Giants, Jets plan to have respectful joint practice
Giants coach Brian Daboll and Jets coach Robert Saleh are on the same page entering joint practice. Credit: James Escher; Patrick E. McCarthy
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The Jets will visit the Giants’ facility on Thursday for a joint practice in advance of the teams’ preseason game on Sunday.
What could possibly go wrong?
In 2005, the last time the team’s tried something like this, pretty much everything did.
The teams fought early and often at the Giants’ then-training camp home in Albany, a rumble so ugly it took 17 years for everyone to get over it.
It was a day that had everything, including a screaming match between Giants coach Tom Coughlin and Jets defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson and multiple brawls, starting with one featuring Jeremy Shockey, the Giants’ famously brash tight end and an early target of the Jets.
The plan this time for coaches Robert Saleh of the Jets and the Giants' Brian Daboll is, well, none of that.
After practice on Wednesday Saleh said he had read “a really cool article” about the events of 2005 on ESPN.com that morning but was confident there would not be a repeat.
“Different times,” Saleh said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for ‘Dabes,’ the person he is. If he's anything like the way we are, and I believe he is, it’s going to be a respectful practice.
“We’re out there to get some work in, a competitive practice, but at the same time treating each other like our own teammates and protecting one another, making sure we get what we need so we can all get better.”
On Monday, Daboll also said he also had heard stories about 2005, but after meeting Saleh at the NFL meetings in late March the two decided to reinstate the joint practice.
“It’s pretty competitive, but you still want to take care of one another, knowing that you only have so many guys,” Daboll said. “You want to try to keep people up, stay away from the quarterback.
“Having the conversations I’ve had with Coach Saleh up to this point, they’ve been good.”
Even if things do go smoothly, there likely will at least be heightened senses for both the practice and annual preseason game because of their shared market and stadium.
Asked on Wednesday whether things mean more against the Jets, Giants receiver Sterling Shepard said, “Of course, man. There has always been a little rivalry. We always have a pretty good game in the preseason.
“Those guys are fired up. It’s like a ‘who is going to be the little brother?’ kind of thing, you know what I mean? We’ll get prepared for them and look forward to the game.”
Leonard Williams, who spent 4 ½ seasons with the Jets and the past 2 ½ with the Giants, said he still looks forward to seeing old teammates, of which there are fewer and fewer each year.
“It’s like me going back to college now,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Wait a second, I don’t know anybody here anymore!’”
The Giants have not held a joint practice this preseason, but the Jets practiced with the Falcons in advance of the teams’ preseason game, so in that sense this is old hat.
“I look forward to it,” C.J. Mosley said, “mainly because that’s a chance for us to get live looks, reps against a different team, especially when it’s not counting in the win-and-loss column.”
Daboll said that with the Jets having played on Monday night, the coaches decided that one joint practice would suffice.
Hey, at least they were talking and not yelling. Daboll said he was not aware of the coaches screaming at one another in ’05.
“I just heard it was a couple of brawls in there,” he said. “We’ll try to stay away from that.”
With Tom Rock
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.
More Jets
