Martellus Bennett 'not feeling the love' from Giants

Martellus Bennett wants to remain a New York Giant, after a productive first season in the Meadowlands, but all indications point to the tight end becoming a free agent this spring — joining a growing list of players including Osi Umenyiora and Ahmad Bradshaw who are on the verge of becoming  former Giants.

Bennett — a habitual tweeter — vented his disappointment over a lack of progress with the Giants front office via (how else?) Twitter.

"Not feeling the love," Bennett wrote in a long series of rambling tweets.

"@giantswfan: @joegryffindor will you kindly NYG deal done so i can stop fielding Qs about you???? LOL" I dunno bro. Not feeling the love.
— Martellus Bennett (@JoeGryffindor) February 27, 2013

"They have other priorities that come before little ole me.  I'm just a small piece of what they're trying to do there.  I've come to the conclusion that we are just temporary investments to the owners.  Value money and growth over players. Just like any business, Employees aren't as valuable as we use to be. Everyone needs a job. Lol."

Martellus Bennett's fourth catch of night 'saves man's life'

Martellus Bennett already had three receptions Sunday, as he walked through the MetLife Stadium exit tunnel after the New York Giants had trounced the Green Bay Packers, 38-10, when realized he was about to make the biggest catch of his night.

The Giants tight end was throwing his gloves up to a kid when a middle-aged man wearing a David Wilson jersey leaned over the youngster and fell over the rail and onto Bennett 15 feet below.

Bennett said he got tangled up with a cameraman but was able to catch the man and was not hurt.

"I was doing what I usually do, moseying to the locker room and meandering around," said Bennett.  "Naturally, I just wanted to step back, like, 'oh (shoot),' but I did the righteous thing and I stepped up. I caught him, I saved his life, I tapped into my inner superhero, which I do have."

"I'm usually a ninja, but my Spidey-senses told me he was going to take a fall, so I saved his life," said the immodest Bennett.  "He owes me his first-born or something.  Actually I don't want that.  Maybe a sandwich or something."

The boisterous Bennett may never get a chance to cash in on his hero sandwich.

When last seen, the fallen fan was seen pleading his case to New Jersey State Troopers while being escorted to the MetLife Stadium offices, where he was to be booked on undisclosed charges.

What did the superhero have to say about that.

"That sucks," said Bennett.

Giants' Cruz: Hurricane power outage 'feels like 1990'

Hurricane Sandy has left huge chunks of New Jersey and New York without power and the New York Giants have been affected as much as anyone else.

On Wednesday, Giants players had their first practice since Sunday night's physically draining 29-24 victory over the Cowboys in Dallas.  The slightly altered session was held in the late afternoon instead of the morning to give assistant coaches — who lost power — more preparation time.

The Giants team been improvising since Sandy left a path of destruction across most of New Jersey — where most of the players and coaches live — by bunking together or, in some cases, reverting back to childhood.

Giants wideout receiver Victor Cruz had one of the funniest lines regarding his new lifestyle adjustment.

"We don't have any cable or Internet right now,' Cruz said of his family house's situation, joking, "It just feels like 1990 all over again."

While Cruz's circumstances take him back to being a five-year-old Paterson, N.J. kid — and his biggest problem probably being whether or not to watch Urkel on "Family Matters" or the Olsen twins (years before they became goth-looking millionaires) on "Full House" —  for some players it was more serious.

Giants like Tight end Martellus Bennett and his wife decided to move in with a teammate as Big Blue prepares to host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

"I actually stayed at Kevin Boothe's house," said Bennett.  "They had power, we didn't have power, so we went over there."

"It was great having [Martellus]," said Boothe.  "My son loves him.  He thought Martellus was there solely to play with him."

While Boothe's hospitality was evident, some Giants cherish their privacy and weren't so accommodating.

"They can't stay with me," gruffed Jason Pierre-Paul half-kidding.  "I don't like to see 'em after work."

Meanwhile, the salsa-dancing Cruz summed up the mood around Giants practice by paraphrasing head coach Tom Coughlin.

"As Coach Coughlin says, "It's a mid-stream adjust," said Cruz.  "So we have to be able to mid-stream adjust to these things and learn how to prepare throughout any circumstances.  Because I guess it's just the nature of the beast.  But as the term says, the show must go on.  We've got to be ready to play."

Funny, I remember those words coming from Luther or Dauber on that 1990 TV show "Coach."

