Giants’ bold talk brushed aside

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Updated: February 2, 2012 11:04PM

INDIANAPOLIS — Five weeks ago, Tom Coughlin’s response to brash Jets coach Rex Ryan’s boasting was simple.

“Talk is cheap, play the game,” he said.

Well, the Giants are talking during Super Bowl week.

New York defensive tackle Chris Canty caught some attention on Wednesday for telling Giants fans to “get ready for a parade on Tuesday.” Of course, the New York tabloids went nuclear when Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had a similar comment a fan rally late last week.

Coughlin just shrugged it off on Thursday. With hundreds of reporters getting nearly an hour to pepper every single player with questions for three straight days, he seems resigned to a little trash talk.

“I’m not sure you can deny talking much in this atmosphere,” he said. “The players have a pretty good idea of what we expect of them. We try to frown on anything that becomes bulletin board material. I think that, for the most part, they’ve done a pretty good job.”

Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork wasn’t bothered, either.

“No, I don’t care about what’s been said,” he said. “They feel confident and we do, too. The game is never won in the papers or through media. … We’ll do all our talking on Sunday. We don’t have to go out and say what we want to do and how we feel. I know we are very confident, they are very confident. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be in the position that they’re in. Both teams want to win, but it’s on game day. It’s not now, it’s on game day.”

Happy to be in Indy: Coughlin again raved about the facilities at the University of Indianapolis, where the Giants have been practicing.

“The facility there for us to practice is outstanding,” he said. “The people there have been outstanding, the hospitality has been great, and the facility is an outstanding facility to practice in. In fact, the weight room was heavily used following practice yesterday.”

The Northwest Indiana players who call that site home are Crown Point’s Ryan Forney and Austin Atherton, Lowell’s Joe Bell, Portage’s Tristan Pearman, Valparaiso’s Matt Wagner, LaPorte’s Greg Wedow, West Side’s Chris Woods, Munster’s Steve Losiniecki, and Michigan City’s Blake Surface.

Injury update: New England tight end Rob Gronkowski (ankle) finally returned to practice on Thursday. He was limited, but he still is expected to play on Sunday.