When Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made some comments about beating up on the Giants at a pep rally, there wasn’t much of a response from the Giants players.
Packers linebacker Clay Matthews’ assertion that the Giants didn’t beat the Packers in their playoff tilt last year hasn’t been met with the same silence. Two members of the Giants responded to Matthews during conversations with the media on Wednesday and, as you’d probably imagine, neither of them share Matthews’ view of how the game went down.
“When they fumbled the ball, I think it was us that stripped it out. We sacked them. I think it was us who beat their O-linemen and got to Rodgers,” defensive end Justin Tuck said, via Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News. “So I don’t think they just Ole’d everything and gave us the game. I think they were trying to win.”
“If that’s what Clay thinks, so be it,” guard Chris Snee said, also via Vacchiano. “I have a brand new ring and we earned every bit of it.”
There have been a million variations on Matthews’ comments over the years as players try to rationalize losses as being about their failures instead of the other side’s successes. They rarely sound all that convincing and Matthews’ riff is not an exception to that general rule. You can’t replay the game on the field so there really isn’t much point in replaying it via words.
Especially when you’ve got a chance to prove you’re the better team on the field in a few weeks.