The New York Giants built a new pass rush this offseason that could be the team’s catalyst to success. Big Blue’s defensive line has elite potential this season after trading for star edge rusher Brian Burns, combining him with Dexter Lawrence and Kayvon Thibodeaux to create a lethal pass-rushing trio.
Expectations are high for the Giants’ defense this season with the addition of Burns. One Giants legendary pass-rusher took it upon himself to issue a challenge to the new trio, telling them they have no excuses not to be great this season.
Justin Tuck issues a challenge to the Giants’ new pass-rushing unit
In a recent interview with Fireside Giants, franchise legend Justin Tuck set high expectations for the team’s new pass-rushing trio and issued a challenge to Burns and company:
“I think it’s a lot of pressure that goes on the offense when you have multiple people who can get after the quarterback,” Tuck told me on Fireside Giants. “So I say that, but I also issue a challenge to those guys, knowing that they have to have big years, because there is no excuse. The amount of one-on-ones those guys are going to see because of the talent we have around that D-line, they gotta go out there and perform and be after the quarterback at a tremendous level.”
The presence of Burns on the defensive line should open up more favorable opportunities for Thibodeaux and the rest of Big Blue’s pass rushers. Burns commands attention from opposing offenses. They will game plan to slow down the two-time Pro Bowl talent. As he gets double-teamed, one-on-one opportunities will open up for Thibodeaux, and vice versa.
Thibodeaux is a special talent in his own right. He’s coming off an 11.5-sack season in 2023. Entering the third season of his career, Thibodeaux is lucky to be playing alongside two elite pass rushers in Burns and Lawrence, who should free up favorable opportunities for him as a pass rusher.
Tuck also detailed how the Giants’ strong pass rush will help take pressure off the defensive backfield:
“And again, that’s only going to make everything else good. If you have cornerbacks that have to cover three-plus seconds, offenses, and quarterbacks, and wide receivers are too good to put those guys on an island that long. So it’s just gonna make the rest of the back end of our defense even better if we get after the quarterback and make those quarterbacks have to throw the ball quicker than they want to.”
Getting after the quarterback will be the Giants’ top mission on the defensive side of the ball this season. As Tuck detailed, there are no excuses for this front seven. They have as much talent as any other pass-rushing corps. It’s on the players to live up to expectations and rack up the sacks this season.
You can check out the full interview I conducted with Justin Tuck for Fireside Giants and Empire Sports Media below:
Justin Tuck discusses his recent soccer clinic with Abbott and Real Madrid
Tuck also discussed the value of cross-training in multiple sports and spoke highly of a recent soccer clinic with Real Madrid and Abbott that he participated in during the interview:
Abbott and Real Madrid asked us to come out and a put our skills to the test. So I got the opportunity to come out of retirement and play the other football, which was a lot of fun since my wife and my two boys are avid soccer players and soccer fans. I’m a soccer fan. I’m not a soccer player at all. So my skill set coming into this was very poor.
But again, getting the opportunity to work in these clinics with Real Madrid coaches, you know, to take the athletic ability of me, which is great, and put it into a the soccer setting was phenomenal. And then, after I was sore and tired and had sweated a lot, getting the opportunity to refuel with Ensure Max Protein, had us wanting to go back on the pitch and work some more. So, it was fun. was, it was a lot of things that I hadn’t got exposed to from an athletic perspective.
It obviously makes me more of a fan of soccer, given the fact that you kind of see the skill set and the ability that lot of these players have, which is, I think, unworldly. It was just a lot of fun. And the best thing about it, honestly, was just, again, putting yourself and getting exposed to something you hadn’t done with a lot of your friends and people you respect in the athletic and entertainment space. So yeah, really, really enjoyed it.
