2009 Preseason Week 3 - Jets at Giants Photos
There are any number of ways to slice the Jets-Giants rivalry, which is about to resume in less than a half-hour with the 41st annual preseason meeting between the teams.
For instance, in the first 40 summer games, the Jets hold a 21-18-1 series edge.
And since tonight is the last game between the teams in the current Meadowlands stadium (since next year they will both play in New Meadowlands Stadium), it is appropriate to note that since the teams first met in North Jersey in 1977, the Jets' summer series lead is 19-13.
But of course the Jets didn't consider the Meadowlands their home stadium until they moved there from Shea Stadium for the 1984 season. So perhaps as a purist, you'd like to know how the Jets have fared vs. the Giants since '84? The Green & White still lead the series, 14-11.
No matter how you cut it, this is Mark Sanchez's first Jets-Giants game, and the Southern Cal rookie has already tweeted that he's looking forward to the "battle for NYC." Sanchez is making his second start in a row and his first since head coach Rex Ryan named him the Jets' regular-season starting QB on Wednesday. (Sanchez just looped a long throw to David Clowney against air for a long completion in the pregame drills.)
Sanchez is expected to play the first half and Ryan has declared that the first offensive drive of the third quarter will go to free agent rookie QB Chris Pizzotti, whom Ryan couldn't get in at the end of the Jets' first two preseason games. After Pizzotti will come Kellen Clemens and possibly Erik Ainge.
There aren't any "inactive lists" for the preseason, of course, but the Jets have more of their 80-man roster available to them. They're listing only one player as a scratch — rookie RB Shonn Greene, out with sore ribs.
This is big news for Jets fans, since it means that CB Darrelle Revis (hamstring), NT Kris Jenkins (calf) and T Damien Woody (concussion) are back from their injuries and ready to see their first preseason action tonight. All three are on the field as the first offense goes through half-speed drills against the first defense.
The Giants, meanwhile, list eight players out for the game: RB Andre Brown, CB Aaron Ross, LBs Michael Boley and Antonio Pierce, O-lineman Orrin Thompson, WR David Tyree, DT Jay Alford and D-lineman Chris Canty.
Two players who signed with the Jets this week, RB Anthony Kimble and P Glenn Pakulak, should see action tonight. Pakulak replaces Ken Parrish on the roster and will try to win the punting job from Reggie Hodges. Kimble could help take the late-game running pressure off of the Jets RBs with Greene sidelined.
Kimble is wearing No. 41 and Pakulak is wearing No. 9.
The Jets are in their white jerseys and white pants tonight. The double-whites have not been kind to the Green & White recently. In fact the Jets have lost their past six games in that combo, all regular-season games in 2007-08. The last time they won a game in white/white was the 2007 preseason game against the Giants.
That's it from me for now. Join Eric Allen and me on our CoveritLive game chat. We'll try to answer your questions and post as many of your observations as we can throughout the game. And you can also follow the game through the tweets from me and reporter Kyle Richardson on http://twitter.com/nyjets.
And as usual, we'll be back in the hours after the game with our game story, updated with postgame quotes, a blog from the locker room, and features on the Jets as they digest this third preseason game against the Giants and immediately shift into Game 4 mode for Thursday's final match of the summer against the Philadelphia Eagles.
