to Jenkins and Washington, on the other hand, mean it's time to start looking to 2010.

NEW YORK GIANTS: Then: 3-0. Now: 5-4. They had a bye week. Not much to talk about. Yet that didn't stop Mike Francesca (WFAN), Steve Serby (New York Post) and Gary Myers (Daily News) from loudly proclaiming the G-Men won't make the playoffs.

Four losses in a row make that prediction an easy column. I prefer the slightly more tempered approach. Let's see how the Giants do against Atlanta on Sunday. Both teams are 5-4, so for all intensive purposes this is a playoff elimination game. Win it, and Eli Manning and Co. might just shut up the talking heads for a week.

NEW YORK KNICKS: Then: 0-0. Now: 1-9. The Knicks had some compelling subplots going into the season -- how David Lee and Nate Robinson would perform with their one-year contracts, whether Danilo Gallinari was ready for the NBA, if the Knicks could actually win 35 games.

Six weeks later, here's what we have: How much Lee gets his shot blocked, how LeBron James is coming to the Knicks because he's wearing special sneakers with the Yankees' logo, and whether the Knicks will sign the Artist Formerly Known as Allen Iverson. That should help distract from the Knicks' 15-67 record at the end of the season.

NEW JERSEY NETS: Then: 0-0. Now 0-11. I hate to do this to Nets fans -- at this point, they're counting the days until 2010 free agency and hoping Mikhail Prokhorov wasn't one of the villains in Air Force One. But here are the highlights from the Nets' most heartbreaking loss in a season full of losses. Literally. I mean, they've only had losses.

No team has gone worse than 0-17. If the Nets can't break through before then, loss No. 18 would come Dec. 2 against Dallas. Before you mark your calendars, remember this: The Nets host the Knicks this Saturday. If anyone can get New Jersey off the schnide, it's the Knicks.

If you consider yourself a New York sports fan, please do not watch that game. I'm saying this for your sake.