INDIANAPOLIS — The tan suit Justin Tuck picked out for the charter flight from New Jersey yesterday was completely intentional.
The Giants wore black suits on their trip to the Super Bowl four years ago as a toast to their underdog status, but Tuck said he and his teammates were all business for a reason this time.
“We don’t feel like we’re the underdogs this time,” the veteran defensive end said during a session with reporters yesterday shortly after the Giants’ arrival at their downtown Indianapolis hotel for Super Bowl XLVI.
Technically, the Giants are 3-point underdogs to the Patriots, but Tuck said his team’s sky-high confidence — no doubt compounded by the fact New England isn’t 18-0 as in 2008 — prompted the decision to skip the “Men In Black” theme for the rematch.
“It was everybody’s personal decision on what to wear,” Tuck said. “I can’t account for how everybody else felt, but I definitely wasn’t going to wear black this time.”
The Giants will remain all-business throughout the week, too. Curfew for players is stricter than it was for their last trip to the Super Bowl, as they will now have to be in bed by midnight every night through Friday and then by 11 a.m. on Saturday.
That wasn’t coach Tom Coughlin’s doing, however. Instead, the stronger curfew was by way of a vote from the players’ leadership council.
“We have a job to do here, and that’s the only thing we’re focused on,” Tuck said.
Coughlin said the roughly two-hour flight from Newark International Airport started uneventfully and initially reminded him of a trip to any other game on the Giants’ schedule.
But it didn’t take long for the vibe to change, Coughlin said, as players started to document the moment and revel in Big Blue’s remarkable ride from 7-7 a month ago to the cusp of a second Super Bowl victory in just five seasons this Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“The players were excited,” Coughlin told reporters during his first official Super Bowl Week news conference. “It was the video cameras and all that stuff.”
Security was tight at the Giants’ hotel upon their arrival, as a large group of fans was practically quarantined behind ropes in the lobby. Several players acknowledged their presence, though, by coming down to sign autographs.