Tuck vows to work harder this offseason

Justin Tuck spent a good deal of time during last year's lockout keeping tabs on teammates, making sure they were preparing for the season and ready to go when a new labor agreement was reached. Tuck decided not to hold defensive workouts -- a counterpart to the passing drills Eli Manning and his receivers had at Hoboken High School -- and instead trusted the defensive players to get themselves honed for the 2011 campaign.

Don't worry, we'll be ready, he seemed to be saying with each interview last spring that downplayed the importance of group workouts and team chemistry.

On Thursday, he admitted that at least one very important defensive player might not have been listening to his advice: himself.

"Last year, with all of the uncertainty around football, I might've laxed a little bit in my regimens," he said in the Giants' locker room after participating in one of the team's voluntary offseason conditioning workouts. "But I guarantee you that won't be the case this year."

Tuck does not want another season like 2011. Well, another ending like 2011's would be OK. But for most of last season, Tuck struggled through injuries that dogged him from the preseason. His production was low -- five regular-season sacks -- and so were his spirits. Until late December, when he regrouped and made a conscious decision to ignore his pains, it seemed as if the year would be one for him and the Giants to forget.

Tuck said he wants to work on his endurance and strength.

"They say fatigue can make a coward out of all of us," he said. "And if you get fatigued, you start laxing in things, start laxing in technique and things like that. I think part of the reason I got hurt early in the year is because I let my guard down. I don't see myself doing that this year."

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Tuck has been true to his word. He's been training at the Giants' facility for several weeks, even though Monday represented the official start of the offseason program.

"I'm a New Jersey resident now," he said. "So instead of just sitting at home and watching cartoons, I came and worked out."

He's not the only one working toward improving on last season.

"I think the motivation is always trying to improve, always trying to get better, always trying to become a better player," Manning said.

"Sometimes you can't worry about winning a championship next year. You know how difficult that is. You know that a lot of things have to happen. But you can't always control that. You can control making sure you are doing everything you can to be prepared, to get your workouts, to be in shape."

Tuck said he thinks the Giants can repeat as champions and that the key will be staying healthy. Part of that process is happening now.

"When you get to the top of the mountain, you don't want to go back down it," Tuck said. "You want to stay there. Our motivation will be the same this year. We're going to understand that last year isn't going to have a lot to do with this year."

That apparently includes all of the good -- and the bad -- from 2011.