The New York Giants and New York Jets held their first joint practice in 17 years on Wednesday, something no one was certain would happen again after the fiasco at the University of Albany in 2005.
The two teams met at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center ahead of their final preseason match of 2022, and both Brian Daboll and Robert Saleh want to make it a yearly venture.
“I think it’s important to be able to practice with one another. We’d like to do this for a while without anything happening like that again,” Daboll told reporters on Thursday.
“I mean, down the road hopefully. It’s good to have a team right here across the way to compete against. But again, you got to do things the right way, I think. Show respect each other, work hard together to improve and play football.”
For his part, Saleh agreed.
“A lot of respect for [Brian] Daboll and we want to make a habit out of this and not just because we are playing each other preseason. We would like to break up camp. We’re too close for us not to work. If we as a team can make it work, we can both help each other a lot,” Saleh said via the team’s official website.
Both coaches were pleased with the outcome of Thursday’s practice, and it’s likely that’s reinforced by feedback from the players. There was no fighting, and nothing distracted the players from their objective: improvement, both as teams and as players.
Professionalism won the day, and it’s a breath of fresh air.