Martellus Bennett: Romo not in same league as Eli

Martellus Bennett has never been one to keep his opinions to himself.  Now the one time plus-sized New York Giants tight end revealed his recent success is due to the fact that he's not playing with Tony Romo.

The 6-foot-6 Bennett drooped by Manhattan's Old Homestead Steakhouse the other night with teammate Michael Coe and was overheard telling a waiter that he now has a better quarterback throwing to him, according to Page Six of The New York Post.

"Romo isn't even in the same league as Eli Manning. Not even close," said Bennett, according to the source.

Bennett, who is enjoying a resurgence with Big Blue after a disappointing season with the Dallas Cowboys, already has 15 catches and three touchdowns with Manning at the helm.  He had no touchdown catches last year with Romo calling the shots.

Manning's new favorite third-down option came into training camp weighing a whopping 291 pounds but now Bennett looks like Tim Tebow in a Vogue photo spread.

After dishing on Romo and Eli, Bennett was seen signing napkins and receipts for customers at the famous eatery.

They don't call him Mar-Tell us for nothing.

Justin Tuck: Real referees are going to be 'rusty'

The New York Giants don't exactly expect a smooth transition going from the replacement referees to the real ones this week.

Despite the regular referees returning Thursday — after reaching an agreement between the NFLRA and the league — Giants defensive end Justin Tuck thinks the officiating on the field may still be a little tentative.

"It's still going to be an issue when the real guys come back," said Tuck.  "They are going to be rusty; they haven't had a preseason to practice their craft.  It would be like me coming to play a regular-season game, having not practiced or having a pre-season game."

The Giants are probably hoping that the real refs have, at least, been practicing on their Madden '12 as the team heads into the unwelcoming confines of Lincoln Financial Field to face the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday's nationally-televised game.

We all know how well the last nationally-televised NFL game ended.

The Giants face their division rival in a important early season game and are thankful they will have a strong and experienced — if only a little out-of-shape — officiating crew calling the game.

"It is especially difficult with a running quarterback like [Michael] Vick; it creates problems," said linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka.  "You don't know if he is running the ball.  Is he looking to pass?  Is he defenseless player?  Is he a runner?  Those kinds of plays are difficult for anybody in real time and they are not always revealed in plays."

The Giants players won't blame the rent-a-refs for affecting how they played any games but some claim that the players could help persuade how the replacement refs called some.

Tight end Martellus Bennett claims it's not only the controversial rulings like Monday night's highly-publicized Packers-Seahawks fiasco that affected the quality of play, it was the intimidation of the fill-in refs by the players and coaches throughout the game.

"Nobody really respects the replacements.  Guys get in their face and do things guys wouldn't do to regular refs they do to these guys," Bennett said.  "They go up to the replacement refs and say, 'Hey, he's holding. You need to call that.' With the regular refs, they would just go up and say, 'Did you see that holding?'

"It works a little bit, if you're persuasive — and a star.  If (Cardinals receiver) Larry Fitzgerald comes up to you and you're a replacement ref and he says, 'Hey, this guy is holding me the whole time,' it's Larry Fitzgerald.  What's a replacement ref gonna do?"

Giants blame tiny beds for back problems

The New York Giants are putting a bed issue to rest and it couldn't come soon enough.  The team ended its three-week stay at the University of Albany Tuesday and some players are glad to get rid of their sacks.

According to a number of players, the beds that they used in training camp were too small or too hard and led to a rash of sore and injured backs.

It's a logical assertion when you consider most of the team stands over 6-foot-4 and tip the scales at least 300 pounds.

Some of the lucky players had full-sized beds, but the majority had to say nighty-night on twin sizes.

"I mean, we're big humans," said tight end Martellus Bennett.  "Every bed is small.  You can't put a damn dinosaur in a twin-sized bed, you know?  Unless you've got a California king the bed's going to be small for these guys.  A large, big human jumps into a regular-sized bed, the bed's too small."

A Giants spokesperson claimed nobody complained about the Jurassic problem until now and , if they had, the team would have likely bought them a new bed.  That's what they did with Plaxico Burress when he was having back issues at camp in 2008— before he learned to sleep on a foam mat in the joint.

Giants owner more interested in Tebow than Jerry Jones' butt-kicking invite

Who knew that New York Giants owner John Mara was such a cut-up.  Big Blue's top guy walked into the cafeteria at the University of Albany— where the team practices— sporting a bandage on his forehead into a throng of media.

