Too often in the NFL when players talk they fail to back it up. Making good on Joe Namath like guarantees, such as in Super Bowl III, are often few and far between. Just three weeks ago we got to hear our home town Giants players boast about how they were going to go out and beat their rival Cowboys only to lay a big egg. This week another home town player has thrown the gauntlet down, at his team’s expense, by disparaging the defensive ranking of his opponent.
Just yesterday, Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes called the Carolina Panthers pass defense the weak link of their NFL second ranked defense. Possibly he was just trying to interject confidence into his own team’s 30th ranked passing attack. But who is Santonio Holmes to be spouting “trash talk”.
Holmes has hardly played this season. His 16 catches for 381 yards are not what is expected from a team’s top receiver. Granted, his production is down because he has not played due to leg injuries. But he hasn’t played much for the Jets in the past two years. So why stir up trouble for your team especially rookie quarterback Geno Smith?
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Holmes, a Super Bowl MVP, has negotiated a number of legal problems throughout his career. That is one of the reasons he was traded to the Jets by the Pittsburg Steelers in 2010. Two years ago, Holmes, then a team captain, was benched in the Jets final game of the season for allegedly quitting on the team. Since then he has hardly played after going down with a Lisfranc injury in week four of the 2012 season. Now before an important game, against a quality opponent, he decides to sermonize.
It will be interesting to see if Holmes will back up his verbose comments come Sunday afternoon. The Jets crosstown rival's coach, Tom Coughlin, has often said regarding trash talking, “Talk is cheap, Play the game.” But playing is something Holmes has not done a lot of since that day he quit on his teammates, his coaches and his fans…
