The ever so controversial Brandon Marshall is at it again. Â This time his focus is on the Giants. Â He sent shots their way about the Dolphins v. Giants game on Sunday. Â Ahmad Bradshaw and other members of the Giants responded. Â Read more after the jump.
The Giants claim they don’t need any extra motivation for Sunday’s game against the 0-6 Dolphins, that they are focused entirely on Miami and not thinking ahead to New England.
But Brandon Marshall just wanted to make sure. So late Thursday night, the Dolphins’ always-controversial wideout made his latest brash statement, saying via Twitter that he didn’t want to hear any excuses “when” – not if – the Dolphins upend the Giants.
“To: Media,” he tweeted from his verified account, @BMarshall19, “When we win Sunday please don’t say the Giants didn’t take us serious.”
Suddenly, a ho-hum game between the NFC East-leading Giants and the AFC East doormat Dolphins has a bit of intrigue. The Giants know full well that this is Marshall’s M.O., that just two weeks ago, before the Dolphins fell to the Jets, he was promising to fight Antonio Cromartie or Bart Scott and get ejected.
But that didn’t stop the Giants from using Marshall’s chatter as fuel. Marshall’s tweet was quickly retweeted by the Giants official Twitter, @giants. And Tom Coughlin brought it up in meetings Friday, tailback Ahmad Bradshaw told the Daily News, just to remind Big Blue not to think about the Patriots until the Dolphins were on their way back to Florida.
“Just to keep us focused,” Bradshaw said. “We’ll use it. Coach always says, Talk is cheap. Go out and play the game.”
Focusing on this game has been harder than the Giants have let on. Throughout the week, they’ve repeatedly hurled compliment after compliment at the bumbling Fish, talking about how the Dolphins are routinely in close games and how they simply can’t finish in the fourth quarter.
But a part of Big Blue is looking ahead. The visit in eight days to 5-1 New England kicks off a five-week gauntlet that includes games against the 5-1 49ers, 5-2 Saints and the 7-0 Packers. And while Osi Umenyiora didn’t mean to peek ahead at the schedule, he seems to have done so.
“We don’t pay any attention to that,” the defensive end said of Marshall’s trash talk. “We’ve got bigger fish to fry, man.”
But first, the Giants have another mission: To remind Marshall that his words mean little on the field. Didn’t he learn after that 24-6 loss to the Jets? Sure, he caught six passes for 109 yards, but what happened to the ejection?
“He’s entitled to his own opinion,” Umenyiora said. “He can guarantee whatever he wants to guarantee. Is it going to happen? That remains to be seen.”
Added safety Antrel Rolle: “If that’s the way he feels, that’s the way he feels. The game’s still gotta be played on Sunday. We’re just going to go in and play our game as best we can.”