Reporters— waiting to hear what Mara had to say about Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, telling an audience on Tuesday, "Y' all come to Cowboys Stadium and watch us beat the Giants' asses"— didn't wait long for Giants owner to throw out a one-liner.

"You should see what Jerry Jones looks like," he said alluding to the bandage.

Mara knows Jones has more verbal ammunition than Dez Bryant has mommy issues but continued to convey his own message back to the loud-mouthed Cowboys' boss.  The Giants do their talking on the field and words mean zilch.

Earlier in the day when asked about Jones' trash talking invitation on ESPN Radio, Mara joked," We'll show up (to play the Cowboys). But that is actually the first time I've heard that comment.  I have been so caught up in the [Tim] Tebow coverage that I haven't had time for anything else."

Outside of Mara's remarks, most of the Giants players downplayed Jones' boast.

Justin Tuck said he wasn't surprised at Jones' yapping.  "Because talk is cheap, play the game," he said.

Even Martellus Bennett was unusually quiet about his old boss.  "I have nothing to say about it," he said.  "Everybody has their point of view."

The two teams open the NFL season at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 5.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones: 'Watch us beat the Giants' asses'

Outspoken owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones, said his team will beat the New York Giants this season.  A big time, Lone Star whooping.

After his widely-ridiculed, off-the-wall comment about wanting "me some glory hole" the other day, Jones still hasn't stopped yapping out of that big hole in the middle of his face.

"Y' all should come down to Cowboys Stadium and watch us beat the Giants' asses," said Jones at a ceremony to open the Cowboys' training camp on Monday, according to ESPN.

This comes days after former-Cowboy and current-Giant tight end Martellus Bennett boasted, "I just want to kick those guys [Cowboys players] asses."

I'm sensing a a glory hole theme all-around here.

The Cowboys' ceremony actually included skydivers in a pep rally atmosphere. The Cowboys are still hurting after being knocked on their butts and out of the playoffs by the Giants in 2011 and a could use a little chest puffing.

If Jones' prediction comes true, it sounds like Dallas will make the fans to wait few weeks for the posterior paddling since the teams meet first in the NFL season opener on Sept. 5 at MetLife Stadium and don't face each other at Cowboys Stadium until Oct. 28.

The Giants won both games against Dallas last season— a 37-34 victory in Texas and a 31-14 win in New Jersey to clinch the NFC East.

Jones may be talking out of his— well, let's say Tex-ass— because the Giants are 3-0 at Cowboys Stadium since they opened the $1.3 billion-dollar venue.

New Giant Martellus Bennett: I kind of hate everybody in the NFL

Martellus Bennett had a lot of hateful things to say on the first day of training camp and most of his venom was directed at his old team, the Dallas Cowboys, with dash of it saved for the rest of the NFL as well.

"I just want to kick those guys' asses.  That's what it's all about.  We're cool but we ain't cool," said the New York Giants new tight end about his former team.  "I've kind of got some ill feelings towards them overall.  But it's a game.  Every game is the same where I kind of hate everybody, honestly, in the NFL."

The outspoken Bennett wanted everyone to know his hate extends past the Cowboys.

"I have ill feelings towards everybody.  It's just not Dallas," he made clear.  "I have ill feelings towards everybody. It's just not Dallas [shoot], I pretty much hate anybody who doesn't play with us, I pretty much, I don't like 'em, a lot of people.  I'm kind of [a jerk], but it's cool."

The oversized Giant— who recently did an interview shirtless to prove he's "not fat"— is looking at being a second or third option at the Giants tight end position.

Travis Beckum— coming back from a torn ACL— and Bear Pascoe are ahead of Bennett on the depth chart. Quarterback Eli Manning has become pretty adept at turning his tight ends into stars with his dump-off passes, so Bennett could be an important cog in the Giants system this season.

Because of a bad hamstring, Bennett didn't get to work out with any of the Giants during the offseason but claims he is "100%" right now.

"Super excited to play football.  Couldn't sleep last night because I got so excited," he said. "I almost drove down here in the middle of the night but the wife told me I couldn't."

It sounds like we've only heard the first of Martellus "How you really feel" Bennett this season.  The Giants and Cowboys open the NFL season Wed. Sept. 5.