ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -Just six months after winning the Super Bowl, the New York Giants are the other team in the Big Apple.
Just call it Brett Favre’s unintentional revenge for losing to the Giants in the frigid NFC title game.
Favre and gang green have dominated the back pages of the New York tabs and, even the city itself, since the Jets acquired the quarterback from Green Bay late Wednesday night.
“I’m not surprised at all,” halfback Brandon Jacobs said Saturday before the Giants practiced in the sleepy state capital about 150 miles north of New York. “No one cares about us at all. Let’s call it what it is. It’s good all the attention has went the other way, cause we really don’t like it. So, you know, Brett Favre going to the Jets, it can be pretty positive for us. All you guys are going to pay attention to them now.”
Favre got all the attention a day earlier in New York City. Mayor Michael Bloomberg welcomed the 38-year-old quarterback at a City Hall news conference, giving him cheesecakes, a MetroCard with $4 on it and a huge Broadway street sign.
“The guy got introduced like he was the president,” Giants middle linebacker Antonio Pierce said. “He got a Broadway sign and he’s on the paper every day. So now they have to deal with it. I think he is going to realize the media is a little different than in Green Bay. He can’t control it.”
Even though his voice had an edge to it, Pierce was diplomatic, saying he was glad for Favre and the Jets, and happy that all the expectations were now being placed on them. He also was glad the Giants would only have to face the Jets in the annual preseason game, scheduled for Aug. 23.
If there was a bright spot for Pierce, it was that Bloomberg didn’t give Favre a key to the city.
The Giants were given a parade down the canyon of heroes and handed keys to the city days after their Super Bowl win over the previously unbeaten New England Patriots.
Favre did get an empty key chain and a promise of a key to the city if the Jets won the championship.
Pierce insisted Favre’s monthlong adventure with the Packers after reconsidering his retirement was never a concern for the Giants.
“It’s not our problem,” Pierce said. “We have our quarterback (Eli Manning) here. He’s not planning on retiring or doing anything silly for the next couple of years so I think we are all right. We’re worrying about the Giants.”
Most of the Giants feigned indifference.
Rookie safety Kenny Phillips, the first-round draft pick, said the Jets can have all the “pub.”
Guard Chris Snee said Favre deserves all the attention, being a future Hall of Fame quarterback. He said the Giants need to focus on getting better, especially after the offense struggled in a 13-10 loss to the Lions in the preseason opener.
Center Shaun O’Hara laughed when he was asked if he got the City Hall treatment after signing with the Giants as a free agent in 2004.
“I got a trip to Rikers Island and Rahway,” O’Hara said, referring to a jail in New York City and a prison in New Jersey.
While he hasn’t had much time to watch television lately, O’Hara said Favre is a football legend, so he is not surprised by the amount of attention the deal has gotten.
“He’s almost the Michael Jordan of the NFL right now,” O’Hara said. “He is leaving the one team that he has always known and now he is starting a new chapter in his life. I am sure he is excited.”
Jacobs had some doubts about the trade. He questioned the Packers’ decision to trade Favre and the quarterback’s willingness to leave a good situation in Green Bay.
“It’s a risky business,” Jacobs said when asked about the trade. “Really to be honest with you, people don’t care about you as a person. They just want to know what have you done for me lately. With Brett Favre, he has done very well for the Packers. I just don’t think that him leaving the Packers was a great thing, because you never know with them (the Jets).”
When pressed, Jacobs said that the deal was not good for Favre.
“Great quarterback, great quarterback,” Jacobs said. “I just don’t know if that was a smooth idea for Brett Favre. He had a good thing with the Packers. But if they didn’t want him back …”
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