Some like it hot.
Justin Tuck, for one.
Upon hearing that former Giants linebacker and captain Antonio Pierce believes head coach Tom Coughlin and almost every other Giants player is “on the hot seat” after last year’s 8-8 season, Tuck isn’t hiding from the heat. Instead, he’s embracing it.
“I understand where he’s coming from,” Tuck last night said of Pierce’s comments. “We didn’t have by our standards a successful year last year. A lot of people said our fans got spoiled, because I’ve been here five years and we made the playoffs four years in a row and we won the Super Bowl, but I don’t agree with that.
” I think we got spoiled,’’ Tuck said. “We started 5-0 and we started looking at ourselves as ‘Here we go again, we’re going to make the playoffs.’ And then we got hit in our face and we couldn’t respond to that.
“It was a good thing. I’m actually happy all that happened last year. Now we have to start from square one, we’ve got a new defensive coordinator we’re got a new approach in practices. I’m glad we’re hanging under the radar, I’m glad the Jets are getting all the headlines, I’m glad no one’s talking about us, I’m glad we’re picked to be third or maybe fourth in our own division, that’s cool with me, because if you know anything about the Giants, that’s when we thrive. I know what this team is made of, and we’ll find a way to get back to the top.”
Tuck spoke while standing on a red carpet watching many of his teammates and assorted celebrities arrive in downtown Manhattan for a billiards tournament to raise funds for Tuck and his wife Lauran’s R.U.S.H. for Literacy, which donates books and other reading materials to children in the New York City and Central Alabama communities.
The added tension to this upcoming season is welcomed by Tuck.
“Listen, you have two Pro Bowl defensive ends [himself and Osi Umenyiora] and you draft a guy [Jason Pierre-Paul] 15th. That’s a good thing. Sometimes a fire needs to be lit. Sometimes you can be complacent in being the number-one guy and knowing you’re going to be the No. 1 guy. That’s cool with me. I love friendly competition. It makes everybody better.”
Last year’s defensive debacle resulted in the ouster of one-and-done coordinator Bill Sheridan, and thus far Tuck sees new defensive coordinator Perry Fewell as a major factor in the planned rejuvenation of a unit that in 2009 shamed the franchise.
“Right now he’s made all the right steps with the players, he has everybody’s back in that room and everybody had his back,” Tuck said, “and that’s hard to say considering the season we came off of, people were pointing fingers at each other and people were pointing fingers at the coach and people were pointing fingers at the D-line and the safeties and the corners and the linebackers. It was bad last year. To be able to make that fresh start so far, that’s encouraging.”