Giants' Jihad Ward on ex-Jags teammates: 'They're happy, and I'm happy for them'
Giants linebacker Jihad Ward yells during the first half against the Titans at Nissan Stadium on Saturday in Nashville. Credit: Getty Images/Justin Ford
Jihad Ward is a Giant now, but the linebacker still knows people in the Jaguars’ organization and thus knows how far that franchise has come since he played there last season.
“I talk to former players, and it’s a whole different change,” Ward told Newsday. “It feels like the NFL instead of college. As I talk to the people that are over there, they’re happy, and I’m happy for them. Last year, I had had enough of that.”
You may recall that the Jaguars’ coach for the first 13 games of 2021 was a former college coach of some renown named Urban Meyer.
As is usually the case, the transition to the NFL proved problematic. Meyer went 2-11 before being fired, the Jaguars finished 3-14 and former Eagles coach Doug Pederson came to town to pick up the pieces.
Yes, the Jaguars are 2-4 under him, but all four losses have been by eight or fewer points, and they have shown so much improvement that the 5-1 Giants are underdogs for Sunday’s game in Jacksonville.
“It’s nice growth over there, and I’m proud of those guys over there,” said Ward, who referred to Pederson as “Dougie Fresh.”
What about second-year quarterback Trevor Lawrence?
“I’m proud of him, too,” Ward said. “I’m glad that Trevor Lawrence is doing exactly what he should be doing. He’s taking charge.”
Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale seemed to reference the dysfunctional Jaguars of 2021 when asked about the improvement in Lawrence, the first overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
“I think there are a multitude of things that go into a player struggling,” he said. “You can fill in the blank spaces there any way you want, but I think it’s a good marriage between he and Doug and that offense.”
Lawrence has nine touchdown passes and four interceptions after totaling 12 touchdown passes and 17 interceptions last year.
Even though the Jaguars are no pushovers, the fact that oddsmakers pegged them as 3-point favorites against one of the hottest teams in the league shows how far the Giants have to go in winning over doubters.
But the Giants themselves were careful this week not to take reporters’ bait and complain about a lack of respect.
“It doesn’t really matter to me,” Saquon Barkley said. “At the end of the day, we’re winning games. We’re 5-1 and we’re just going to continue to fall in love with the process. Everyone else can say whatever they want to say, how they feel about us, but we know what we’ve got in this locker room.”
Less than two years ago, the prospect of Pederson coaching against the Giants would have sounded like a deliciously bitter rivalry game.
But a lot has changed since the final game of the 2020 season, when Pederson famously pulled quarterback Jalen Hurts in the fourth quarter of a winnable Sunday night game against Washington and inserted Nate Sudfeld, who was overmatched. Washington won, 20-14, to secure the NFC East title with a 7-9 record and eliminate the Giants, who would have taken the division at 6-10 if the Eagles had won.
That was Pederson’s last game with Philadelphia. Giants coach Joe Judge, who was severely critical of Pederson’s approach, was gone after the following season. Hurts is 6-0 with the Eagles this season. Sudfeld plays for Detroit.
Stuff happens.
It is not as if the Giants who remain from 2020 are vowing revenge against Pederson, but that was an impossible night to forget.
Receiver Darius Slayton was one of several Giants to weigh in on Twitter while watching the game, including posting, “This is sickening.”
Slayton told Newsday that it had not occurred to him until he was reminded by a reporter that this is the Giants’ first shot at Pederson since then.
What does he remember about watching that game?
“With how the year had gone and the fact we still had a chance to be in the playoffs, it was like, man, this could work out!” Slayton said. “And as the time was ticking [off the clock], it was like . . . it’s not working out.”
Slayton acknowledged the Giants had little to complain about, though.
“It was like, man, we probably could have done some things to control this [Eagles] game not affecting our situation,” he said.
The Giants already are within one victory of their total for that season. They can tie it by beating Pederson.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
