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Yesterday at Giants 101, we talked about how Justin Tuck wants to be a more consistent player than he was last season. The two-time Pro-Bowler was a shell of his former self for the majority of the 2011 campaign, playing in only twelve games and recording only five sacks. Frankly, there were games in which Justin Tuck was a non-factor in the outcome. Injuries obviously played a major part in Tuck's decreased production. He battled shoulder, neck, and groin injuries for most of the season.
However, today, Tuck revealed why he thinks those injuries may have occurred.
"I definitely didn't work as hard as I should've last year. The lockout was going on. I took a trip to Africa. There were some things I did in the past that I didn't do last summer."
Generally, football players are creatures of habit. Most, if not all, NFL players have extremely structured and regimented workout routines that are built around that start of OTA's, mini camp, and finally the beginning of training camp. However, with the lockout last season, the offseason was radically different than those of years past.
The lack of structure, along with the ban on contact between players and their respective teams, made it a lot easier for players to skip workouts and made it harder for coaches to make sure their players would be in shape come time for training camp. Justin Tuck himself admitted that he didn't do what he was supposed to do during last offseason. Furthermore, he even began to question why his coaches kept him on the field as times.
"I wanted to be out there," Tuck said. "But I'd go two or three games and just get a half sack. I started to wonder why I was playing when there were other people who could do a better job. There's a difference between playing hurt and playing injured."
Thankfully for the Giants, Tuck eventually got his act together in time for the final six games of the season. During that time, he hauled in 18 tackles and 5.5 sacks. He was instrumental in propelling Big Blue into the playoffs and on to their fourth Super Bowl victory in franchise history.
The mantra "No harm, No foul." clearly applies to this situation. Had the Giants missed the playoffs by a game and failed to make the post season for the third consecutive year, most people would be calling for Justin Tuck's head on a platter after comments like this. Lockout or no lockout, Justin Tuck is an athlete who has a professional obligation to make sure he puts himself in the best possible position to succeed on the gridiron. Luckily for him, the team was able to keep the ship afloat long enough for him to once again become a contributor.
Hopefully, Justin Tuck has learned from last season. He understands that NFL is a brutal league, and nobody is going to bow down to him based upon personal accolades. At age 29, Justin Tuck, if healthy, should once again become a force to be reckoned with on the Giants defensive line.
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Nice piece.
It’s funny winning how we did last year makes everyone doubt us but I think it fires up our squad to prove everyone wrong. We have guys like Tuck, Beatty and TT who are really coming into this season with a chip on their shoulders. If Tuck plays like Tuck things might get scary for OLs.
+1.
I’ve said on a number of occasions that a healthy, motivated Justin Tuck along with a healthy, motivated Osi Umeniyora, and an improved-simply-via-experience Jason Pierre-Paul represents a scary scenario for every offensive coordinator and quarterback in the league. I really believe that teams will almost have to double one of our ends and at least chip the other, meaning there will be incredible opportunities for the defensive tackles and linebackers out there, AND that pass routes will be limited to no more than three receivers in most instances, making the defensive backs’ assignments much easier and allowing them to really become ball hawks this season.
It still isn’t being talked about in most circles, but if they remain healthy this Giants’ defense is going to be beyond phenomenal. Add to that the offense’s productivity and much better special team coverage combined with a very good punter who was starting to perfect sideline targeting at the end of last season and it’s likely that many offensive possessions by opponents will have a long field against a great defense. That, my friends, is a prescription for dominance.
The Giants have a murderous schedule this season. We’ll hear lots of predictions that they’ll be fortunate to win nine games again. But mark my words: no one will want to see this team on their schedule. If they stay healthy I am confident they are the best team in the NFL. That doesn’t mean they’ll win the Lombardi. That requires luck as well as consistently great play at the right times. But people predicting they will perhaps finish third in their own division are going to be trying to pretend they said no such thing by about Week 7.
And seeing that hot girl marry Tiki … damn, why would a 23-year-old doll like that attach herself to such a loser? I give it a year … 2 max.
… less if she gets pregnant … and she should damn well know what Tiki does when that happens.
My final comment re: Cowturd’s remarks that the Giants won the Super Bowl because they were the “healthiest” team.
I can’t be the only one who sees the logical disconnect here.
An ESPN host attributes the Giants successful title run primarily to their good health down the stretch.
The insinuation, of course, being that had all the teams in the tourney been equally healthy, the overmatched Giants likely would not have sniffed a championship.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on ESPN, various and sundry pundits are citing the 2011 Giants’ 9-7 regular season record as “evidence” that they were nothing more than a middle of the pack team who lucked into the postseason and got hot at just the right time.
The insinuation, of course, being that in 2012 the Giants figure to revert to the mean and won’t again be lucky enough to differentiate themselves from the middle of the pack, i.e. no better than third in their division.
And, oh yeah, the fact that the Giants were dealing with a host of injuries during the first 14 games when they posted that 7-7 record remains conveniently ignored.
To sum up:
The Giants postseason success in 2012 was largely a function of good health.
Whereas the Giants 9-7 regular season in 2012 signifies their mediocrity. Health had nothing to do with it.
Got that?
Not that I really give a rat’s behind, mind you. As I said earlier, guys like Cowturd, Marcellus Wiley, Chris Carter, and the rest of ESPN’s merry band of idiots never offer anything in the way of incisive football analysis. As ff55 so aptly termed them, they are “ratings whores,” paid to provoke a reaction and keep people talking about whatever inanities they utter.
Kind of like what I’m doing right now.
