By Dan Graziano
Hey, sorry it's been a little while. Traveling today. And besides, it looks as though you guys were having some fun in the Romo post. (No, that was not me, by the way.)
Anyway, saw that Brandon Jacobs mouthed off again, this time ripping the Dallas Cowboys' fans. And I can't help but think all of this talking the New York Giants are doing this week is a little hypocritical, given how upset they all were at all of the talking the Jets did about them last week. I mean, so far this week we've had Justin Tuck say he hates the Cowboys, Mathias Kiwanuka say the Giants should be able to shut out the Cowboys, Victor Cruz telling me he feels the Giants' receivers have the advantage against the Cowboys' defensive backs, and now this thing with Jacobs.
None of these things is especially egregious on its own. The dumbest is probably Jacobs taking on the fans, but when you consider the source and grade on a curve against past Jacobs behavior, even that's pretty tame. What surprises me is the accumulation of all of it. It's not very Giants-like to be this outwardly, borderline obnoxiously confident. It's a little more Jet-like, in all honesty.
The only reason I can think of for this uncharacteristic behavior is that the Giants must be feeling very, very good about their chances of winning this game this weekend. On Monday, Tuck said guys didn't even want to watch the tape of the Jets game -- they just wanted to look ahead to the Cowboys. On Wednesday, Osi Umenyiora shocked everyone in the organization by practicing, and then he did it again Thursday. The Giants appear to be as healthy and as confident and as upbeat as they've been at any time this season, and all of the chatter is likely just an outgrowth of that.
As for what effect it might have, I never believe it has much. If the Cowboys win the game, I'm sure someone on their side will say the Giants' chirping motivated them. But the fact is, this is basically a playoff game Sunday night, and no one needs any more motivation than that. To me, it just seems odd, is all, that the Giants would be acting this way. And I got to wondering why. All I could come up with is that they must be feeling pretty doggone good about themselves.
Hey, sorry it's been a little while. Traveling today. And besides, it looks as though you guys were having some fun in the Romo post. (No, that was not me, by the way.)
Anyway, saw that Brandon Jacobs mouthed off again, this time ripping the Dallas Cowboys' fans. And I can't help but think all of this talking the New York Giants are doing this week is a little hypocritical, given how upset they all were at all of the talking the Jets did about them last week. I mean, so far this week we've had Justin Tuck say he hates the Cowboys, Mathias Kiwanuka say the Giants should be able to shut out the Cowboys, Victor Cruz telling me he feels the Giants' receivers have the advantage against the Cowboys' defensive backs, and now this thing with Jacobs.
None of these things is especially egregious on its own. The dumbest is probably Jacobs taking on the fans, but when you consider the source and grade on a curve against past Jacobs behavior, even that's pretty tame. What surprises me is the accumulation of all of it. It's not very Giants-like to be this outwardly, borderline obnoxiously confident. It's a little more Jet-like, in all honesty.
The only reason I can think of for this uncharacteristic behavior is that the Giants must be feeling very, very good about their chances of winning this game this weekend. On Monday, Tuck said guys didn't even want to watch the tape of the Jets game -- they just wanted to look ahead to the Cowboys. On Wednesday, Osi Umenyiora shocked everyone in the organization by practicing, and then he did it again Thursday. The Giants appear to be as healthy and as confident and as upbeat as they've been at any time this season, and all of the chatter is likely just an outgrowth of that.
As for what effect it might have, I never believe it has much. If the Cowboys win the game, I'm sure someone on their side will say the Giants' chirping motivated them. But the fact is, this is basically a playoff game Sunday night, and no one needs any more motivation than that. To me, it just seems odd, is all, that the Giants would be acting this way. And I got to wondering why. All I could come up with is that they must be feeling pretty doggone good about themselves.