Giants-Eagles war of words will be decided on field

Yakety yak. With some media egging them on, the Giants and Philadelphia Eagles continued to talk back to each other Friday, apparently sticking with the old dehumanize-the-enemy approach.

Accusations of football incompetence, answered with charges of deficiency in math, then an Eagles posting on Twitter mocking Giants quarterback Eli Manning's courage.

The conversation -- if that's the word -- has veered far from football. Really, though, what is the difference between an Eagle and a Giant?

"That's a little personal," said 10-year NFL veteran Mike Patterson, now a Giant after spending eight years as an Eagle. "I can't answer that."

So Giants running back Rashad Jennings, who Friday was ruled out of Sunday's game with a knee injury, offered to answer the question by "giving you something philosophical."

"I was at Liberty University," he said, "and we were the Flames. So a flame is a flock of eagles together, soaring in the sky. An eagle is the only bird that can soar about the weather. And a giant is the only thing that puts fear into everyone who can move."

Got that?

SEE PHOTOSHistory of the Giants-Eagles rivalry

It sounded as reasonable as anything else to be found in the week's noise pollution. And now that the game is almost here, the Giants began to insist that the physical on-field discussion is all that matters, anyway.

"No. No. No. No," were defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul's answers to the latest questions about comments from either side, though he did mutter the predictable parting observation that "we don't like Philly."

In a purely respectful sense, of course.

"Me, personally," Patterson said, "I laugh at [the back-and-forth parleying], just for the fact that I've been on both sides. I kind of know those guys and I know what's going on here, so ain't nobody too worried about a comment. A little extra for the fans, to get them to watch. I really hope the whole world's going to be watching on Sunday night.

"At the end of the day," he said, again stating the obvious, "it's going to be about what you do on the field."

Just as predictable was Giants coach Tom Coughlin's message about the week's silly repartee: "Talk is cheap. Play the game."

Coughlin said he was "disappointed" by the chatter. "I don't read everything and I don't see everything, but I hear enough,'' he said. "Some of them, quite frankly, don't know how to offer a compliment and then get out of the next question."

Notes & quotes: The Eagles' "deficiency in math" charge had to do with Pierre-Paul saying the 4-1 Eagles "could have easily been 0-4'' . . . Linebacker Spencer Paysinger (hamstring) will not play. Defensive end Robert Ayers Jr., who showed up Friday with back spasms, and linebacker Jon Beason (foot, toe) are listed as questionable. Cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (ankle, hamstring) and punter Steve Weatherford (ankle) are probable.