Tebow 6,971, Giants 2,104 -- The Way Both Teams Like It

Tim Tebow and the New York Jets 6,971. Hakeem Nicks and the New York Giants 2,104. These are the word counts generated by the major stories involving New York's two NFL teams last week, as charted by Sports Illustrated football guru Peter King.

King is virtually apoplectic over this turn of events, calling it "Tebowland" and writing in his Monday Morning Quarterback column, "This is where you lose me with the Tebow stuff."

Does this surprise anyone other than King? It shouldn't, and it certainly does not surprise me. This is the way both teams like it.

The Jets live to make headlines any way possible. They haven't beaten the Giants on the field in pretty much forever. The Jets won the Super Bowl back in 1969. The Giants have won it four times since then, including twice in the last five years, and have appeared in the Super Bowl six times since Joe Namath led the Jets past the Baltimore Colts.

So, the Jets settle for winning the battle they know they can win. That, of course, is the battle for the back pages. Tebow keeps Gang Green in the headlines. As did signing former Giant Plaxico Burress before that.

The defending Super Bowl champion Giants? They just collect rings and concentrate on winning. They know that if they do that, the headlines will come for the right things at the right time. That is, for winning. Not for being a team that makes personnel decisions based on the headlines they generate.

Maybe someday the Jets will learn what is actually important. That would probably be the biggest surprise of all.