Mauigoa brothers, Sisi of the Giants and Kiko of the Jets, ready to face off against each other in preseason finale
Sisi Mauigoa is a rookie starting guard for the Giants and Kiko Mauigoa is a second-year inside linebacker for the Jets. Credit: Getty Images/Mike Coppola; Ed Murray
Blustery Rex Ryan once tried to position games between the Giants and his Jets as a sibling rivalry with a “big brother” and a “little brother” fighting for dominance.
This week, a decade and a half later, his hyperbolic analogy finally may become reality.
The two New York-area teams are scheduled to face each other in the last preseason game of the summer on Friday at MetLife Stadium, an annual meeting before they depart for their often separate regular-season schedules. This iteration, however, will not only include a Mauigoa brother on each roster but hold the enticing possibility of them going head-to-head against each other on the field.
Kiko Mauigoa is a second-year inside linebacker for the Jets. Sisi Mauigoa is a rookie starting guard for the Giants.
The two were born in American Samoa, went to high school in California and Florida, then played collegiately together for the University of Miami. They have never been on opposing teams in their lives, never mind had to block or elude each other in live action.
That could change on Friday.
It is something each is very much looking forward to, they told Newsday.
“Either the older brother is going to tell me he is still the older brother or I’m going to tell him that I’m no longer the younger brother,” Sisi said of the upcoming clash. “It’s one of those moments.”
Somewhere, Ryan is smiling.
There may be some playful smack talk, but it is not a certainty that the brothers will get to smack into each other. Sisi plays with the Giants' starters, so he’ll likely be on some kind of a snap count before coming out of the game. Kiko generally is a second-stringer behind starter Demario Davis. But with Davis, 37, being in his 15th NFL season, Kiko theoretically could replace him earlier than some of the other backups get into the game. Kiko has played with the starters this summer more than just about any other Jets understudy.
That would lead to a situation in which Sisi has to block Kiko and Kiko has to try to get around Sisi.
If that happens, don’t expect either of them to ease up on the other.
“Oh, hell no!” Sisi exclaimed, recoiling at the idea of giving his brother a pass. “It’ll be a little more! Obviously I always give 100%, but when I see him, it’s going to be 110%.”
Added Kiko: “He’s a good player, but I am going to give him everything I got. If I get an opportunity to put hands on him, I’m going to put some hands on him. And then after the game we’ll be back to being brothers. That’s how we’re going to go at it. We’re just going to be us and do what we did when we were little.”
The Mauigoa brothers did collide in practices a few times when they played for the Hurricanes, but back then, they weren’t always lined up for one-on-one conflicts. Sisi was a tackle in college so he mostly faced edge rushers and ends; Kiko was in the middle of the field.
Once in a while, however, the coaches would orchestrate a duel between them. Usually the brother playing his normal position would come out on top.
“They sometimes had him lined up at defensive end against me,” Sisi said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t go well for him. But then there were times when I would climb up to him [at the linebacker level] and he would shave me and get the tackle and I would have to be like ‘OK, I’ll get you next time.’ It was kind of like 50-50.”
With Sisi now at guard, they would be in a more direct line to square off if they are on the field together.
“Hopefully they don’t pull me out for that one too,” Sisi said of his potential snap count limit, a phenomenon he was not a fan of in his first two preseason games.
The brothers haven’t gotten to spend much time together since their training camps began last month. Before that, though, they got to see each other often while training and traveling.
Kiko, who already had been here a year, helped Sisi get settled in the area. They went to a Mets game at Citi Field and got to chat pregame with Mets pitcher Sean Manaea, also from American Samoa.
They even went to American Samoa together, their first visit as two NFL players.
“That was special,” Kiko said. “We got to go back home and see family a little bit, go back to our roots and where [we] came from, where our football started. It’s a blessing to have that type of moment.”
This week a similar reunion will take place at their new home in New Jersey.
“A lot of family will be pulling up for that game,” Sisi said.
They’ll be back, too. Often. The Jets and Giants won’t face each other again this season, but the Mauigoa brothers’ parents, Lia and Sia, who live in Florida, will be spending plenty of time watching both teams play at MetLife.
“I told them they have one home stadium now, so they can come every Sunday,” Kiko said. “Whoever is at home, they can come watch that game every Sunday, so they don’t have to go anywhere else.”
On Friday, there will be nowhere else anyone in the Mauigoa family could possibly be.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
