FEEDING TIME
When Damon “Snacks’’ Harrison left the Jets last year, tears were shed — tears of sorrow from Jets fans and from Harrison, who wanted no part of leaving the team that gave him his first shot in the NFL.
But business being business, the Jets were not going to be able to re-sign Harrison, an emerging run-stopping star, because they had Muhammad Wilkerson and potentially Sheldon Richardson to pay.
As it turned out, letting Snacks walk was the worst business decision the Jets have made in recent memory and the direct benef iciary of the bad business decision was the Giants, who signed him as a free agent and have been crying tears of joy since with Harrison having transformed their sieve-like run defense this season. Do the math and you find the profound impact one man has had on two teams.
Last season, before Harrison was signed to a five-year $46.5 million contract with $24 million guaranteed, the Giants were ranked 24th in the NFL in run defense. The year before, they ranked 30th against the run.
When their defense lines up against Aaron Rodgers and the potent Packers offense in Sunday’s wild-card playoff showdown, they will do so as the No. 3-ranked run defense in the NFL this season.
The Jets’ defense, with Harrison anchoring the middle, was ranked No. 2 against the run in 2015, No. 5 in 2014 and No. 3 in 2013. This season, they ranked 23rd against the run. In 2012, the year before Harrison came to the Jets as an undrafted free agent, they ranked 26th against the run.
In the words of Giants defensive tackle Jay Bromley: “Men lie, women lie, but numbers don’t.’’
Harrison, who is as beloved by his Giants teammates for his likability in the locker room as he is for his football ability, doesn’t lie about how difficult it was to leave the Jets.
“I still don’t even like talking about it, because it’s still a little bit emotional for me,’’ Harrison told The Post on Friday. “You never want to leave your family, and those guys were my family. I was friends with everybody in that building.
“It was tough, because that moment when I walked off the field at MetLife as a Jet for the last time [after an overtime win against the Patriots on Dec. 27, 2015], I was waving to the fans and the fans were screaming my name and I was thinking about how some of them watched me from the day I was an undrafted guy at rookie camp to possibly watching me in my last game as a Jet at MetLife, because I didn’t know I was going to be coming here.
“All of that ran through my mind, all the hard work, the laughs, the hard times, everything that led to that moment and I cried as I was going inside.’’
The transition Harrison, who on Friday was named to the NFL All-Pro Team, has made from the Jets to the Giants simply could not have gone better. He had no idea his football life could be this good again so quickly as he sobbed on his way off the field that day last season.
“Being right across town I heard about the Giants a lot, whether it was fans that I was arguing with at the gas stations or just seeing them in the store,’’ Harrison said. “Everywhere I went there were Giants fans. I knew they were close in a lot of games last year and maybe I could help.’’
Maybe he could help? That will go down as the understatement of this Giants season. Harrison is third on the team in tackles with 86, which is an unheard of number for a nose tackle — particularly one who occupies double teams on almost every play.
“The guy’s a beast,’’ linebacker Jonathan Casillas said. “He’s a one-man show. I bust my butt off and I think I ended with 90-something tackles [92, second on the team], and I think he’s right behind me at defensive tackle. I’ve never seen a defensive tackle have more than 50 tackles in a year and he’s done it several times in his career where he’s had over 80 tackles.
“I knew he was a run-stopper. I knew of the nickname, ‘Snacks.’ I didn’t know that he doesn’t just eat popcorn and chips but he eats running backs and offensive linemen and quarterbacks. I didn’t know that. He eats players during the game. It’s crazy.’’
“I think it was an unbelievable snub that he was not voted into the Pro Bowl,’’ linebacker Devon Kennard said. “I’ve never seen a nose tackle have linebackertype numbers when it comes to tackles. The dude is just ridiculous. Almost every week he’s doing something that makes you say, ‘Oh my gosh.’ ’’ mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com