Ranking Justin Tuck’s 10 Greatest Games With The New York Giants
By Neal Lynch
6. New York Giants 17 at Philadelphia Eagles 27
Sunday, November 21, 2010
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With the First Pick
With the Giants down 16-10 towards the start of the fourth quarter, on third and 11 from Philly’s 32, Tuck got his second sack, forcing Michael Vick to cough up the ball, which Barry Cofield recovered. The Giants would turn that into generous field position into a Eli Manning passing touchdown to go up by one.
Later in the fourth with the Giants holding on to the one point lead, Tuck sacked and stripped Vick again on third and forever from the Eagles 45. But, this time Vick was able to recover.
On the next drive, the Giants were able to only get one first down before punting back to Philly. The ensuing Eagles drive stalled at the 50 yard line. On fourth and one, Philly went for it and LeSean McCoy took a handoff to the house for the game-winner.
The loss dropped the G-Men to 6-4 and would eventually set up what would be the division-deciding game at MetLife when DeSean Jackson crushed Big Blue’s playoff hopes.
5. Chicago Bears 3 at New York Giants 17
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Justin had three sacks, seven tackles, and a forced fumble in a Sunday Night Football contest that saw the Bears go through three quarterbacks.
Tuck’s first sack came with 11:25 remaining in the second quarter on a first and 10 from the Bears’ 35. On that play, Justin stripped Jay Cutler.
The Giants would carry a 3-0 lead well into the third quarter before tacking on the final two touchdowns via rushes by Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs.
With the game in the bag, Tuck got to Caleb Hanie with just over three minutes remaining in the game on third and 10 from the Giants 42.
The win evened New York’s record at 2-2 and was the first of a five-game winning streak. Big Blue would then inexplicably lose a very winnable game to Jon Kitna and the Cowboys at home. That divisional loss would also contribute to the Giants losing the tiebreaker to the Eagles and missing the playoffs.
4. New York Giants 24 at Washington Redskins 17
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Tuck had four sacks, setting a personal single-game best. Justin played every single snap for that Giants defense that day.
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With 1:35 remaining in the 3rd quarter and the Giants down by three, 14-17, on third down and nine yards to go on the Washington 46, Tuck took down Robert Griffin III for a loss of eight yards. At that point, Washington had a 63.4 percent chance of winning.
Before that sack, Tuck only had 1 tackle, an assist that came in the first Washington drive of the first quarter. But the fourth quarter belonged to Justin. His next two sacks came on the same drive…
With 14:20 remaining in the fourth, on first and 10 from the Washington 22, Tuck got to Griffin for a loss of 3 yards. The Giants had the lead by that time, 21-17, and Washington had about a 25% chance of winning.
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Two plays and less than two minutes later, on third and three on Washington’s 29, Tuck sacked Griffin for a loss of 7 yards, dropping Washington’s chances of winning to 18.2%.
On Washington’s second to last drive, on their own 26, on first and 10 with 7:27 remaining in the game, Tuck got to Griffin for the fourth and last time.
The 24-17 win gave the Giants their fifth victory of the season, upping their record to 5-7. It came one week after losing the division and any chances of making the playoffs to the Cowboys. The next two weeks would be embarrassing losses to San Diego and Seattle.
For his work, Tuck earned NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors. Unfortunately, 2013 would be Tuck’s last season with the team despite collecting 11 sacks and 63 combined tackles. It would also be his third most valuable season with the G-Men, accruing an approximate value of 9. Only his efforts in 2008 and 2010 had higher values.
Next: THE TUCK DOESN'T STOP HERE