Jason Pinnock understands both sides of Giants-Jets rivalry: ‘Fighting for this city’
As both a younger brother himself and a childhood Jets fan-turned-Jets draft pick, Jason Pinnock can relate to the feelings his former team has toward the Giants.
Pinnock changed sides of the intracity rivalry in September 2022, so he knows better than most the target that he and the rest of the Giants will wear Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
“Being over there, the little-brother thing, that’s how they feel,” said Pinnock, who ascended to a starting job at safety this season. “Being on both ends of it, it’s funny. It’s time to get it in the regular season now.”
Jets defensive end John Franklin-Myers scoffed at the idea this week, saying “I don’t give a f— about no big brother, little brother, small, medium, large. I don’t care about none of that s—. I want to win.”
The Giants-Jets turf war isn’t just for fans in New York and New Jersey.
It extended to Connecticut, where Pinnock grew up idolizing Darrelle Revis.
“Even if you didn’t know the history of it, we play in the same stadium,” Pinnock said. “You literally are fighting for this city overall.”
The teams meet annually in the preseason, but only once every four years in the regular season.
If you think there is a lot on the line this year — with the Giants (2-5) fighting to keep their season alive and the Jets (3-3) suddenly alive in the race for the AFC East title — consider that both teams were 7-7 when they met on Christmas Eve 2011.
Victor Cruz’s 99-yard touchdown catch and salsa-dance celebration changed the direction of both franchises, sparking the Giants to their fourth Super Bowl win since the Jets won their only championship.
“I was still like this a little bit — ain’t going to lie,” Pinnock said, breaking into a salsa imitation, “because I was young and I just loved football and the players.”
QB Daniel Jones (neck), RB Saquon Barkley (elbow), CB Adoree’ Jackson (neck), RT Evan Neal (ankle), WR Wan’Dale Robinson (knee), C John Michael Schmitz (shoulder), OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux (knee), LT Andrew Thomas (hamstring) and TE Darren Waller (hamstring) were limited in practice. All nine are starters.
RB Gary Brightwell (hamstring) and DT Dexter Lawrence (rest) did not practice.
Jones still has not been cleared for practice.
Thomas did a “little bit more” Thursday than he did Wednesday and Schmitz was part of team reps, head coach Brian Daboll said.
Thibodeaux “should be OK” and is experiencing “typical soreness.”
Thibodeaux leads the Giants with 5.5 sacks after adding 1.5 in last week’s win.
But he is still bothered by his dropped interception that would’ve been a walk-in touchdown.
“The frustration is when you understand that Michael Jordan, he made the shots, Kobe Bryant, he made the shots,” Thibodeaux said. “In the NFL, you can talk about every pass Tom Brady made and that’s that difference between good and great. You can make plays, but sometimes the frustration comes from wanting to reach that next level.”
Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale joked about how he couldn’t have gone wrong in the 2022 draft with either Thibodeaux or Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner, who went to the Jets with the pick before Thibodeaux.
“I’d like to get both of them,” Martindale quipped.
