Sure, Monday night's game between the New York Giants and New York Jets is just the preseason opener for both teams.
In the grand scheme of the 2010 season it means very little. Yet, the Giants have noticed how much the Jets have been talking and how much attention they have been getting. They would like to do a little something about it Monday.
"There’s a lot going on right now with the Jets claiming New York and that it’s their town," said Giants cornerback Terrell Thomas. "We’re not feeding into that. But at the same time we want to send a message to them that it’s still our town. And it’s going to be our stadium.
"You hear it in the back of your mind, but you don’t pay no attention to it," Thomas said. "Until they win the Super Bowl, until they start dominating teams - - and just don’t do it one year - - we’ll consider it. But until then, everybody knows it’s a Giants town."
Giants coach Tom Coughlin said the other day that he would not do anything out of the ordinary simply because the Giants are facing the Jets.
"If we did something along those lines I just don’t think it would be smart," Coughlin said Wednesday during Giants Training Camp at the University at Albany. "We’ve still got 16 games to go, four pre-season games.
"You want to win, but you’re not going to sacrifice the ability to evaluate personnel for that, because that’s what preseason is."