How much indignity can the New York Giants take in one week?

First, their fans were banned from buying playoff tickets against the Bucs. Then, the team couldn’t find acceptable lodging in the Tampa area.

And now, worst of all, the G-Men have been slandered by vicious trash talk from one of their upcoming opponents.

NEW YORK NEWSDAY reports that Tampa Bay cornerback Ronde Barber welcomes the chance to eliminate Eli Manning & crew on Sunday: “Of course we want to play the Giants. They (win) ugly, (Jeremy) Shockey’s hurt and Eli has been inconsistent.”

The comments were spoken on Sirius Satellite Radio’s “The Barber Shop”, a show co-hosted by Ronde and his brother & former Giant RB Tiki. The Dec. 18 quip was in response to who would Ronde rather play between the Vikings or Giants.

The words are already up in the Giants’ locker room, and they’re already providing inspiration. Antonio Pierce responds, “I think it’s beautiful. We like being known as the one team that shouldn’t be here.”

While Brandon Jacobs jabs, “They haven’t been winning so pretty, either. There’s only one Patriots.”

The ASBURY PARK (NJ) PRESS gets Michael Strahan’s reaction to the Barber barbs: “I don’t care what Ronde says. That is his opinion. I love Ronde. Ronde is a really good friend of mine, but it really doesn’t matter. It is not going to make us play any harder. It is not going to make me hate him. It is a game. I will hug him right after the game, and hopefully we will be the team that wins the game.”

But Strahan does add, “Hopefully, we can make him eat his words.”

This has indeed been a trying week for the Boys in Blue & Gray. But what does not kill them only makes them stronger. Or gets them some good tee times on Monday.