Brandon Jacobs had no problem with the Dallas Cowboys calling him “a bully.” To him, that proves only one thing:
They’re scared.
“I think people who call out bullies are afraid of bullies,” the Giants’ big running back said Thursday. “If you a call me a bully, that’s how I see it. They’re just sitting back waiting for us to come there — and we’re going in there ready to play football.”
The football will come on Sunday night when the Giants (6-6) face the Cowboys (7-5) in a huge NFC East showdown in Arlington, Tex., but the trash talk is already underway. It started on Wednesday when Dallas cornerback Mike Jenkins called Jacobs a “bully” and Dallas linebacker DeMarcus Ware said defensive end Justin Tuck is jealous of the Cowboys and wants to eventually be one — a shot he took because Tuck allegedly called Cowboys Stadium “a dump.”
Tuck, who said he doesn’t remember ever ripping Jerry Jones’ $1.2 billion palace, pledged his allegiance to the Giants and said, “I don’t need a star on my helmet to tell me I’m pretty good at what I do.” Meanwhile Jacobs proudly boasted, “I am a bully.”
Then he vowed to show to the Cowboys exactly what he means.
“That’s always our plan,” Jacobs said. “If you go in there and bring it to them and keep doing it all game long, somebody’s going to break. Either the person who’s giving it is going to get tired of bringing it or they’re going to get tired of trying to stop it.”
Jacobs is just the guy to do it, too. The 6-5, 260-pound, oft-angry running back has always been known as a tone-setting, punishing runner. He may have a paltry 379 yards in 10 games this season, but he looked a little like his old self in the Giants’ 38-35 loss to the Packers on Sunday, when he gained 59 yards on eight carries — including 25 yards the first two times he was handed the ball.
“That guy, when he wants to run the ball and he’s using that 260-pound frame, it can be an intimidating force,” Tuck said. “And that starts to wear on you as a defense mentally when you’ve got a guy that big coming full-steam-ahead at you.
“I always tell him, ‘First quarter they’re going to try to face you up. Second quarter they might slide and ask for their teammate to help them. Third quarter, man, they’re going to be jumping out of the way.’ I’m hoping that he understands how dominant of a back he can be when he wants to be.”
Jacobs, entering what likely will be his final four games with the Giants, would love to do that against the Cowboys, and not just because his team needs this game if it wants to win the NFC East. He said the Giants hate the Cowboys almost as much as they hate the Eagles — only in a slightly different way.
“(Against) the Eagles you’re going to do a lot of talking,” Jacobs said. “But when you’re playing the Cowboys, they tend to try to get into shoving matches with you and do all that extra stuff, try to scare you off early.”
The Giants also suspect that Ware and Jenkins were trying to fire their teammates up — particularly Ware, who noted that the Giants are 2-0 at Cowboys Stadium and called them a team that “is trying to come in here and take your manhood.”
“Sounds like they lost it,” Jacobs said. “I don’t know what to say about that. I never felt like I lost my manhood. I don’t care if we lose 15 straight. I’m going to have my manhood.”
Tuck, meanwhile, got a chuckle out of the latest chapter in the war of words between the Giants and the Cowboys, including his “dump” quote about their stadium, which no one seems to remember him ever actually saying. He added that he has no plans to ever move to Dallas. “I plan on retiring a Giant,” he said.
And yes, Tuck added what he always adds before a big game against the Cowboys. What he feels for his talkative rivals is still “hate.”
“They hate us, we hate them,” Tuck said. “That’s always going to be the case.”
They’re scared.
“I think people who call out bullies are afraid of bullies,” the Giants’ big running back said Thursday. “If you a call me a bully, that’s how I see it. They’re just sitting back waiting for us to come there — and we’re going in there ready to play football.”
The football will come on Sunday night when the Giants (6-6) face the Cowboys (7-5) in a huge NFC East showdown in Arlington, Tex., but the trash talk is already underway. It started on Wednesday when Dallas cornerback Mike Jenkins called Jacobs a “bully” and Dallas linebacker DeMarcus Ware said defensive end Justin Tuck is jealous of the Cowboys and wants to eventually be one — a shot he took because Tuck allegedly called Cowboys Stadium “a dump.”
Tuck, who said he doesn’t remember ever ripping Jerry Jones’ $1.2 billion palace, pledged his allegiance to the Giants and said, “I don’t need a star on my helmet to tell me I’m pretty good at what I do.” Meanwhile Jacobs proudly boasted, “I am a bully.”
Then he vowed to show to the Cowboys exactly what he means.
“That’s always our plan,” Jacobs said. “If you go in there and bring it to them and keep doing it all game long, somebody’s going to break. Either the person who’s giving it is going to get tired of bringing it or they’re going to get tired of trying to stop it.”
Jacobs is just the guy to do it, too. The 6-5, 260-pound, oft-angry running back has always been known as a tone-setting, punishing runner. He may have a paltry 379 yards in 10 games this season, but he looked a little like his old self in the Giants’ 38-35 loss to the Packers on Sunday, when he gained 59 yards on eight carries — including 25 yards the first two times he was handed the ball.
“That guy, when he wants to run the ball and he’s using that 260-pound frame, it can be an intimidating force,” Tuck said. “And that starts to wear on you as a defense mentally when you’ve got a guy that big coming full-steam-ahead at you.
“I always tell him, ‘First quarter they’re going to try to face you up. Second quarter they might slide and ask for their teammate to help them. Third quarter, man, they’re going to be jumping out of the way.’ I’m hoping that he understands how dominant of a back he can be when he wants to be.”
Jacobs, entering what likely will be his final four games with the Giants, would love to do that against the Cowboys, and not just because his team needs this game if it wants to win the NFC East. He said the Giants hate the Cowboys almost as much as they hate the Eagles — only in a slightly different way.
“(Against) the Eagles you’re going to do a lot of talking,” Jacobs said. “But when you’re playing the Cowboys, they tend to try to get into shoving matches with you and do all that extra stuff, try to scare you off early.”
The Giants also suspect that Ware and Jenkins were trying to fire their teammates up — particularly Ware, who noted that the Giants are 2-0 at Cowboys Stadium and called them a team that “is trying to come in here and take your manhood.”
“Sounds like they lost it,” Jacobs said. “I don’t know what to say about that. I never felt like I lost my manhood. I don’t care if we lose 15 straight. I’m going to have my manhood.”
Tuck, meanwhile, got a chuckle out of the latest chapter in the war of words between the Giants and the Cowboys, including his “dump” quote about their stadium, which no one seems to remember him ever actually saying. He added that he has no plans to ever move to Dallas. “I plan on retiring a Giant,” he said.
And yes, Tuck added what he always adds before a big game against the Cowboys. What he feels for his talkative rivals is still “hate.”
“They hate us, we hate them,” Tuck said. “That’s always going to be the case.”
