Ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles' 27-0 Sunday night thrashing of the New York Giants, there seemed to be an inordinate amount of venom spewed through the media from both sides - the Eagles' team website even going so far as to release a hype video involving Philly-raised actor Bradley Cooper talking a little smack about the Giants.
In the wake of the loss though, Giants' head coach Tom Coughlin, who has a long-standing mantra of "Talk is cheap. Play the game," told his players in no uncertain terms that he's not happy with the vitriol, and to knock it off in the future.
"Coughlin has already preached the 'talk is cheap; let your shoulder pads do the talking,'" defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka said. "We had a lot of meetings [Monday], and it's been reiterated that [the talk] didn't get us a win. We have to focus all of our energy only doing things that will help us win. We understand the message."
Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul and safety Antrel Rolle both took shots at the Eagles during the week leading up to the game, with Pierre-Paul commenting that Philly could very easily have a worse record had a few things not gone their way, and Rolle asserting that the Eagles - who won the NFC East last season - did so only because the rest of the division was so weak.
"Especially with what went down all week, for [the Eagles] to respond how they did and for us to respond how we did just doesn't sit well," cornerback Prince Amukamara said.
Players seemed to understand Coughlin's feelings on the matter and received the message seriously. Kiwanuka suggested that there won't be any further pointed comments from the team this season or anytime in the future.
"From the very beginning, this has been a first-class organization, especially when it comes to respecting your opponents and never doing anything to cast a negative light on this organization," Kiwanuka said. "We get it. We understand it. We'll move on from it."
