Justin Tuck knows a thing or two about beating the New England Patriots.
Tuck was a member of both Giants teams that took down the Patriots on football’s biggest stage. The two-time Pro Bowl selection knows this current New York squad will walk into Gillette Stadium on Thursday night hungry for an upset, but he also understands the odds might be too greatly stacked against the hobbled G-Men.
“Obviously, I love what Daniel Jones is doing. He’s solidified what they saw to draft him that early in the first round this year. You know, he’s going to make rookie mistakes and so on and so forth, but I do think that he is the quarterback of the future. I’m very excited to see him play,” Tuck said Tuesday on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football.” “Thursday night is going to be a tough task. Obviously, the Patriots are on another historic run. Now it’s the defense that’s getting all the noise. Listen, we got a tough task. But I do know one thing about us: The Giants, for some reason, do play very well against New England, especially up there. I know (head coach Pat) Shurmur is going to have those guys ready to play. We’re a little shorthanded. I don’t think Saquon (Barkley) is going to play. In a lot of ways, I hope he doesn’t. I would love to see him continue to get healthy. We’re missing another one of our wideouts and so on and so forth, but there’s no excuses here. This is the National Football League and we got to go up there and play football. Obviously, the Patriots are going to want to come and continue to set the tone and give their fans a lot of things to cheer about.”
Unfortunately for New York, its key injuries might extend beyond Barkley and Sterling Shepard. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Tuesday there’s a “real chance” starting tight end Evan Engram also will be sidelined due to a sprained MCL. Jones already was in store for an uphill battle given how well the Patriots’ defense has been playing this season, but with no high-end playmakers at his disposal, he could be bound for a disastrous evening in Foxboro.
Kickoff for Giants-Patriots is set for 8:20 p.m. ET.
