As the New York Giants approach the back end of training camp, they will conduct a joint practice with their cross-town rival New York Jets prior to the two teams meeting in the preseason finale.
Although the Giants and Jets play in different conferences, just like New York’s baseball and hockey teams, there is certainly a rivalry between the two teams that share MetLife Stadium.
In his first season within the rivalry, Giants new head coach Brian Daboll wants to make sure the Giants stay focused during the joint practices.
Brian Daboll talks about the upcoming joint practices with the Jets, saying that the teams will try to stay away from brawling: pic.twitter.com/Rr7LPKX2th
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“I’ve heard some stories about that, about the last one. It was a while back, right? I have a tremendous amount of respect for (Jets head coach Robert Saleh),” Daboll told reporters on Monday. “I really got to meet him at the owner’s meetings back in March or April whenever it was, and then when we talked about potentially practicing against one another we kind of went around and around.
“We ended up doing just one instead of two just based on their schedule and our schedule. Anytime you practice against a team, you want to get good work in. Practice the right way, it’s almost like you’re practicing against your team. I’d say it’s pretty competitive but you still want to take care of one another knowing that you only have so many guys, you want to try to keep people up, stay away from the quarterback, and having the conversations I’ve had with Coach Saleh up until this point, they’ve been good.”
Pressed more specifically about brawls in previous years, Daboll said the aim is to stay away from that.
“There were some brawls here I heard,” Daboll said. “I just heard it was a couple of brawls in there. We’ll to try to stay from that.”
This is the first joint practice between the two teams since 2005 when there was a massive brawl. The fight originated from a few hard plays involving Jeremy Shockey and Brandon Jacobs. There was also a cheap shot put on Willie Ponder, injuring the Giants’ wide receiver.
Needless to say, it was a physical practice for both of the teams. Although Shockey would tell you it comes with the territory of the game of football.
“I was blocking somebody and I got shoved in the back, and the next thing I know, everybody’s fighting,” Shockey told reporters at the time. “There’s no bad blood. That’s how football is. You might as well do it now, when you don’t get fined and Paul Tagliabue can’t take any money out of your pocket. Do it now, get it over with. I’m sure it happens at every other camp.”
The fight got heated to the point that Giants head coach Tom Coughlin and Jets defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson got into a verbal exchange. The teams have not practiced together since.
