Justin Tuck and the NY Giants better hope he has something left

[Nas]

Justin Tuck and the NY Giants better hope he has something left

 

Read more: http://www.nydailyne...6#ixzz2ZznXygXG

 

 

Everything about the Giants' defense is predicated on generating a pass rush – something they might not be able to do without a revived Tuck.

 

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

 

Wednesday, July 24, 2013, 3:28 PM

Chris O'Meara/AP

 

 

Justin Tuck needs to regain the form that gave Tom Brady and the Patriots fits in the Super Bowl.

 

 

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Justin Tuck can see the end from where he's sitting, just like everybody else. His NFL career is undeniably winding down, even if he does have more years remaining than everyone seems to think.

Ask him, and despite the bitter disappointment of his play last season, he says he's got another 6-7 seasons left. Ask Giants GM Jerry Reese, and he says Tuck's "got a lot of tread left on his tires." Ask scouts who've watched him, though, and they'll talk of a player with diminishing skills, slower speed and a body that's just been too beat up over eight NFL seasons.

 

Given all that's at stake for the Giants and Tuck this season, they desperately need those scouts to be wrong.

Tuck, now at the old NFL age of 30, has said all the right things since last season ended about his renewed focus and commitment, his determination to prove he's a better player, his dissatisfaction with his play in recent years. But as the Giants like to say, talk is cheap. The real game for him begins on Friday when Giants training camp begins.

That's when Tuck will arrive with as much to prove as anyone on the roster, and maybe with more riding on his shoulders than anyone but Eli Manning. With Jason Pierre-Paul sidelined by back surgery at least through the summer and maybe longer, Tuck needs to prove he's capable of much more than the nine sacks he's totaled the last two regular seasons. Everything about the Giants' defense is predicated on generating a pass rush – something they might not be able to do without a revived Tuck.

And without a revived Tuck there would be a personal cost as well, since he's entering the final season of the five-year, $30 million contract extension he signed in 2008. It was once unthinkable that the Giants would let Tuck, one of their most popular stars, inch so close to unrestricted free agency. Now, based on his recent play, it's hard to see them offering any kind of long-term deal at all.

Ron Antonelli/New York Daily News

 

Justin Tuck says he's not satisfied with his performance for the Giants the last couple seasons.

 

So in other words, there's not much riding on Tuck's shoulders this summer: Only the Giants' defense, possibly their season, and maybe his NFL career.

That's why Tuck has spent so much of the last few months in self-evaluation mode. He told ESPN he even tried a Tony Robbins seminar in Los Angeles where he walked over hot coals to help find his own inner fire. He's probably had more heart-to-heart talks with more people than he ever thought he'd need at this stage of his career, including one shortly after the season was over with Reese.

"Obviously Justin hasn't played as well as we think he can play and what kind of player he has shown to be in the past," Reese said a few months ago. "And he knows that. Justin and I recently had a really long conversation and talked about some of those things and he really wants to get back to the old Justin Tuck and be the player that we know him to be."

What he should be, at this stage of his career is Michael Strahan. Maybe he's not on that Hall of Fame level, but he was supposed to be Strahan's heir-apparent as the face and heart of the defense. It's a young, struggling defense now and there's no Strahan or Antonio Pierce to pull it together. The fiery Antrel Rolle is still a major factor, but in many ways the defense gets its pulse from Tuck.

The last two seasons that wasn't much of a pulse at all – except for six weeks late in the 2011 season when Tuck magically looked like his old self. In a six-game span he had 5 1/2 sacks and was a dominant presence on defense. The Giants didn't lose any of those games – including a 21-17 win over New England behind Tuck's two sacks in Super Bowl XLVI.

That bright spot was an aberration, though, not a turning point. In 2012, Tuck endured yet another injury plagued season and said "my performance was nowhere near what I envisioned for myself." What he envisions for himself in 2013 is bounce-back season where he's a force again on defense and nobody thinks for a second that he's almost done.

There's a long way to go for Tuck and the Giants, and it won't be easy up front without Osi Umenyiora (now with Atlanta) and the sidelined JPP. It's Tuck's pass rush now. It's Tuck's defense. In some ways it's Tuck's team. And it better be Tuck's summer, too, otherwise it could be the beginning of the end of Tuck's Giants career.

Read more: http://www.nydailyne...6#ixzz2Zzntenkk

 

[RandolphScott]

Amazing. Dude has only started from 2008 to now.

[Tempest]

This talk is just that, talk. When he was drafted there were concerns about his knee and I think his dedication to the game. Eight seasons later the knee is good and he's had other injuries. I don't look at last season and think of it as what is to come but a blip on a career that has been stellar so far. You compare him to Michael Strahan and guess what, Tuck has been asked to do more to help this team win. Justin Tuck will be just fine for the 2013 season and then we'll be back to talking about salary cap and who do we keep.

[RandolphScott]

Tuck has never been asked to do more than Strahan, that's crazy talk.

 

Tuck has had way more defensive playmakers than Strahan ever had during his peak years. Strahan had Armstead, Hamilton and Jason Sehorn for 2 prime years before his knee blew out.

 

Stray never got to play with anyone like Osi or JPP.

[Nas]

The article does raise a legitimate concern about Tuck and his fall from grace... let's be realistic, he's a shell of himself and this is a make or break season for him. I guess that explain (another reason) why the Giants drafted Moore.

[Sephiroth]

Good article. Tuck is a tough guy to figure out. He's a good public speaker and says all the right things, but his body language sometimes says his heart isn't in it. Remember when he kept getting bullied by Flozell Adams?

[Nas]

Good article. Tuck is a tough guy to figure out. He's a good public speaker and says all the right things, but his body language sometimes says his heart isn't in it. Remember when he kept getting bullied by Flozell Adams?

 

I wouldn't say bullied but at times he looked completely winded...

[NeMesiS]

I thought for sure he was going to get cut... I know I would have. Even if Tuck has a 10 sack season... I don't think the Giants are not going to re-sign him.

 

Sorry Giants fans, better start saying your good-byes.