So I guess they win again, dammit.
To be fair for the first 14 games of the season the Giants played like a mediocre team. They showed some flashes but were just too inconsistent and yes, were hurt by injuries. Then we got Osi and Tucks mind back, got rid of “small testes Beaty”, switched to more man coverage, and finally became the team they had the potential to be. The Giants from December 24, 2011 – February 5, 2012 were a different team than the one that played the first 14 games.
Unfortunately many T.V. people are predicting us to be the 7-7 team and not the 6-0 team that dominated the final 2 months of the NFL.
Time will tell. I’m somewhere in between. You can’t watch this team and not see the unbelievable potential they have. You also can’t watch them and simply believe they’ll win the division and dominate the regular season. Because under Coughlin that has happened exactly once (2008). Not winning the division, but being dominant. And not losing the 2-3 games we like to blow every year. Games we should win.
P.S. I’m still terrified of Philly. Not to win a SB, the QB isn’t good enough for that. But to somehow find a way to eff up our season.
Can’t believe this shooting in Denver…it’s truly f*cking awful.
But we all know what comes next–there won’t be a thorough examination on the ways that we detect and treat mental illness, nor will there be a sensible discussion on the need to prevent people from acquiring the sort of weapons cache that this guy used in this senseless act of unmitigated violence. No, what we’ll have is a sh*tload of political gamesmanship and hand wringing over the violence in our movies, music, comic books and video games. It will be 1999 all over again, only it will be Batman receiving the brunt of the criticism instead of Marilyn Manson.
Rich Johnston from Bleeding Cool said it best: “The gun lobby, the anti-gun lobby, the conservatives, liberals and libertarians, will all descend like vultures looking for the bits that justify their opinions and blame the deaths on others and they will find them. If he was after our attention, he got it. Soon, we should do our best to deprive him of that…He will be sentenced, he will be jailed, and the friends and families of his victims will mourn. And then we must do the hardest thing of all. We must forget him.”
Actually I just think the movie industry will take a big hit in the near to possibly distant future.
Erie coincidence. I was on vacation July 4th week in Vermont and we saw a 10pm showing of spiderman. About halfway through I run out to have a cig. The lobby of the theater is completely empty at this point and dark. All the theater staff is gone. Anyway I’m puffing on this cig and a white pick up truck pulls up, quiet as h#ll and parks. I’m thinking what is this creepy redneck doing here sitting in a movie theater parking lot this late. I go back in and for the rest of the movie I’m thinking awful columbine type thoughts, like “man this would be the perfect place for some psycho to go on a rampage, please don’t let the redneck in the pick up come in here with a shotgun.” Also keep in mind I’m high as a kite so I’m sure that’s where most of the paranoia came from. But for the rest of the movie I’m thinking about this and where and how I would hide if it did happen. And to see this actually take place is terrifying. My worst, weed induced, paranoid fears coming to life.
Thinking about it, movie theaters are one of the few places in this country where large amounts of people gather without security. Like there is no security presence what so ever. Except for maybe a toy cop who drives around the parking lot looking for teenagers getting high. I think if anything that may change.
But just a truly tragic event. My thoughts go out to all the victims and their families.
Some football thoughts.
People don’t seem to remember but we had the best defense in football for much of 2010. Then “the week 15 game that shall never be brought up again” happened. Then Arron Rodgers and the GB WR’s probably put on the greatest passing display I have ever seen. Season over. Last year the defense was for most of the year a great disappointment. This can be blamed on injuries to TT, Tuck, Goff, Osi, and a horrible Zone based read and react defense put in place by Fewell for most of the season. In fact we almost lost that first Dallas game because our DBacks had no idea where they were supposed to be. Then Fewell started letting them play much more man. Which is what they excel at. Hopefully he keeps that going in 2012.
So I agree with 55′s sentiments that the D should be phenomenal. Like could very well be the best in football. The offense on the other hand I worry about.
Winning the SB covered up a pathetic season form the OL. Bass looked lost at Center. Beatty looked marsh mellow soft in Run Blocking. And for the first time ever, I actually began to worry about our QB’s durability as he took the most hits he’s ever taken in a season. The OL is far and away this teams achilles heal and it has the potential to ruin what could be a great season. It’s not the run game I’m worried about (I think Petrus will help that), it’s keeping #10 upright. Because if he goes down the season is over. That scares me more than anything, protecting our Quarterback.
And as for special teams. I really like Weatherford. Maybe for no other reason than his name isn’t Matt Dodge. And seeing the Giants actually recover an onside kick this season gives me some hope. But our ST coach is terrible. We haven’t put out a good kick coverage or return unit in years. I don’t expect that to change this year. I’ll still be holding my breath every time we kickoff and yelling “just down it” every time we receive.
The big step we need to take this season, (and by the way this is why no one picks us to win more than 10 games) is to not lose those 2-3 games every year to clearly inferior teams. Ever year under Coughlin this happens. And yes I know we beat them twice in the SB but it doesn’t happen to Brady and Bellicheck. They win 12-13 games every year and make the playoffs. That needs to start being us. We have the talent. No more home losses to the Seahawks, Vince Young, and Rex Grossman.
And Eli, I love you and your 4th Quarter swag, but you realize it’s OK to put inferior teams away early. Teams like Arizona, Miami, and the Bills. You don’t need to make these close games every week. You don’t need to wait until there’s no time left to waste to go to work against San Fran in week 10. Anyway that’s the next step I’d like to see this team take. Dominance. If the OL mans up we have a good shot.