Tuck steams over Strahan's comments

Justin Tuck had heard they were out there, so when Michael Strahan's comments from earlier in the week came up - the former Giant bashed his old team after its collapse against the Eagles - Tuck sat down on the stool in front of his locker.

"So," he said Thursday with a deep breath, "tell me what he said."

Among other words in quotes distributed by Fox on Tuesday, Strahan, now a studio analyst for the network, said the Giants (who went ahead 31-10 with 8:17 remaining, only to allow four touchdowns in the final 7:28) should be "ashamed" of their performance, said the defense became "soft and relaxed" in the fourth quarter of the game and noted that the Giants lacked a "killer instinct."

None of that would be remotely incendiary or noteworthy coming from another analyst. But for Strahan, who remains close with many of the current defensive players and even gave the unit a pep talk earlier this season, the comments burned.

"I just don't understand how you can be up-talking us one day and then the next day say that," Tuck wondered aloud. "If I'm in that situation, I might just close my mouth and say nothing. But he's entitled to his opinion, and I'm entitled to not really care."

Tuck said he will discuss the comments in a conversation with Strahan at another time. Asked if he will be the one to call his mentor, Tuck gave a terse and obviously defiant "No."

"I am kind of upset," he said. "But me and Stray will talk about it when me and Stray talk about it."

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This isn't the first time a soft-spoken player has come out swinging at a former Giants teammate who had dominated the spotlight as a player. In 2007, Eli Manning stood up to the comments of Tiki Barber, who had questioned his leadership. Now Tuck, whose ability to be a vocal leader on the 2010 team has been an undercurrent throughout the season, has fired back at Strahan.

He did so with respect. "Let me start out by saying that I love Stray to death," Tuck said. "Love him. He's my guy. I wouldn't be where I am today without his guidance and the things that he taught me."

But he did so nonetheless.

As for the actual content of Strahan's words, Tuck disputed those. "I'm not ashamed," he said, "and I don't think anybody in this locker room should be ashamed."

When asked if the Giants had a killer instinct, Tuck gave a less committed answer. "We'll find out," he said. "We'll find out. It doesn't matter what I think. We didn't showcase it. We have in other games, but we didn't showcase it in this one."

Elsewhere in the Giants' locker room, players reacted to Strahan's comments mostly with shrugs. Some pointed out that Strahan was on the 2002 team that led 38-14 late in the third quarter of a playoff game and lost to the 49ers, 39-38. He did not play in the 2006 game against the Titans when the Giants coughed up a 21-0 fourth-quarter lead.

"He may have been [inactive], but he was on that team and we fed off his leadership," Tuck said. "I say that to say this: We've all had times in our careers or teams in our careers where things haven't gone our way. I don't start pointing fingers."

Tuck said he understands that Strahan has to make provocative statements because he's a television personality. But that didn't stop those words from hurting and feeling like a big brother was kicking him and the team while they already were feeling pretty low.

"We played a great 52 minutes and it just wasn't for us," Tuck said of the loss. "Sometimes things happen and you have no explanation about it. And I don't have any explanation. I'm not making any excuses. We played like crap those last eight minutes. But I would never start saying things like that has never happened to anybody else. I'm sure we lost a lot of games when Strahan was here, too."