It's Monday morning, so that means it's time to vote for the SB Nation New York Player of the Week. Last week, David Wright took the honors, which wasn't too surprising since he was also named the NL Player of the Week. But now the real fun begins as football gets thrown into the mix. Well, the New York Giants didn't have any fun, losing to the Redskins, 28-14, but the New York Jets had a rousing successful opener, while in baseball it was a rough week for both the New York Yankees (3-4) and the New York Mets (3-5). Here are the new nominees. Vote now! (And if you have any write-in candidates, add them to the comments section and we'll count those votes as well.)
↵Jesus Montero: Talk about making a splash in your first week in the majors. We don't know if he can catch yet (though he was pressed into service on Sunday and threw out his first attempted base stealer), but it sure looks like he can hit. And hit with power. And drive in runs. Though he tailed off over the weekend in Anaheim, for the week, Montero belted three home runs, drove in six runs, batted .313, scored four runs and walked three times. If he keeps going at his present rate, he'll reach folk-hero status in no time flat.
↵Jason Bay: Sure, it's too little, too late for this season, but the Mets are stuck with Bay for two more years, so any signs that he may go back to being the "old Jason Bay" in 2012 and beyond are promising. Struggles or not, he always hustles and his defense has been better than advertised, as seen by Friday night's key assist when he gunned down a Cub at the plate. But offensively, he probably had his best week as a Met, driving in a whopping 10 runs and batting .481, with two home runs, five doubles, two walks and four runs scored.
↵Nick Folk: Mark Sanchez wasn't especially sharp (fumble, interception) despite throwing for 335 yards, Shonn Greene didn't do much of anything and the defense didn't resemble the No. 1 D Rex Ryan has been bragging about. Sure, LaDainian Tomlinson had a good game (six catches, 73 yards), Darrelle Revis picked off a pass thrown right to him and Dustin Keller and Plaxico Burress scored TDs, but it was the special teams who saved the day for the Jets. Joe McKnight came up with a crucial blocked punt, which led to an Isaiah Trufant touchdown, but we'll nominate late-game hero Nick Folk as Gang Green's selection. He booted the game-winner from 50 yards out with 27 seconds left, to go along with a 34-yarder, and he prevented the Cowboys from having any big kickoff returns.
↵Jason Pierre-Paul: My plan here was to include one player from each team, so I have to pick someone from the Giants, even though they had a disappointing opener in Washington on Sunday. Hakeem Nicks had seven catches for 122 yards, including a 68-yard reception that set up the team's first touchdown, Steve Weatherford had a nice (and uneventful) debut for Big Blue and even Jake Ballard and Henry Hynoski did some good things, but we'll go with Jason Pierre-Paul as the Giants' pick. He had three tackles, one assist and two huge, impactful sacks (at least at the time they happened they looked important). His first sack led to a 'Skins punt, and the second turned into a Rex Grossman fumble that could have turned the game around if the offense could have done its job.