Jets, Giants Trade Jabs Following Arrival Of Tim Tebow In N.Y. Market

Jets Owner Woody Johnson in his first comments since acquiring QB Tim Tebow last week denied that the trade “was inspired by the Giants run to the Super Bowl as a way to regain some traction in the marketplace,” according to Gary Myers of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. Johnson “expressed his support” for incumbent QB Mark Sanchez, but he "managed to take a subtle shot Sunday at his beleaguered quarterback." Johnson said of the impact adding Tebow will have on Sanchez, “Mark is very, very good. We've all seen him in the fourth quarter. Wish he would get better in the first quarter perhaps. In the fourth quarter, he realizes he's got to make some improvements." Johnson: "My highest compliment to the Giants. They pulled it off. I'm proud to share a building with them. They did what we wanted to do too and that is peak at the right time. They were horrible at the beginning of the year, but then they put pedal to the metal at the end, extremely successful, no flaws. I told John (Mara) and the Tisch family, I complimented them on great success and their ability to pull this off. This is what we are all searching for" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/26).

RIGHT BACK AT YA: The N.Y. DAILY NEWS’ Myers notes the Giants yesterday were “not flinching, but they also took some not-so-subtle jabs at their crosstown rivals.” Giants President & CEO John Mara was asked if N.Y. is big enough for the Giants and Tebow. Mara, referring to the team re-signing its backup QB, said, “I don’t know. But the David Carr press conference will be tomorrow afternoon, too.” Jets coach Rex Ryan said, “When you win a Super Bowl, you can say anything you want because they are the world champions. That’s all fine and dandy. To the young man, he’s not going out there trying to get the attention. The attention follows him.” Giants Chair & Exec VP Steve Tisch said of the Jets' Tebow trade, "Well, they are getting a lot of attention, so if that was one of their goals, I think they have been successful.” Tisch: “My feelings are that I may attend a Jets game” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/26). Ryan said of Mara's comments, “If we had won the Super Bowl, we would have done the same thing. I don’t look at it like, has this team won the Super Bowl or not? We don’t care. I care about one team, and that’s ours” (NJ.com, 3/25). In Newark, Jenny Vrentas notes both Ryan and Johnson “dismissed the idea that they are trying to upstage the Super Bowl champion Giants.” Johnson said in response to Mara’s remark about the team re-signing Carr: “Well, that’s pretty interesting” (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 3/26).