IRVING, Texas — The mere thought of Big Blue already has the Cowboys seeing red.
NFL sack leader DeMarcus Ware and two other key Dallas defenders turned up the heat on one of the league’s fiercest rivalries yesterday, with Ware saying Justin Tuck is jealous, cornerback Mike Jenkins labeling Brandon Jacobs “a big bully,” and defensive end Marcus Spears vowing to “get after their necks” Sunday night at Cowboys Stadium.
A Cowboys-Giants game is always a slugfest, but the fact the clubs are fighting for the NFC East title appears to be ratcheting up the hard feelings, at least on Dallas’ end.
Ware, who leads the league with 15 sacks, did not practice yesterday because of a neck injury but is expected to play Sunday. The linebacker scoffed at Tuck’s two-year-old description of the Cowboys’ $1.2 billion palace as “crappy.”
“He says that because maybe he wants to play here,” Ware told reporters. “Everybody wants to play for the Cowboys. If I wasn’t playing for Cowboys, I’d call it that, too, because I want to play for them.”
Ware, Jenkins and Spears said their response to Tuck’s apparent jealousy is hate — or the closest thing to it.
“I’m a man of God, so I won’t use the word ‘hate,’ ” Spears said. “But we’re not big fans of each other at all. … We go at each other hard, so much so that you usually got to get in the tub and ice down afterward. For those 60 minutes Sunday, we’re going to get after their necks.”
Jenkins, most likely to draw the assignment to cover Hakeem Nicks, was asked if the two teams hate each other.
“If you look at the past history of the two teams, yes,” Jenkins said. “There’s going to be a lot of energy with two teams knowing what’s at stake, fighting for the No. 1 spot.”
Jacobs, the Giants’ bruising running back, has made his dislike for the Cowboys well known over the years — so much so that Jenkins said Dallas now tunes it out.
“That’s him [running his mouth],” Jenkins said. “He’s a big bully.”
Jenkins, however, admitted Tuck could be excused for harboring ill feelings toward the Cowboys after former Dallas offensive lineman Flozell Adams tripped him during the 2009 game at Cowboys Stadium, causing Tuck to injure his shoulder.
“I don’t think there’s been [any] dirty plays other than the incident a few years back with Flozell,” Jenkins said. “That was nasty.”