New York Giants defensive end Jihad Ward isn't happy with how he was portrayed in HBO's Hard Knocks regarding his tiff with New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers in last week's preseason finale.
This week's episode of Hard Knocks highlighted the exchange, including Jets players laughing in the huddle following a Randall Cobb illegal blindside block that left Giants safety Bobby McCain in concussion protocol.
"Everybody going to get pissed off at that. The whole team was pissed off, you know what I'm saying?" Ward said, via ESPN. "It's preseason and all that stuff and you're going to do some reaction like that?
"It's cool, though. That's how they roll. I think we play them soon, it is what it is."
After Ward saw the Jets huddle chuckling, he gave Rodgers a push a few steps after the QB delivered the ball. The two engaged in a facemask-to-facemask meeting of the minds. Rodgers threw a 14-yard TD the next play, and the two again exchanged pleasantries, with the four-time MVP noting, "Don't poke the bear!" -- a clip that went viral on social media.
"See, the thing is, they're going to entertain," Ward said. "They're going to show his part -- HBO, whatever stuff is going on, Hard Knocks. They're going to show his part. They weren't even in the whole scenario of what really went down. They're going to show his side of the story. ... It's all about Aaron Rodgers at the [end] of the day. They sign him, it is what it is. They're going to show his part and make me look like a sucker. But I ain't going for that."
Ward said he was simply standing up for a teammate who got illegally hit.
"My side of the story is I'm not going to let none of my teammates be backed down like that," he said. "I'm going to ride for my teammates."
Rodgers said the laughing in the Jets huddle was not directed toward the Giants or the severity of the situation but rather the fact that Cobb, entering his 13th season, should have known better than to deliver such a block.
"I couldn't believe it. I've been around Randall Cobb forever. We talk about smart players and doing smart things on the field. I don't know what was in that. I was watching that in slow motion going, 'No, no, no Cobby, what are you doing?' " Rodgers said following last week's game. "We were laughing because that wasn't a penalty when we started playing. It has been a penalty for a while. So, not the smartest play.
"I said, 'Bro, you've got a third kid on the way. You just took money out of your pocket. You're going to have to buy [your wife] Aiyda something nice for that.' "
The Jets and Giants play in Week 8 on Oct. 29. Assuredly, this situation will be revived in the week leading up to the faceoff.
