30 greatest NFL rivalries of all-time

26. New York Giants – New York Jets

The New York Jets and New York Giants are not a rivalry in the typical sense of historical context, postseason history or animosity between opposing teams and their fans.

The Jets entered professional football in 1960 as the New York Titans, a name that would last just three seasons. They would meet the Giants, a mainstay in professional football since 1925, for the first time in 1970.

Since then, the two teams have met only 12 times, with the Giants winning eight of the meetings. In addition, the Jets and Giants have never played each other in the postseason, bringing about question about whether or not this is actually a rivalry.

But as two teams that have shared the same city for more than five decades, including the same stadium since 1984, the Jets and Giants find a spot among the NFL’s greatest rivalries. Even if the only time they meet is typically in their annual preseason game.

The rivalry did take an interesting turn during their latest matchup, however.

Jets head coach Rex Ryan had instigated some trash talk leading up to the game in 2011, hoping to generate some excitement for a rather stagnant rivalry. The Giants cruised to a comfortable 29-14 victory, after which Giants running back Brandon Jacobs went up to Ryan and exclaimed, “It’s time to shut up fat boy!”, per USA Today.

Ryan downplayed the incident following the game, but Jacobs received some backlash from the media for his antics.

Next: 25. Michael Irvin vs. Deion Sanders