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Talk Is Cheap, Play the Game took an unexpected and vicious holiday the minute Giants 29, Jets 14 ended yesterday.
That was when Giants running back Brandon Jacobs became the mouth that roared back at Jets head coach Rex Ryan.
“Rex Ryan is a disrespectful bastard,” Jacobs said to ESPN, later adding, “The Jets have a big-mouthed, big-bellied coach that talks too much.”
All the animosity and bad will Ryan has spread across Big Blue Nation over the past three years was shoved back in Ryan’s face both on the field and after the game by the lead bully of a Giants team that bullied Mark Sanchez and the Jets — their little brother Jets — and kept their NFC title hopes alive with the Cowboys showdown looming a week from today.
Jacobs message for Ryan?
“You need to shut up,” Jacobs said. “He’s a great coach, and I take nothing away from him. Comes from a great coaching family, but he just needs to shut up.”
That was Jacobs’ message delivered through the media. On the field after the Battle of New York, Jacobs delivered his message in person.
“Well you know I didn’t really say too much to him,” Jacobs said.
“I know he told me, ‘Shut the F up. Wait ’til we win the Super Bowl.’
“And I told him I’ll punch him in his face.”
Jacobs was asked if he had said something to Ryan prior to that exchange.
“I told him out of all of these Giant players on this football team, you’re talking to the wrong one,” Jacobs said.
Was that the first part of the conversation?
“I wasn’t talking to him. … He just came out of nowhere and started at me,” Jacobs said. “It was a great win for us. I don’t want to harp on that.
“We’re gonna celebrate this win, and I’m gonna let him have the worst Christmas he can have.”
Jacobs said that Ryan went after him “the way his pops [Buddy] went after [Kevin] Gilbride. And ran afterwards.”
Jacobs was informed Ryan had admitted he was wrong and conceded the Giants were the better team.
“He woke up the morning after their game last week knowing that,” Jacobs said. “He just felt that he needed to give himself and his team some confidence. That’s all.”
Ryan’s reaction to the rift?
“We had a private conversation. That’s all I’ll leave it as. Whatever. He doesn’t like me. I respect him but I could care less about him.”
Jacobs then bowled over Jets fans.
“I think we had more fans in the stadium than they did, and that’s the way it was supposed to be because it’s Giants Stadium … aka MetLife stadium,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs was thrilled the Jets were on the schedule at the perfect time.
“I’m glad we had we had the Jets after the loss that we had against Washington,” he said. “I knew that they were gonna fold, no matter what, to be honest with you, the way they been playing. And who am I to talk about the way they’ve been playing? We haven’t played great. But I knew that they were gonna be the ones to crack because as far as them as an offense, I don’t think they have what it took to beat us.”
Jacobs was asked about the level of disrespect the Giants felt from Ryan. “We didn’t really pay attention to it, to be honest with you, ’cause we knew that’s what we were gonna get. … No matter what happened, we knew that’s what we were gonna get as soon as he had an opportunity to run his big fat mouth. We knew that.”
Does this validate the way Tom Coughlin goes about his business?
“Shut up and play,” Jacobs said. “And that’s what he tells us and that’s what he’s still trying to get across to me.”
steve.serby@nypost.com