Giants deny Packers' cheap shot accusations

BY ARTHUR STAPLE | arthur.staple@newsday.com
January 18, 2008

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Things are getting dirty.

At least, that's what the Packers are saying about the Giants, particularly the Giants' offensive line. A handful of Packers referred to alleged cheap shots that Shaun O'Hara and Plaxico Burress delivered back on Sept. 16, when the Packers came to Giants Stadium and won, 35-13.

"They did some stuff that we felt was a little cheap, so it is something we have to keep our cool and take care of our business between the whistles and try not to get pulled into all that stuff," Packers defensive lineman Cullen Jenkins said. "[Packers defensive end Aaron] Kampman had something with him, there was one with me. Just a few different things. It is one of those things that they feel the need to play like that, we don't feel like we have to play like that, so we are just going to try not to get pulled into that."

On a play late in the fourth quarter in which backup quarterback Jared Lorenzen was sacked, O'Hara delivered a shot to the back of Kampman's head while Kampman was on his knees. Burress allegedly hit Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk after the whistle on the second play of the game, prompting fellow linebacker Brady Poppinga to shove Burress, drawing a personal foul, one of two on the Packers.

"If there's no flag, there's no foul," O'Hara said yesterday. "I have never intentionally tried to hurt someone or do anything of that nature. But you play to the whistle. And as an offensive lineman, especially being a limited athlete like myself, I have to play extremely hard and I kind of pride myself on that. But I don't necessarily consider myself a dirty player. I do play hard. I do what is required to get the job done."

Kampman said after the game that "this was stuff [O'Hara] shouldn't be doing and he won't do it again."

Yesterday after Packers practice, Kampman tried to defuse the situation. "He played through the whistle. I don't know. He plays hard," he said of O'Hara. "To talk about things that happen in the past doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I think it's a waste of energy."

Poppinga added: "I don't know if they play dirty as it is more that they play hard. And they play with an attitude and their attitude is we are going to outphysical you, and if you know where the ball is going, we don't care if you are going to try to punch us in the face because we are going to get the last shot on you, and that is a mind-set that is instilled from the head coach all the way down. I don't look at it as being cheap as it is a mind-set of doing their business."

The rest of the Giants, who have seized on any chance to fire themselves up with words from their opponents this postseason, weren't terribly interested in what the Packers had to say.

"Truthfully, I don't know what they're talking about," Chris Snee said. "They want to take anything as a cheap shot. I mean, we play hard, we play to the whistle, just like they do."

"Who cares?" Rich Seubert said. "It's football. I've been hit in the side, in the back. It happens."

Snee took particular exception to a quote in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel yesterday from Patriots safety Rodney Harrison, who has twice been voted "dirtiest player in the NFL" in an informal poll.

"I'm going to tell you, we saw it on film," Harrison said. "It wasn't no secret. They push, they hit late, they come at you and try to take you out. That's the way they play."

"I certainly don't want to hear anything from that guy," Snee said. "I can show you five examples on tape of him hitting guys late."

The Giants committed 77 penalties in the regular season and eight in two playoff games. "If you're dirty, you get flagged. Or fined," Antonio Pierce said.

"I'll check the officiating log if you want," Tom Coughlin said, "but I'm unaware of any of that [dirty play talk]. That would surprise me."

SUNDAY

GIANTS AT PACKERS

6:30 p.m. TV: Ch. 5

Radio: WFAN (660)

Latest line: Packers by 7

GAMEDAY FORECAST

Green Bay: A few snow showers, wind 13 mph. High temperature 6 degrees; low 0. Probability of precipitation: 30 percent.

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