The quirks and meaning of the Giants-Jets rivalry, as seen through the eyes of Leonard Williams, who's played on both ends

10/25/2023
As New York football aficionados go, Leonard Williams, based on where he hails from, does not seem to be the most qualified to speak about a uniquely New York/New Jersey event when the Giants and the Jets go at each other every four years.
Williams grew up in Daytona Beach, Fla., went to college in Los Angeles at USC and gives off a distinct West Coast vibe, right down to wearing sandals or going barefoot because he prefers to let his feet breathe. He is the middle child of five siblings — three brothers and one sister — and once joked they are all about the same size: extremely big.
Williams’ father is half African-American and half Japanese. His mother is half African-American and half Hispanic.
“Everybody always thinks we are Samoan,’’ he said early in his NFL career.
But it’s not his diverse background that affords Williams the ability to offer the most precise inside information into what Giants-Jets is all about.
It’s where he has played.
The No. 6 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, Williams spent the first four-plus years of his career with the Jets. The Giants then traded for him on Oct. 28, 2019, meaning his four-year anniversary of changing green to blue arrives the day before his Giants face the Jets this Sunday at MetLife Stadium. It’s a home game for the Giants, but a game that undoubtedly will have many green-clad Jets fans in the gray seats.
Williams, 29, played in 71 games for the Jets. He has logged 60 games for the Giants. He is not overly sentimental when it comes to dwelling on where he was before arriving where he currently is.
“I think I’ll forever be grateful to the Jets for giving me my first opportunity in the NFL by drafting me there, but I’ve been with the Giants so long now that the Jets almost feel pretty distant to me at this point,’’ Williams said this week. “When I see the Jets on the schedule, it’s not something I’m like, ‘Whoa, I used to play there,’ you know? I kind of just see them as another opponent on the schedule at this point.
“But I guess around this time when we finally have them up this week is when I started to get messages from old teammates and stuff like that, that bring it up, but I forget about it until those moments. But you know it’s always exciting to play in this game.’’
Is it?
Williams was a rookie in 2015 when he picked up his first full NFL sack in a 23-20 overtime victory over the Giants. He had been with the Giants for only a few weeks when his new team was beaten by his old team, 34-27, during the 2019 season.
Williams would know better than most if he felt a “little brother’’ mentality around the Jets or if he sensed a “we’re New York’s team’’ vibe with the Giants.
This is an atypical NFL rivalry.
The teams play each other every summer, but that matchup, like the majority of preseason action, has devolved into scrimmage-like conditions.
The regular-season meetings happen once every four years, and in the 56-year history of the series, the Giants lead, 8-6. The Giants had a five-game winning streak (1996-2011) before the Jets won the past two games.
Most of the memorable moments read like ancient history to the 20-something-year-old players now inhabiting the rosters of both teams.
The 1974 Yale Bowl encounter featured Joe Namath scoring on a bootleg touchdown, motioning to the nearest defender not to touch him as he ambled into the end zone on his gimpy knee. The Jets went on to win what was the second regular-season overtime game in NFL history, the only game Namath ever played against the Giants.
There was a 27-21 Jets victory in 1988 in a game the Giants needed to win to qualify for the playoffs, their fate sealed the next day when the 49ers tanked and lost to the Rams, prompting Phil Simms to complain the 49ers “laid down like dogs.’’
There was the most recent magic moment, on Christmas Eve 2011, when Victor Cruz took it 99 yards, tearing through Rex Ryan’s defense to spark a 29-14 Giants victory. The Giants were 7-7 heading into that game and did not lose again, ripping off six consecutive victories, all the way to capturing a 21-17 victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI.
Fans of a certain age remember Namath. And though the coast-to-coast Cruz scamper was 11 years ago, Williams was still in high school then.
More than what this quadrennial series means to the players and coaches involved is what it means to the paying customers, as well as the ownership of these teams.
Giants fans do not want to lose to the Jets and vice versa. But those feelings are more about pride than disdain.
The Giants cannot stomach losing to the Cowboys, Eagles and Commanders, and the Jets feel the same way about the Patriots, Dolphins and Bills.
Giants-Jets is more localized. The owners — John Mara and Steve Tisch of the Giants and Woody Johnson of the Jets — are business partners with joint ownership of MetLife Stadium, and on that level the relationship is strong. Deep down, though, neither side wants to be second-best in their shared market.
“Honestly, throughout my career, no matter what coach I played for, they try to let you know that it’s a big game to the people of New York and the fans of both teams,’’ Williams said. “But at the same time it would be good of the team to treat it like a regular week. Just like every game, we don’t want to get too high or too low, after a win or after a loss, or leading up to a game, even. We never like to try to get too high or too low. As far as players and coaches, I think we try to treat it as a regular game and prepare the same way we would.’’
For transient players, here for a year or two and then gone, this game likely feels odd, not possessing the urgency of a divisional game and also not quite an ordinary game against a non-conference opponent.
That stands in contrast to the years this series really got cooking, a time when players tended to stay on one team longer than they do now. Rivalries developed.
Today, not so much.
“I mean, I think it’s a big one because it’s two New York teams,’’ Williams said. “We also play in the same stadium. I think for the fans, they love to see it. This area is known for the blue-collar type of people, so it’s a gritty type of old-school football, per se. I think fans love to see it.’’
Williams never speaks ill of the Jets. This is mostly in keeping with the nature of a man nicknamed “Big Cat.’’ He does not get riled up about things that sometimes bother others. He is not into comparing one franchise with the other.
“I think there would be a big difference in any organization you go to,’’ he said. “From the top down, there is a whole different staff of people, but I really appreciated my time in both places. I think at this point I have grown to love the Giants longer, I’ve been here longer, and I think I love the tradition here a little bit more.’’
Want to catch a game? The Giants schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.
Asked and answered
Here are two questions that have come up recently that we will attempt to answer as accurately as possible:
What will the crowd be like at Sunday’s Giants-Jets game?
Well, it is a home game for the Giants, so their season-ticket holders will populate most of the seats at MetLife Stadium. Not all of the seats. This matchup always produces more of a split crowd. Plenty of Jets fans will get their hands on tickets. Seats that are up for grabs usually go the way of the hotter team.
This year, the Jets are 3-3 and there is more buzz around them, even after Aaron Rodgers’ devastating injury four plays into the season. The Jets also own impressive wins over the Bills and the Eagles. There is not nearly as much buzz or optimism swirling around the Giants. Yes, they did finally end a four-game losing streak by beating the Commanders last week, but they are a low-scoring team and struggle for almost anything positive. Best guess: It is a 60-40 split on Sunday, more blue than green, and it will be loud whichever team has the ball.
Why are the Giants in such disarray with their punt returners?
This is a mess of their own making. They had plenty of options this past summer with experienced returners Jamison Crowder, Jaydon Mickens and Kalil Pimpleton all competing in training camp. All three were cut, and the coaching staff decided to go with Eric Gray, a rookie running back with limited special teams work on his college résumé.
Gray never looked completely comfortable during the preseason, but he was given the job and it has been an adventure ever since. He was fortunate his muff on Sunday did not result in a turnover, and he later was forced out with a calf injury. His replacement, veteran Sterling Shepard, had never returned a punt in his previous eight years with the Giants. He looked shaky, and his muff did result in a turnover.
This week, Gunner Olszewski was signed to the practice squad. He is a proven punt returner with a history of suspect ball security. The Giants rarely seem serious about committing resources ton a quality return guy, and it is no great surprise they have struggled in this area.