The Giants entered halftime Sunday against the Jaguars down 17-6, and were serenaded by a predictable chorus of boos at the New Meadowlands Stadium.
Safety Antrel Rolle is new to town and seemed to be taken aback by the response.
“I don’t like it one bit,” Rolle said on WFAN on Tuesday. “We’re not going to always have those dominant, blowout games. We’re not going to win each and every game although we would love to. But through it all, our fans are huge. . . . But at the same time we need them to have confidence as we have confidence in ourselves. The booing, honestly, it pissed me off. That’s something that I haven’t heard since I’ve been here.”
Rolle has stepped into a leadership role quickly in New York, and isn’t afraid to speak his mind.
“You don’t boo your team,” Rolle continued. “I don’t care what happens, you don’t boo your team. That’s my take on it. You don’t boo your team. This is your home team. We’re out there playing, we’re out there pouring our heart out for our fans, you don’t boo your team. I don’t care what the situation is, you don’t boo your team. We’re 7-4. We’re not 2-10, we’re 7-4.”
This is a battle that Rolle won’t win, but he we don’t blame him for being honest. Fans have a right to boo, but we have a right to do a lot of stupid things. The host Joe Benigno tried to explain the the fans did it out of love.
“I’ve never heard booing out of love, I’m sorry,” Rolle said. “I don’t know what booing out of love is. If someone slaps me, I’ve never heard that they slapped me out of love. No, if you slap me you wanted to slap me.”
This much we know: Before Rolle’s run in New York is a wrap, he’s going to get “slapped” many more times.