After seeing the Giants lose to the lowly Seahawks on Sunday, it was evident that they could have used the services of Justin Tuck and Brandon Jacobs. Ahmad Bradshaw was unable to get anything significant going on the ground and Marshawn Lynch ran all over the New York defense. While you would think the Giants would be able to pull off a win without two of their better players against a team like Seattle, that was not the case.
Former Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce agrees that the Giants could have used Jacobs and Tuck on Sunday. In fact, he implied the two were milking their injuries and should have been on the field.
“To me, if you don’t have an injury that needs surgery, or that’s severe, you need to be out there,” Pierce said on ESPN’s Mike and Mike in the Morning show. “If you are one of the leaders on the team, which Brandon Jacobs and Justin Tuck are, and you say, ‘You know what, the Seattle Seahawks, maybe we don’t need to play this game,’ and you miss out, that is going to come back to bite you in the tail. You’ve got to play every one. Every one is important.”
Jacobs is used to critics coming after him, so hearing something like this is nothing new for the bruising runner. Tuck, of course, disagreed saying that “would never happen” and telling Pierce to call him if he has a problem with the way he plays the game.
“In a way, he’s right. In another way, he’s completely wrong,” Tuck said. “I’m the captain, so I need to be on the football field. The way he’s wrong is I can’t be on (the field) and help this football team right now. Maybe he should check his facts about what my injury is.”
Tuck also said he can remember Pierce missing some games when he played, which is true. Not only that, but Pierce essentially retired because of a neck injury. He had a herniated disc that would have needed surgery to return, so he decided to call it a career. We aren’t ready to say it’s the pot calling the kettle black, but it’s pretty much the pot calling the kettle black.
