Talk is cheap

I get that there are football coaches out there who want to make a splash during their first seasons at the helm, but there are two in particular who need to do it by winning — not by talking.

New York Jets coach Rex Ryan and the University of Tennessee’s Lane Kiffin are a couple of loudmouths without shutoff buttons. It seemed the minute they were hired, they went directly after their biggest adversaries — Bill Belichick for Ryan and Urban Meyer for Kiffin — through the media. Keep in mind neither had won a game yet.

Ryan, who said he’s not here “to kiss Bill Belichick’s rings,” added a little more gas to the fire by saying, “How much more motivation are they going to get by putting a quote from me on the wall, saying I believe in my football team and I’m not going to be intimidated by a coach or anyone else? If that’s where you’re going to draw motivation from, hell, we’ll probably kick your (butt).”

Kiffin, who wrongly accused Meyer of a recruiting violation during a function for boosters, has made his team a target for the Gators, the defending national champs who will enter the season at the No. 1 team in the country. Undoubtedly, both coaches are talking the talk to get fans excited again after tough seasons.

“I think he’s brought the team back to life,” 27-year-old Tennessee fan Kevin McGlothlan said. “I think it’s great. I love the cockiness. Tennessee needed cockiness.”

The bottom line is that they both looked like fools, and in the process, only put more pressure upon themselves. What the Vols, who went 5-7 last season, and Jets, missing the playoffs at 9-7, need is not cockiness, nor verbal barbs. They need wins.