ODELL A GIANT MAYBE
It’s OK to hate on Sunday
After just a few years in the Giants locker room, Justin Tuck didn’t even need to be asked his feelings about the Cowboys anymore. “I hate them,” he said. “It’s just the persona of America’s Team.” Then he would smile and walk away. It’s another Cowboys week leading up to what has turned out to be the Giants annual opening game of the season Sunday night at AT&T Stadium. The hatred of the Cowboys has been passed down several Big Blue generations from Phil Simms, Harry Carson and Lawrence Taylor to Michael Strahan and Jesse Armstead to Tuck and Antonio Pierce and Amani Toomer now to Landon Collins and JPP.
“It’s a known fact. Once you get here, it’s kind of imbedded in you. They hate us, we hate them,” Collins told the Daily News on Wednesday. “When it’s time to play the game, it’s a big factor. It’s a game you can’t lose, either side.”
Until last season, when the Giants and Cowboys had surprisingly strong years, they had not been Super Bowl contenders at the same time since 2007. So, as a result, the trash talking has been kept at barely a whisper for nearly a decade. Trash talking doesn’t work if one of the teams stinks.
One of the fun things about one game a week is as Sunday approaches, the momentum builds for the really big matchups and lips tend to get looser.
Dallas finished 13-3 last year, but the third loss was meaningless in the final game of the season in Philly. The other two losses came against the Giants. First the Giants beat them 20-19 in Dallas and then after the Cowboys won 11 straight, they beat them 10-7 at MetLife Stadium.
The Giants’ victories were by a total of four points, but the way football works, it gets inside a team’s head and puts doubt in their minds. The Giants have the psychological edge Sunday.
As terrific as Dak Prescott and Zeke Elliott were last season, two of the Cowboys three lowest scoring games (not counting the Philly game at the end) came against the Giants. Now with Elliott possibly sitting out the next six games after the opener, it makes this game even more important to the Cowboys.
The trash talking between the Giants and Cowboys started in the offseason and picked up this week. Even Ben McAdoo provided bulletin board material when he was asked about Elliott’s availability prior to the NFL announcing he is eligible this week.
“All backs are the same when there’s nowhere to run,” McAdoo said.
He was just pumping up his defensive line, which is the strength of the team, but at the same time was taking a shot at Elliott and the Cowboys offensive line, which is the best in the league despite some turnover. McAdoo probably didn’t mean to fire up the Cowboys – he’s one of those coaches who is afraid to confirm what day the game is being played. But if Elliott has a big game – he rushed for 51 yards in the first game against the Giants and 107 in the second – then McAdoo might regret those words.
In July, Prescott said, “We’re the Cowboys. We’re going to win the NFC East.” A few days later, Collins fired back. “They do not control the East. It’s over with. We’re going to have a run for it,” he said. “I mean, they’re not going to win. I can tell you that much. We’re definitely going to take over.”
When I saw Prescott in Canton after the Cowboys played the Cardinals in the Hall of Fame game last month, I asked him if he was aware of Collins’ firing back.
“What else is he supposed to say? What else am I supposed to say when they ask me that question,” Prescott said. “It’s common sense.”
Does this add some juice to the Cowboys-Giants games?
“Everybody knows what is on the line any time it’s a division game,” Prescott said. “It doesn’t matter to me what someone says. I don’t care if it’s a coach or a player, it’s going to the same intensity. It’s Cowboys vs. New York. That’s enough said.”
It bothers Prescott that in his rookie season the Giants beat him twice. “Being the only team I didn’t beat, it stands out for me personally,” he said. “Giants fans are prideful. Cowboys fans are prideful.”