Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

Despite the New York Jets embarrassing 45-3 loss to the New England Patriots, the Jets, not the New York Giants are the team that has captured the imagination and headlines in the tri-state metropolitan area.

Whether it’s good press or bad press, the Jets are what the public wants to talk / hear about. Make no mistake about it, Jets owner, Woody Johnson, has orchestrated this PR campaign to perfection. Whether it is the big name free agent signings and trades, the HBO Hard Knocks series, or the hiring of a loud mouth human quote machine, Rex Ryan, everything they do is geared towards grabbing the back page headlines.

Apparently the Giants, who share the New Meadowland Stadium with the Jets, and have owed this town for decades, aren’t exactly thrilled with the Jets new found success on and off the field and are willing to go so far as to help opposing teams beat them.

The Miami Dolphins announced their weekly schedule for Sunday’s game against the New York Jets yesterday afternoon and it’s a shocker. The Dolphins will leave Miami Friday morning, conduct pressers at their hotel at 11 AM, and then hold their practice at 2 PM at the Timex Performance Center (the NY Giants practice facility.)

For most road games, the Dolphins don’t leave town until Saturday morning/early afternoon. The Dolphins recently traveled a day early to their west coast game at Oakland two weeks ago, and the result was a 33-17 victory, the team’s most best performance of the season, but it’s not uncommon for teams who have to go coast to coast through multiple time changes to do that. If you are wondering, The Dolphins don’t leave town until Saturday morning (at the earliest) on most travel weekends.

The Giants wrap up practice at 1pm on Friday and a New York Giants spokesman said the Dolphins requested the use of the Giants’ facility about two or three weeks ago.

The suggestion that the Dolphins want to be able to acclimate themselves to the colder climate and practice in the cold weather is a bit curious since it’s an indoor facility. Also, weather reports are currently forecasting and extremely mild day for Sunday’s game with the Jets.

The business relationship between the Giants and Jets is truly an oxymoron. In many respects the Giants and Jets are in business with each other. They share NFL revenues, they share the expenses of the construction and upkeep of a home, they are even in business together brining the Super Bowl to the Stadium. The Giants are also in competition with the Jets for the NFL fan dollar in the tri-state metropolitan area and as the Jets become more popular, they risk their fan base converting and also risk new fans becoming Jets fans rather than Giants fans.

Are the Giants cooperating with the Dolphins for a few hours’ worth of rent? Do the need the money that badly? I know someone who rented the facility for a kids birthday party (spoiled brat), how much money can they be getting for the reported hour or two of use?

Whether it is the case or not, the appearance of what’s happening here is that the Giants are trying to help the Dolphins win on Sunday. A Jets debacle backing into or missing the playoffs would certainly help the Giants cause in the daily fight for local fan competition and the Giants are apparently willing to do whatever they need to do in order to protect the value of their franchise.

As you can see, after the Patriots shellacking of the Jets on Monday night, jets fans are already on edge.

Written by MC3 Sports Media