The VRR: Trash Talk Heating up Between Cowboys and Giants

Brandon Jacobs already said that Jerry Jones and the Cowboys should have scheduled the Detroit Lions to open up Cowboys Stadium.

While walking out of Giants Stadium after New York downed Washington on Sunday, Jacobs suggested to an ESPN.com reporter that the Cowboys scheduled the wrong team for their home opener.

"They should’ve put Detroit in there instead of us," Jacobs said.

Now, after catching wind of DeMarcus Ware's comments posted here yesterday by Mike Fisher, Jacobs continues his quest to out-mouth each of the Giants' upcoming opponents.

The Star-Ledger's Mike Garafolo interviewed Jacobs. The Giant running back apparently took Ware's comments seriously and upped the ante on the hate between the two teams.

In news that doesn't quite rank up there with "Man Bites Dog," DeMarcus Ware hates the Giants.

Oh, hey, whaddaya know? Brandon Jacobs hates the Cowboys.

Tuesday, during our first in a series of weekly interviews for SNY, I asked Jacobs about Ware's comments (he's only the latest in a long line of players on either side to use the "H" word when talking about the other team) and if the feelings were mutual.

"No question," he replied. "I hate the Cowboys with a bloody passion."

I asked him what the difference between a "regular passion" and a "bloody passion" was.

"You want to go into the game as being assassins," he said, referring to the feelings of bloody passion, "instead of tough football players in a game like that."

More VRR after the jump.

Matt Mosely took notice of Fisher's story and Garafolo's interview and had this to say:

Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware went on the "All-Pro Show" on 103.3 FM ESPN in Dallas on Monday and said he "hated" the New York Giants. He then told Blogging the Boys essentially the same thing. And as Mike Fisher pointed out, Ware delivered his message in his usual good-natured way.

In his article on how Chris Canty won't talk trash on the Cowboys, Newsday's Tom Rock also used Ware's quote. Although he didn't link its source, he did get Canty's rather neutered reaction.

"It's going to be good going down to Dallas," he said.

No chirping, no predictions, no trash talk. Not even the usual free use of the word "hate" that so often floats between locker rooms before these games (DeMarcus Ware was quoted Tuesday: "I hate those New York Giants"). It was very un-Cowboy-like of him.

Perhaps the transformation is complete. Talk, as they say in these parts, is cheap.

"I don't want you guys to read into something that's really not there," Canty said about any lingering feelings he might have toward Dallas.

Okay, enough with the trash talk. The big question in many of our minds has to be: Why did the Cowboys' defense have problems stopping the run on Sunday? Tom Orsborn points to an aggressive gameplan that Coach Phillips adjusted at halftime.

It called for plenty of blitzes and defensive line stunts, maneuvers that often left gaping holes for the Bucs. Tampa Bay had five plays of 20 or more yards, including runs of 35 and 22.

"I thought we would make some plays in the backfield by being aggressive," Phillips said. "The longer runs they hit on us, we didn't hit the right gaps and basically gave it to them."

When the Cowboys returned to their base defense in the second half, things settled down. The Bucs' Cadillac Williams gained just 20 yards in the final 30 minutes after tallying 77 before halftime.

"Sometimes you use movement up front to confuse the offensive line, sometimes you use it to create more plays for losses in the backfield, and sometimes that works out for you as a high-risk reward situation," defensive end Marcus Spears said. "Yesterday, those rewards weren't coming like we wanted them to, so we went back to our base. Instead of trying to get a 2-yard loss, you stop them for a 1-yard gain. You give up something to gain something."

The Cowboys may need to bring a top-notch running game of their own if they expect to beat the Giants. Check out how well they fare against wide receivers.

The Giants have not allowed an opposing receiver to gain 100 yards in 12 consecutive games, the second-longest active streak in the NFL. (Washington has gone 14 games without allowing a 100-yard receiver.) In the Cowboys’ two games against the Giants last season, Patrick Crayton was the team’s leading receiver at Giants Stadium with four catches for 46 yards and running back Tashard Choice led in the game at Texas Stadium with four receptions for 52 yards.

Hopefully, Miles Austin is one guy who can help break open the game, like he did against the Buccaneers. He's been known as a playmaker even before he came to the Cowboys.

His knack for big plays isn't anything new, either. There are plenty to pick from his college career -- he graduated from Monmouth as the school's leader in catches, receiving yards and touchdown catches -- but one of his finest was a Hail Mary play during his junior season. Called the "Big Ben," Austin leaped above a pack of players in the end zone and tipped the ball into the hands of a teammate for the game-winning score over Robert Morris.

Bob Sturn breaks down Jason Garrett's offense: how he lines up his weapons, and what he does with those alignments.

Hat tip to Musiccitynorm for the link.

Sunday night's game at Cowboys Stadium will be the first of three successive road games for the Giants. After Dallas, they go to Tampa Bay, then to Kansas City.

KVUE News did their scouting report for the Giants @ Cowboys matchups. New York's defensive line sure looked impressive against the 'Skins.

The Giants suited up eight defensive linemen in the opener against Washington and used them all, limiting the Redskins to 85 yards rushing while collecting three sacks. Six defensive linemen registered tackles, and Tuck and Umenyiora managed sacks. Most NFL offenses do not rotate offensive linemen, so New York's goal is to throw wave after wave of fresh bodies and fresh legs at blockers, wearing them down during the course of the game. The Giants try to run offensive linemen ragged with different players and different looks.

Here's what Gerald Sensabaugh had to say about his big hit on Bucs' WR Michael Clayton.

"I think it's a disadvantage," Sensabaugh said of the rule banning hits to the head. "A lot of rules are changing because of offensive players. A TE probably has 40 or 50 pounds on you. You can't hit him square every time. You have to hit him low or high, but high is out of the game. I guess you can hit him low, but I think that will cause some injuries too just trying to hit a guy really low when he's not looking. A surprise hit if you hit him low, you can end a guy's career doing that.