Giants Country

New York Giants Brush Off Troy Aikman's Comments About Not Being in Dallas' Class

Predictably, Giants head coach Joe Judge downplayed the opinions of his team made by those outside the building. But make no mistake: the Giants are going to be extra fired up come Sunday when they face the Dallas Cowboys.

Patricia Traina

New York Giants Brush Off Troy Aikman's Comments About Not Being in Dallas' Class
New York Giants Brush Off Troy Aikman's Comments About Not Being in Dallas' Class /

Every week is a new week in the NFL and a new reason for a team to be motivated to be better than it was the week prior.

But for the New York Giants, this weekend’s game against the Dallas Cowboys comes with a bit of extra motivation courtesy of former quarterback Troy Aikman, who during a radio interview with "The Musers" on 96.7 FM The Ticket in Dallas, opined that the Giants aren’t in the Cowboys class.

Aikman’s opinion has made its way to East Rutherford, where the Giants, a seven-point underdog, are looking to prove to the world that last week’s upset win over the New Orleans Saints in overtime wasn’t a fluke.

A classic case of bulletin board material?

"We don’t even have a bulletin board in there, to be honest with you," said Gints head coach Joe Judge with a straight face. "Everything’s screens and magnets and stuff now. We’re in the future now, so we don’t have bulletin boards anymore."

But seriously, Judge downplayed Aikman’s comments and the impact his words might have on the team's motivation.

“I don’t think we really need any external motivation to show up and do our jobs and do them effectively, to be honest with you,” Judge said.

“I think you have to understand the magnitude of every game you play. These division games are obviously no different, so if we need somebody else to kind of get us in the mind frame to play, I think we have other issues at hand.”

The 3-1 Cowboys have been clicking these past few weeks on all cylinders and have been one of the most productive teams in the NFC East through the season's first four games.

So while Aikman, who along with Joe Buck will be in the broadcast booth this weekend to call the game, wasn’t wrong in his praise of his former team, where he went wrong was in his put-down, intentional or not, of the Giants.

Judge, however, didn’t want to get into a war of words with the Hall of Fame quarterback, instead preferring to let the talking be done between the white lines.

“We have to acknowledge this team’s one of the best statistically that this league’s seen in a long time to be ranked this high on offense as a rushing team, a passing team, defensively – in terms of turnovers and takeaways, along with rushing defense,” Judge said. 

“To be this situationally good and to be this good in the kicking game, this team’s an outstanding team. There’s no getting around it. This team’s extremely talented. They’re well-coached and they’re obviously winning games right now playing the right way. I think this is obviously one of the top teams in the league and one of the top teams we’ll see in a long time.”

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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