Coughlin's message for Giants: 'Shut up and play'

The recently, and conspicuously, silent Tom Coughlin finally opened his mouth between his rosy cheeks again and had a succinct message for his trash-talking Giants team: “Shut up and play.”

The Giants head coach had some choice words for his loud-mouthed team Monday — a day after its season was all but ended by the Dallas Cowboys — and after the home Giants spent a full week leading up to Sunday's game goading the visiting team.

“Talk is cheap,” a clearly annoyed Coughlin said. “Play the game. I don’t see anything that gets accomplished by the verbalization part of it. We’ve never been a team that has been one to provide bulletin-board material.”

Puffing out their chests — thanks to a four-game winning streak built on a fortunate stretch against mediocre quarterbacks — the Giants were at their brashest in months. Jason Pierre-Paul guaranteed a “bloodbath,” and Terrell Thomas promised a win, even telling the Cowboys they could put that guarantee up on their bulletin board.

All that did was rile Dallas so much that defensive tackle Jason Hatcher smeared fake blood onto his face after the game to mock JPP. And by Monday, Coughlin exploded.

“‘Talk is cheap, play the game’ is my policy and I, quite frankly, was unaware of the two (guarantees) that were made and people made a big deal about,” said Coughlin, who added he would mention his disdain for trash talk in a team meeting Wednesday. “I don’t believe in that stuff. I think you play the game.

“I understand there was a little bit of it last week and I don’t believe in any of that,” he added.

Still, on Monday, there was the Giants' defensive team captain, Justin Tuck, delivering more of exactly what Coughlin doesn't believe in. A Twitter post showed Tuck's two Super Bowl rings on a pair of fingers, with a finger in the middle conveniently left bare.

“And for all the cowboy fan on my TL,” he tweeted.

But the rest of the Giants seemed humbled by the heartbreaking loss, admitting that Dallas threw them into the un-recyclable bin. 

“They got the win, they beat us twice this year, so they have the right to talk trash,” said Cullen Jenkins. “You can’t get irritated with it now, you should have done something about it during the games.”

“They won the game, they have the right to be as happy as they want to be,” added safety Antrel Rolle.

Amani Toomer: Romo is 'best quarterback in NFC East'

Amani Toomer can expect to get a lot of boos the next time he steps foot in MetLife Stadium this season— big time. Yesterday, the former New York Giants receiver  came out of nowhere and said Tony Romo, not Eli Manning, is the more elite quarterback.

Toomer called Manning— his former teammate and the guy who lead him to a Super Bowl XLII championship in 2008— the second best quarterback in the division while pumping up Romo's credentials at Manning's expense.

"Tony Romo is probably— if you look at him statistically— he's probably the best quarterback in the NFC East," Toomer said as co-host with Tim Ryan on 'Move the Chains' on SIRIUS radio.  "I mean, you look at Eli Manning and what he does in the fourth quarter.  But you talk about consistency . . . talk about 31 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions.  That guy can play."

Before Giants fans start comparing Toomer's comments to former Giants running back— and current Giants' pariah— Tiki Barber's diss of Eli a couple of years ago, remember Toomer is a radio analyst who is looking to give his unbiased opinions of the game.  Barber was just a disgruntled broadcast wannabe looking to lay his shortcomings on someone else.

Even after Ryan agreed with Toomer's adulation of Romo, he tried to throw his co-host a lifeline by stating the fact that Manning has two Super Bowl MVP trophies and championships to show for his career while his rival's mantle has zilch.

Toomer still wouldn't let go of his love for Romo.

"OK, that's fair," Toomer acknowledged.  "But I'm talking about for me, if I wanted a guy that is going to throw fewer interceptions and be more productive, higher completion percentage, I'm going to go with Tony Romo."

"I want a guy who is dropping dimes at crunch time," responded Ryan.

"At crunch time he's not as good as Eli but every other time he's pretty damn good," said Toomer.

Later, Toomer acknowledged he forgot Manning played in the NFC East (?) but wouldn't back down, "I stand by what I said."

Toomer's comments got Twitter abuzz with comments from the Giants camp.

Giants PR executive  Pat Hanlon tweeted: "QB or golfer?"

Giants defensive back Terrell Thomas posted: "Man toomer my dog and a great giant, helped me a lot as a young rook but aint no way romo better than Eli...both good QB's but...Well"

Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora prepared Toomer for the inevitable: "They will be Booing my guy toomer at Giants stadium.  That we can agree on"

You have to love that the DE still calls it Giants Stadium.

Manning finished the 2011 season with a QB rating of 92.9— still less than Romo's 102.5— but, after it's all said and done, the Giants quarterback was the one holding his second Lombardi Trophy over his head last February.

The two quarterbacks had one face-to-face meeting in the post-season.  In 2007, Manning's Giants defeated the No. 1-seeded Cowboys in Irving, Texas.

The Giants and Cowboys open the 2012 NFL season with a rare Wednesday night game on Sept. 5.