Before Saturday’s game kicks off, the Jets might want to thank the Giants’ Oshane Ximines for the role he played in shifting the NFL landscape in their favor.
If Ximines doesn’t seal a Giants’ victory over the Packers in Week 5 of last season by clobbering Aaron Rodgers from behind, then Rodgers doesn’t break his thumb on the play.
If Rodgers doesn’t break his thumb, maybe he plays like a four-time league MVP and leads the Packers into the playoffs.
If Rodgers leads the Packers into the playoffs, maybe he is never traded and the Jets still are searching for a quarterback instead of basking in Super Bowl hype.
“Ah, s–t,” Ximines said when presented with the sliding doors theory. “I know we got him on the last play of the Green Bay game last year, but that’s about it. I haven’t really thought about that.”
The only thing standing in the way of the Giants’ 27-22 victory with seven seconds remaining was the threat of a 64-yard touchdown thrown by the master of the Hail Mary. Rodgers burned the Giants with one just before the half in the 2016 playoffs.
So, Ximines charged off the edge, beat All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari to the inside, flushed Rodgers from the pocket, fought off another block from center Josh Myers and knocked the ball from Rodgers’ hand just as he cocked his arm to let it fly.
Sack, forced fumble, game over.
“I knew it was a Hail Mary and you know what Aaron Rodgers does on those kinds of plays – his arm is one in a million,” Ximines said. “I just tried to get back there the best I could.”
Rodgers and Ximines likely will share the field again Saturday because the future Hall of Famer will make his Jets’ debut.
Risking Rodgers’ health by playing him in the preseason for the first time since 2018 is a risk that opposes the league-wide trend of sitting quarterbacks.
“That’s pretty surprising,” Ximines said. “I would think they’d sit a guy like that out, but I’m sure he probably wants to knock some rust off.”
Ximines, who has 6.5 sacks in 45 career games, has a lot on the line.
The former third-round pick was a free agent until May 3 – a few days after the Giants didn’t draft an edge rusher – and he re-signed on a one-year, $1.1 million contract that includes just $100,000 guaranteed.
“He’s done a nice job setting the edge, getting some knockback,” head coach Brian Daboll said. “Knows our system. He’s been a dependable guy for us.”
Ximines is in the same spot as a second-team outside linebacker that he occupied most of last season, but he’s taking nothing for granted.
“Every day is a fight in this league,” Ximines said. “If you aren’t competing against the guys in your room, you’re competing against guys on other teams.”
It’s enough to focus on that Ximines doesn’t resent the shadow cast over the Giants by the Rodgers-driven Jets.
“Good for them,” Ximines said. “They’ve got some good players and I’m sure they are excited over there, but we are going to focus on what we have going on.”