Hakeem Nicks reads the newspapers just like the rest of us. Playing in New York, the Giants wideout is aware of the perceived struggle for backpage tabloid attention with the rival Jets.
Nicks has seen Rex Ryan and Co. generate one headline after another this offseason (adding some guy named Tebow in the process) -- but no matter. The Giants aren't invested in outdueling the Jets for attention. Two Super Bowl titles in five seasons holds more weight than chatter about getting to one.
"Man it feels good," Nicks told WFNZ-AM in Charlotte, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. "We look at it like, the Jets ... they can get the credit. They like being in the limelight. We feed off of our coach. Our coaches (say) don't talk and play the game. I think that is what we feed off of. We know what we are capable of doing. We don't gotta sit here and boost ourselves up. We'll go out there and prove out on the field. That's what we did."
Rex Ryan this week spoke of a tight Jets "brotherhood" heading into 2012. The subtext here is learning to do what the Giants have already done -- minus the drama. Big Blue was far from perfect last season, but they found a way to band together when it mattered most, a quality in short supply in East Rutherford.
Ryan arrived with great bluster in 2009 and injected the Jets organization with confidence. It fueled the roster, but some of that talk has backfired. The way Nicks sees it, Ryan might own the headlines, but it's very clear which team owns New York.
