NFL

Tuck season: A Giant re-emerges after 4-sack night

The number that excited everyone might as well have been surrounded by spotlights, as four sacks gets top billing every time. But what might be, if not more impressive, perhaps more telling to the future of Justin Tuck is he was on the field for all 69 defensive snaps in the 24-17 victory over the Redskins.

The last time he wasn’t involved in any sort of rotation and did not miss a single play? Tuck had to think for a moment.

“It would have had to be the year that Osi [Umenyiora] got hurt. … I think the year after [Michael] Strahan retired,’’ Tuck said Monday, referring to 2008.

That’s a long time ago, back when Tuck was embarking on his first Pro Bowl season and truly establishing himself as next in line as one of the Giants pass-rush terror defensive ends. Five years later, he was putting together a solid but unspectacular season, chugging along with 2 ¹/₂ sacks in the first 10 games, contributing mightily to the vastly-improved run defense before he erupted and sacked Robert Griffin III four times, all in the second half at FedEx Field.

“The good and negative thing about the New York Giants is that we keep a lot of high quality defensive ends around, so it’s hard to play every snap,’’ Tuck said. “It was fun [Sunday] night being out there the whole time because it allows you to get into a rhythm and I think I kind of benefited from it in some regards. My body isn’t telling me that right now, but it was fun [Sunday] night.’’

Tuck admitted he was “pretty sore,’’ but “it’s nothing I can’t deal with.’’ He is trying to finish up his ninth year with the Giants with a flourish, which would help general manager Jerry Reese determine if Tuck, 30, is part of the immediate future and should be re-signed. Tuck’s contract is up after this season.

It was altogether fitting Tuck said the first text message he read after his career-high four-sack performance was from Umenyiora, who after a decade with the Giants now plays for the Falcons.

“I’m sure you guys can figure out what the gist of the text was about,’’ said Tuck, adding “He politely said that I was close.’’

Umenyiora holds the franchise record with six sacks in a game, against the Eagles in 2007. Tuck’s eruption was just the sixth time a Giants player had four or more sacks in a game. Lawrence Taylor did it twice, Strahan and Pepper Johnson (4 ¹/₂) each did it once and Umenyiora got a half-dozen in one memorable game.

Tuck’s best sack season was 12 in 2008 and he has never been considered a one dimensional pass rusher, mainly because he often moves inside to defensive tackle and attacks the run as well. He says he feels this year he has been “more of a complete player’’ and the four-sack outing was great, but not indicative of one monster effort.

“I feel like I could have had a few games like the one last night, if everything fell into place,’’ he said. “I feel like I’ve had games where I was in the backfield a lot, disrupting plays and was … half a second away from sacks.’’

Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka never left the field against the Redskins and that defensive duo may have to deal with an increased workload down the stretch. Jason Pierre-Paul missed a game for the first time in his career and is dealing with a shoulder injury that will linger, meaning there’s a chance he may not be able to play again this season.

“I don’t think so … I don’t think it’s in that position,’’ coach Tom Coughlin said of the possibility of shutting Pierre-Paul down. “I can’t answer these questions any more than I’ve tried to. We really don’t know what his status will be this week until we get a little bit, probably closer to Wednesday. He hasn’t done anything in a week. He’s been treated and he’s rested and hopefully there’s going to be some progress made and we’ll see what that looks like when we start to practice.’’

Rookie Damontre Moore played a career-high 17 snaps on defense against the Redskins, but managed no tackles and one quarterback hit. Coughlin said if it is possible, he would like to include Moore in a four-man rotation at defensive end, if Pierre-Paul returns.