Giants, Jihad Ward have bulletin board material for next meeting with Jets

The Giants and Jets meet again this season in a regular-season game at MetLife Stadium. The date is Oct. 29. 

Linebacker Jihad Ward won’t need to circle the date on his calendar. Teammates call him Haddy. And on Wednesday in the locker room, he seemed ready to buckle his chinstrap for that game. 

After the third and final preseason game, on Saturday, the Giants seemingly had reason to be upset. The illegal blind-side block by Jets receiver Randall Cobb landed Giants safety Bobby McCain in concussion protocol. 

“That stuff has been taken out of the game for a reason,” receiver Sterling Shepard. I know it’s the heat of battle. But that stuff’s been taken out of the game now for a reason.” 

Safety Xavier McKinney was disgusted by the hit, and said as much when approached Wednesday in the locker room by Newsday. 

“I saw it,” McKinney said. “To me, I’m not a fan of stuff like that. I just feel like for a veteran guy like [Cobb], who has accomplished so much, you just don’t do stuff like that in the preseason. Or even in the regular season. That’s just stuff you don’t do and everybody, basically league-wide knows that’s something you don’t do. But it is what it is. We’ll see them again.” 

They will indeed. 

It was Ward who was the loudest voice in the locker room Wednesday. 

He objected to the way he was portrayed in the incident on "Hard Knocks," the HBO show that follows an NFL team every summer. This summer was the Jets’ turn. 

During the game, Ward shoved Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers well after Rodgers already threw the ball. Rodgers took exception to the late shove and shoved back, saying, "I don’t even know who you are" to the linebacker.

Ward believes that "Hard Knocks" “didn’t show the whole scenario of what really happened. But they’re going to show his [Rodgers’] side of the story. They’re going to show his part and make me look like a sucker. But I ain’t going for that.” 

Ward said his side of the story was, essentially, about sticking up for McCain. 

“I’m not going to let none of my teammates get backed down like that,” Ward said. “I’m going to rally for my teammates. Yeah, they know what they did. They were laughing and all of that stuff. And I was the only one that was sticking up for him.” 

Rodgers was heard on HBO saying he didn’t know who Ward is.

“I know what he do,” Ward said. “I don’t really know him like that, bro. I don’t praise no man, you know what I’m saying?” 

Ward continued: “Oh my God, it’s Aaron Rodgers, I don’t care who you is. When you’re on the field, you have no respect. It is what it is. You don’t gotta know me. It’s fine. That’s fine.” 

Images of the Jets that the Giants perceived as their laughing at the hit to McCain clearly bothered Ward and several teammates. 

“The whole team was [upset],” Ward said. “You know what I’m saying? It’s preseason and all that stuff and you’re going to do something like that? But it’s cool though, man. That’s how they roll. And I think we play them soon. So, it is what it is.” 

I’m not really looking forward to it. I’m taking every game step by step. ” 

It may be a good thing that the regular-season game between the two teams will have several weeks of a cooling-off period.

In that time, the HBO cameras presumably will no longer be following the Jets and stoking the flames.

But at least some Giants don’t seem to be in the forgiving mood. At least not now. 

“We don’t like it as a defense,” McKinney said. “Haddy is as real as it gets; teammates want him to have their back. If there’s a fight that happens, you know Haddy is going to have your back. That’s what we love about him. He’s not going to forget. None of us are going to forget.” 

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.comkimjonessports

Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.