Former New York Giants standout Justin Tuck believes if Plaxico Burress didn't shoot himself in the leg, they would have won another Super Bowl in 2008.
On November 28th, 2008, Burress was in the Latin Quarters in New York when his handgun accidentally discharged and went into his leg.
Burress ended up serving 21 months at the Oneida Correctional Facility and effectively ended the Giants chance at the Super Bowl, according to Tuck:
“I thought if Plaxico didn’t shoot himself, we were the best team in the NFL that year,” Tuck said via Steve Serby of the New York Post.
Tuck said not only did it hurt the talent on the field, but it also distracted the team and kept their mind off of football.
“It played into the fact that we probably had something else on our mind,” Tuck said.
Tuck knew his job as a captain was to get the troops ready to lead, but he was distracted and didn't do a good enough job of getting everyone else ready to play:
“My job as a captain of the team is regardless of what happens, along with the coaching staff, to get guys ready to play,” Tuck said. “I think I was distracted. I think I was trying to figure out the best way to rally the troops, and obviously didn’t do a good enough job of it.”
Giants former running back Brandon Jacobs also echoed a similar message that the Giants were doing something special before the incident with Burress:
“Back-to-back,” Jacobs told The Post. “We were easily better than every team in the NFL that year. Easily. I’m talking about a touchdown, I’m talking about 10 points better than everybody.”
No one actually knows how it would have played out, but it's clear Giants players believe the Super Bowl was already locked up.
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