Winning a Super Bowl can allow a NFL head coach a little bit of candor in his public statements.  Winning two super bowls allows a coach a ton.

New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin took full advantage of that yesterday when he couldn’t resist taking a jab at the “cross-town” rival New York Jets and their recent player acquisitions (ie: Tebowmania in NYC). Here’s what Coughlin had to say about the Jets recent acquisitions:

“You know who won the Super Bowl, you know who the world champions are,” he said. “Whether we’re on the front page every day or not, it’s not that important. New Yorkers know.”

Ouch, little bit of a burn there or what? The best part about that statement is that it pretty much rings true. The Giants go about their business, generally not making too many crazy headlines (minus Brandon Jacobs i guess) and they just go and win two Super Bowls in five years. The loudest Giants in the media are ex-Giants Tiki Barber and Michael Strahan.

Meanwhile, over in Jets country, you’ve got Rex Ryan flapping his gums every other week, talking about winning Super Bowls like he is a fat and sober Joe Namith, showcasing the entire team on HBO’s Hard Knocks, making free agent signing splashes that, all combined together…gets them essentially nowhere. Nowhere, that is, if you consider your season to be a bust if a Super Bowl ring was not won.

Anyway, it is nice to see Coughlin finally give up a little of the “hard ass” persona in his interviews with the media. Generally this is a guy who can make Bill Belichick look like charming. Maybe he’s finally getting soft in his golden years?

If so, I am loving it.

Let’s recap; father of the year Tiki Barber would like to resume his dormant NFL career because of his pending divorce and failed broadcasting career desire to compete again. Barber shit all over his teammates, and his former coach. He smugly flaunted his Today show gig until they dropped him like 3rd period French. Now alone (not counting his 24-year-old girlfriend), broke, and hated by everyone, Barber is trying to rebuild his shattered image. Too bad, some of the guys he played with, and against, also have platforms to express their opinions.

Make me smile, NFL.com:

“I didn’t think much of him when he did play,” Sapp said. ”I mean that’s the whole point. He was a fumbler all the way through his life, and then all of a sudden, somebody taught him how to hold the ball up high and then he (left the Giants) and said, Eli (Manning) can’t lead them and they’ll never win a championship.

That kind of lends to who I’m talking about. This is the same guy. This is all encompassed into the same thing. There’s no way you turn your back on your teammates that block for you, that gave you the ball on short fields and did whatever they did. … There’s still no reason for you to attack your teammates.”

Strahan didn’t disagree with that assessment.

“Sapp is 100 percent right,” he said. “Only thing is, if it comes to playing football, he can play.”

To reiterate, Tiki Barber, 36, would like to resume his NFL career after five seasons away. He apparently has some interest from a couple NFL teams and should get down on his knees and pray to the NFL owners for opting out of their deal with the Players Association, inevitably delaying free agency and possibly training camp, and making his return much more likely.

There’s no need to go into the abuse Jay Cutler took during and after the Bears’ loss to the Packers in the NFC Championship game. He was getting it from all sides. Current and former players, commentators, journalists, fans and half-ass bloggers (including yours truly) were killing him for not playing the second half. People even tried to get on him about walking up the stairs while going to dinner Sunday evening. Won’t someone please think about the children!

There were plenty of questions about Cutler this whole season even as he lead them to the NFC Championship game. The questions weren’t so much about his durability or heart. He took a beating all season especially against the Giants who sacked him 10 times in the same game. Todd Collins was forced to come in for him and was promptly injured. Nice to see him reprise his role on Sunday by not wasting any time getting injured again.

The doubts surrounding him were more about his abilities. He threw the most interceptions in the league last season and had a tendency to throw ridiculous ones this season although he managed to not repeat his feat from 2009.

You can put T.O. and Michael Strahan among those who don’t think much of Cutler’s skills. Check this video from last week’s episode of the T.Ocho. show. They wasted no words slaughtering him (which is stunning).

“Least favorite”. “Color blind”. “…Slinging the ball around like free loaves of bread in the ‘hood.” Tell us how you really feel. Fantasy owners must have the same