Their Real Rivalry is with the Jets
The Patriots may not like the Giants, but they despise the Jets. Since their first meeting in 1960, the two AFC East rivals have a history of crass clashes on and off the gridiron. It certainly didn't start with the defection of head coach Bill Parcells from the Patriots to the Jets in 1997, but that's where it started to get especially ugly. When Parcells left New England, he took current Patriots skipper Bill Belichick with him as his assistant with the Jets. When Parcells retired after the 1999 season, Belichick showed up at the press conference announcing he was taking over as Jets head coach, scrawled "I resign as HC of the NYJ" on a napkin and announced he was going back to New England. In the years since, Belichick squabbled with Jets coach Erik Mangini, with whom he had previously coached. In 2007, the Jets filed a complaint with the NFL that Belichick had authorized his staff to film their defensive signals. Belichick was fined a half million dollars and the team was fined $250,000. Season in, season out, there is trash talking galore — the Jets Antonio Cromartie calling Tom Brady and "A__hole," for instance — and enough bloviating to make even presidential candidates blush. At the end of the 2011 season, the Patriots lead the series 53-52 with one tie. There's no telling what will happen next year.