On The Twelfth Day Of Trash Talk The Giants Gave To Me...

Have you survived the craziness of the Christmas crowds? Were you spared from the Air Jordan 11 Retro midnight madness, which started well before the stroke of twelve? Are your ears still bleeding from all of the trash talk that has taken place in New York this past week? If you answered, "YES!" to any or all of these questions, you just might be ready for some football.

I don't think it was any secret that the week leading up to the New York Giants vs New York Jets game would be replete with a blathering Rex Ryan. In fact, it would have been a shocker if we did not hear from him. It might not have come as a surprise to hear some of the Jets players running their mouths either. It seems like a prerequisite to be on Ryan's team. The man likes drama. What can you say? Even the media, ESPN in particular, joined in on the hype. Let's take a look at some of the crass Christmas caroling.

Last Monday, the crew at ESPN First Take had a heated discussion in where the panel was split like the Hatfields and McCoys, sans firearms. The discussion was largely based around the two New York quarterbacks. The result: Team Eli and Team Sanchez. Twilight fans would be proud.

Some of the key comments from that interview:

Ryan Stewart: "I don't know who Mark Sanchez is. He has always been a little questionable."

Jon Ritchie: "You can't hide Mark Sanchez, for his deficiencies, if you don't run the football. He's a very average quarterback and you can't throw slants all day long. He's not good enough. Rex Ryan has done what he's been able to, to cover up his flaws."

Skip Bayless: "When Eli is bad, he is sub-Sanchized."

Jay Crawford: "You also can't spell eliminated without Eli."

Ryan and co. have been more than just a little rambunctious this past week. The boisterous coach of the Jets cited that they were the "best team in New York." Ryan, reportedly adds a photograph to each week's playbook. This week, on the cover of the book, is a picture of Jets' linebacker, Calvin Pace laying a hit on Eli Manning during the preseason game. Incidentally, and not credited to Pace's tackle, Manning came up after the play with a gash in his forehead and bleeding profusely.

Santonio Holmes spoke out against the New York Giants secondary,

"They're poor-tackling guys. There are plays to be made over their head." He called out Corey Webster in particular, "I can't wait to see him on Saturday. I hope he's ready to bring his A game."

Giants linebacker, Mathias Kiwanuka on the subject of presume chatter,

"Talking trash isn’t going to help you out there on the field. Some people need to do it to get themselves amped up. We’re not that kind of team. When we’re clicking, we’re clicking because as a group we decided that we’re going to do this. When you’re out there on the field it's football. People are going to talk to each other, but in my opinion there’s no sense in talking before the game or in the media or in the locker room. You have to go out there and prove it. That’s what we’re all about. We’re about going out there and beating people up and making sure that they understand why we came to play."

Tom Coughlin summed it up nicely on Wednesday,

"I just say, regardless of the talk, it will be decided at one o’clock Saturday afternoon. Regardless of what is said. Talk is cheap, play the game."

It is time for the New York Giants to bring out the Big Blue broom. Not only do they need to sweep the next two games. They also need to clean up all of the trash talk that has been directed towards them. Downplaying all of the hype, or chiming in for that matter, will prove meaningless if they can not go o ut on the field and take care of business.

Jets' Calvin Pace outlined the design for defeating his team,

"Typically, if you look at our season, that’s how we’ve been gashed, with big plays down the field."

The problem for the Giants is that they suffer from the same problem.

The week of trash talk is over. It is time for these two "Snoopy Bowl" rivals to put up or shut up and go home. The good news, it's not a very long trip for either team.