For the New York Jets and Giants, the best running backs in their histories played at the same time. Curtis Martin is a Hall of Famer, while Tiki Barber is in the Hall of Very Good. But you likely couldn’t imagine one wearing the other’s jersey.
Well, that’s practically what Barber did the other day. It wasn’t Martin’s jersey he was wearing, though, but that of current Jets running back Breece Hall.
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Hall joined Evan Roberts and Barber on the Evan & Tiki Show from Jets training camp. Evan, a big Jets fan, told Hall that he’s Tiki’s favorite player — and brought out the goods to prove it. Evan bought Tiki a Hall jersey, so Tiki put it on. Then Evan took a picture of Tiki in the jersey, put it on a canvas, and framed it. Hall promptly signed it.
New art for the @EvanandTikiWFAN studio, courtesy of Breece Hall 😂 pic.twitter.com/ezUFCNyY17
— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) August 13, 2024
Of course, their producer, Shaun Morash, a Giants fan, could barely look up from the pain of it all. Morash asked Hall if, in 20 years, he was working for WFAN and someone gave him a star Giants running back’s jersey — would he put it on? “I’m too prideful. I can’t do it,” Hall responded with a smile. Evan shouted, “That’s my running back!”
On himself, Rodgers, and expectations
The start of the interview was funny, but the content of the rest of it was equally interesting.
Tiki asked Hall if he expected to be this good this quickly at the NFL level. “Honestly, yeah,” Hall answered, clearly not lacking any confidence.
Hall admitted that his ACL tear was on his mind early last season, as he experienced soreness throughout a game. He wasn’t worried about eventually getting back to his old form based on what other running backs who suffered the same injury told him. Still, he told Tiki it took until the Jets’ 12th game for him to stop worrying about his ACL altogether.
The Jets running back alluded to his deleted tweet of four footballs after the team’s 30-10 loss to the Cowboys in Week 2. Evan asked Hall if he experienced frustration with his lack of touches early in the season.
“Yes and no. Obviously after games when you’re losing and stuff I was frustrated,” he explained. “But when I look at it from hindsight now, just knowing that they wanted to do what was best for me and not overload me too early and kind of work me into the rotation, so now I’m happy that they kind of held me back a little bit because I never know what could’ve happened, I could’ve overloaded myself and gotten hurt again… I was very grateful they did that.”
Evan and Tiki referred to Tiki’s reaction when the Giants drafted running back Ron Dayne in the first round of the 2000 draft three years after they took him in the second round. Evan called it “bothered,” while Tiki stated he was “motivated.” They asked Hall if he had a similar thought when the Jets took Braelon Allen in the fourth round.
“I was happy; I feel like everybody needs some help, and Braelon’s going to be a big help to this team,” Hall asserted. “I was not mad at all. Obviously, I knew he was going to push me to be better because every year somebody new is coming to take your spot. I had to become a leader, and he’s pushing me every day just like I’m pushing him.”
Evan inquired whether Hall was aware of the rumors that Aaron Rodgers would run for vice president. “I thought it was a joke; I didn’t think it was, like, a serious thing,” Hall said. “I would have been like, ‘Wow, this is crazy.'” But then he added, “He would’ve been doing that while trying to play football.”
Hall noted that he’s been watching 49ers film after reviewing his practice film. Instead of watching the 49ers’ defense, though, he finds his eyes drawn to Christian McCaffrey, because he grew up watching McCaffrey.
At the end of the segment, Evan checked with Hall to see if he knew who the Jets’ Week 2 opponent is. Hall indicated he had no clue, so Evan informed him that it’s the Titans and then the Patriots on Thursday night in Week 3. He concluded, “Let me make this very, very clear: you already know this — beat their a**es. I don’t care if it’s 45-3, you tell Saleh and Hackett, ‘Give me the ball. We’re putting up a 50-burger.'” Hall laughed and said he already tells them that in practice.
The Jets running back is in position to best even McCaffrey for the top running back spot in the NFL. How he performs will be critical to take pressure off Rodgers and give the offense a multidimensional attack.
