SHUT UP, SHELDON!
BOWLES ORDERS D-TACKLE TO PIPE DOWN ABOUT MARSHALL
BRANDON Marshall took a pass on answering the verbal volley lobbed by Sheldon Richardson on Tuesday. This is surprising only if you just happened to land in New York 15 minutes ago, because the way Marshall does business now is the way the Giants do business.
And that means there was a better chance the Giants were going to make Tuffy Leemans available Tuesday afternoon than Brandon Marshall. And Leemans passed away in 1979.
So Richardson gets away with what amounts to a free shot at Marshall.
“If he can’t come out in the media and tell ’ em what he did and how he actually quit on his team way before the season was over, that’s all in itself.” Unanswered.
“That whole situation was sticky because we were losing and then you’re doing little things that are drama queen-ish, and he’s dogging out this guy and that guy.” Unanswered.
“It’s everybody’s fault except for his. No one wanted to say something to him. Then I say something to him — [me], the criminal, the bad guy — and the media just ran with it.” Unanswered.
Marshall, who seems perfectly at home with the Giants, probably wouldn’t have been an active participant in his own defense even if he’d been allowed to clear his throat Tuesday — unless he’d been permitted to stir some sodium pentothal into his post-practice Gatorade.
Back during OTAs, after all, he’d said, “I’ve worked extremely hard to be a better teammate, a better father, a better husband — and I’m proud of where I’m at today. I wake up every single day, trying to make a positive impact in any room that I step into.” And his present Giants teammates agree he’s done that, even as his ex-Jet teammate continues to stew.
“He’s cool, funny, a nice guy,” Janoris Jenkins said Tuesday. “Respectful.”
“All I know with this man is what I see,” Jay Bromley told The Post’s Steve Serby. “Good man, good father, good husband.”
That’s probably for the best, as far as Marshall is concerned.
But you know something else? It wouldn’t have been terrible to see a little blood get spilled between the two local football teams — even if the blood itself was all virtual. It’s actually kind of amazing, when you think about it. The Jets and Giants have shared the same metro area since 1960. They have shared the same stadium since 1984. They have, in essence, been business partners since MetLife Stadium opened in 2010.
And yet there’s been so little quarrel between them. Yes, Wellington Mara grew to loathe the Jets for a time when Joe Namath helped them achieve prominence in the late ’60s. And yes, bad things have happened when they’ve played each other: Chad Pennington got hurt in a Jets/Giants game, Jason Sehorn got hurt in a Jets/Giants game, Mark Sanchez was es- sentially turned into a human sacrifice during a Jets/Giants game.
Still, it’s hard to reduce whatever rancor there may be to a signature moment or two. Mets-Yankees had Roger Clemens braining Mike Piazza, and then the return engagement a few months later when Clemens tossed the business end of Piazza’s broken bat back at him. Knicks-Nets had John Starks breaking Kenny Anderson’s arm, and also had Tim Thomas calling Kenyon Martin “fugazy.”
Hell: Rangers fans still serenade Denis Potvin (whether he’s in the building or not) for a hit he perpetrated on Ulf Nilsson on Feb. 25, 1979. Thirty-eight years later, “POTVIN SUCKS!” is as regular a part of the nightly Garden itinerary as the anthem. Jets-Giants? Sure, it’s fun watching the NFL Films study of Lawrence Taylor stalking and torturing Ken O’Brien and ranting about “crazed dogs,” but his target could easily have been Joe Theismann or Ron Jaworski. The Jets knocked the Giants out of the playoffs the last day of the 1987 season. That stung.
Really, the closest these two have come to a Moment was 2011, known forever as the Victor Cruz Game, when Rex Ryan ordered the Giants’ mural of Super Bowl trophies at MetLife curtained. Brandon Jacobs was the one who came the closest to drawing real blood, famously saying, “They got a big-mouthed coach, a big mouth and a big-bellied coach that talks too much and now it’s finally time to shut up.”
That was a nice start. Then Rex was muted, and then fired, and, well, we haven’t been close to anything resembling that level of distaste since. That’s why we could use a nice retort from Brandon Marshall right about now. Surely he has a few thoughts on Sheldon Richardson.
Waiter? A little truth serum, please. Make it snappy.