Inside The Jets

By JEFF CAPELLINI, WCBSTV.com Senior Sports Producer
NEW YORK (CBS) ― Make no mistake, Brandon Jacobs is a fine football player, a mountain of a man that opposing defenses have no other recourse but to gang tackle. He played an important role in the Giants' run to the Super Bowl championship last season.

However, he's not a top 10 running back in the NFL, despite the fact that he rushed for 1,000 yards in just 11 games last season. He has yet to prove he can be an every-down featured back in this league. He drops a million passes. He comes down with the type of injuries not befitting a 260-pound running back.

So, LaDainian Tomlinson, or any facsimile there of, Jacobs is most certainly not.

But to hear him talk makes one think he holds himself in very high regard, so much so he thinks he knows what's best for others, like Brett Favre and the Jets.

"I just don't think that him leaving the Packers and going to the Jets was a great thing, because you never know with them," Jacobs said Saturday. "He's a great quarterback; I just don't know if that was a smooth idea. I'm not saying he's going to do something bad, but I think he had a pretty good thing with the Packers."

Jacobs obviously hasn't been keeping up with the news lately. He surely was misinformed if he thought Favre could actually stay with Green Bay, let alone start for the Packers this season.

Maybe it was just a case of Brandon being Brandon. The guy has always had loose lips.

But, then again, maybe his comments masked a deeper fear.

The Jets have always been the second team in New York, so why Jacobs decided to take shots at the future Hall of Famer and Gotham's weak sisters makes little sense.

Jacobs shouldn't care about Favre or the Jets, but when asked about both Saturday, his response bordered on the type of mindset that suggests two things -- arrogance and insecurity, with an emphasis placed squarely on the latter.

Jacobs intimated that Favre made a foolish move going to the Jets, suggesting the NFL legend has no idea what he has gotten himself into. He may be right, but doesn't Jacobs have other things he should be worrying about? Obviously he was asked a question and did his best to answer honestly, but maybe he and his teammates are a little peeved the spotlight is no longer on their defense of a championship.

The Giants may say they like flying under the radar in New York now that the Favre circus is in town, but in reality maybe they are just saying that because, as currently constituted, they know they are not the team they were last season and the odds of another run to championship glory are at this point long at best.

If the Giants fail to make the playoffs or have a typical Jets-like season this time around it won't matter what Favre does in his new shade of green.

Jacobs' comments seem to suggest he doesn't respect the Jets … at all. The question is, why should he care either way? They meet in the regular season only once every five or so years and the annual preseason contest is often a joke because nobody significant plays more than a quarter.

It just seems like Jacobs may be feeling the pressure of what's expected of the Giants this season, which is troubling because Big Blue has always had players that have prided themselves on being professional, doing what has had to be done to be the best they can possibly be. What other teams have done has never mattered.

That may not be the case anymore. The Jets are light years away from taking over the mantle as the top team in New York. Yet it seems the Giants are now threatened by the very notion that, perhaps, the Jets could be good.

Jacobs needs to worry a little more about what he has to do, not what Favre could do. Jacobs should be working hard to make Ahmad Bradshaw's presence on this team irrelevant, not spending his time publicly questioning the hearts and thought processes of the team across town.

Because if the Giants get off to a bad start this season players like Jacobs will have to answer many more questions.

And, rest assured, they won't be about "Broadway Brett" and the Jets.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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