In the midst of all the banter going back-and-forth between the New York Jets and the New England Patriots, the NFL office issued a statement Saturday that took issue with the trash talk.
"...Players' controversial comments could be taken into account in evaluating any potential disciplinary action that results from illegal hits or other banned physical acts in this weekend's playoff games."
"League spokesman Greg Aiello on Saturday confirmed the communication from Ray Anderson, the NFL's executive vice president for football operations, to the clubs. There was no indication whether Anderson, the league's chief disciplinarian, specifically named any players."
More after the jump...
Now, it's clear that New York and New England are at the center of this statement -- though the trash talking going on right now in the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens game is intense. It will be interesting to see if Jets' head coach Rex Ryan's mental strategy -- which works extremely well -- of provoking his players to make these type of trash-talk statements backfires on him.
The "Hoodie", New England head coach Bill Belichick, has a pretty firm grasp on his players when it comes to this stuff.
Do you think it will be a factor in Sunday's game?