Examining New York Jets' triumphant display in joint practice vs. Giants

Anthony Fama

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Examining New York Jets' triumphant display in joint practice vs. Giants image

In the yearly Big Apple battle for bragging rights on the gridiron, the New York Jets won the day in their joint practice with the New York Giants.

The Green & White were successful against a young, talented Giants squad in every facet of the game. These two teams face off in their preseason finale this Saturday, but today we saw both Jets and Giants starters going at it. There's much to recap from Wednesday's practice in Florham Park, and it should give Jets fans peace of mind.

The Jets' offensive unit was spectacular against a tough Giants defense. QB Aaron Rodgers looked like his vintage self, completing 16/22 passes for 3 touchdowns. WR Garrett Wilson was a walking highlight reel going up against Big Blue, finishing with multiple touchdowns, and spectacular catches. He was simply unguardable against a weak Giants' secondary and it seems that the Rodgers-Wilson duo is going to quite the spectacle in 2024. 

They dominated noticeably the 11-on-11 drills and backup QB Tyrod Taylor even capped off the practice with a 50+ yard strike to Jason Brownlee for a touchdown. Superstar DB Sauce Gardner was able to join in on the fun after the Brownlee touchdown waving goodbye to the Giants' players and personnel. 

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see a lot of Gardner versus Giants' rookie WR Malik Nabers, but it was a good battle between the two. Both players won reps against one another and Nabers was cognizant of Gardner's gesture, acknowledging it was warranted.

“They can do that. I mean, they won on the day. Their defense came out, executed well. We beat ourselves today.”

The Giants' offense led by QB Daniel Jones looked stagnant against a top-tier Jets defense. Jones completed 12/18 passes according to SNY's Connor Hughes and only two had traveled more than 8-10 yards. Most of the day was dinking and dunking for Jones and the Giants offense finished their day with a four-and-out in the final two-minute period.

It was encouraging to see both the offense and defense look elite for the Jets after an awful showing in last week's joint practice with the Carolina Panthers. The Jets had an answer on both units and deserved the well-earned win on the day.

It's unclear at the moment who will start in this Saturday's preseason game for the Jets. Many will be looking to the offense to see if Rodgers and others will get a few drives to get a flow going amid their Monday night season opener versus the San Francisco 49ers. If there were any doubts about how this offense may look, today's performance should be a sneak peek of what Jets fans could see come this season. 

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• Jets designate ex-Packers' receiver Reserve/Injured, sign UFL defensive tackle

• Robert Saleh rules out three injured defenders for rest of preseason

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Anthony Fama

Anthony Fama Photo

Anthony Fama covers the New York Jets for The Sporting News. He is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland, where he covered Terrapins football and basketball for Inside the Black and Gold. He also produces and hosts his own talk show on Spotify called 914 Sports Talk covering all New York sports.