Justin Tuck chooses to support his former team rather than 'be the typical New York Giants fan right now'

Justin Tuck knows times are tough for the Giants, but he remains a believer that his former team can improve its fortunes even after a 1-4 start.

Speaking on Wednesday at Sportico’s “Invest in Sports” conference in Manhattan, the two-time Super Bowl-winning defensive end said, “I for one am going to be on the side of support and not be the typical New York Giants fan right now.

“But it’s tough. I do believe they still can kind of right the ship and find some solace in this season, but it’s an uphill journey.”

Tuck spoke primarily about his transition from football to business. He currently is a managing partner in private wealth management for Goldman Sachs.

But he still follows the Giants closely.

“I know how hard it is to play in this league,” he said “I know the parity of the talent in this league just continues to get tighter and tighter every year. When you have a team like the Giants that has some key injuries, it’s hard to replace those.

“I can sit here and see how Andrew Thomas [being injured] at left tackle is hurting us right now, and Saquon Barkley, that is a lot of production that we are not getting right now. The offensive side of the ball is putting our defense in some situations we don’t really thrive in, and once that ball starts going downhill and you have teams like Miami and Buffalo this week and the talent that is on those teams, it can turn into a three-game losing streak.

“I know that team is frustrated, I know [Brian] Daboll is frustrated. But I also know that team is going to fight. That team is going to go out and try to figure this out.”

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.