Giants realize they let one get away last year

Jun 16, 2009 - 9:18 PM By TOM CANAVAN AP Sports Writer

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.(AP) -- The New York Giants know they let the 2008 season get away.

Coming off their stunning Super Bowl win over the previously undefeated New England Patriots the season before, the Giants weren't satisfied after making the circuit of chicken dinners and getting their championship rings from Tiffany.

"I think we had a lot to prove last year," defensive end Justin Tuck said Tuesday between practices at the Giants mandatory minicamp. "People were saying the Super Bowl was a fluke, we were the hot team and kind of played out of our minds in the Super Bowl game."

So the Giants came back for the 2008 season with a chip on their shoulders and went 12-4 to earn the top seed in the NFC.

However, the season ended with a monthlong controversy. With the team 11-1 and in first place in the NFC East, Plaxico Burress shot himself in the thigh in a New York nightclub in late November. He was eventually suspended by the team for the final four games of the regular season and placed on the non-football injury list, which also sidelined him for the playoffs.

The Giants lost three of their final four games and were eliminated in the NFC semifinal by the Philadelphia Eagles.

It was a bitter ending to a season that had led to hopes of two straight titles.

"I believe we all think we could have had two (rings)," kicker Lawrence Tynes said. "I think it makes you a lot hungrier now. We were the No. 1 seed and you lose at home to a division rival, that's pretty much a slap in the face. So it makes everyone a lot hungrier."

Halfback Brandon Jacobs believes losing Burress was the key for the Giants, noting that the team breezed through the schedule when Burress was in the lineup and provided a deep threat from his receiver position.

"When we had him, and I will say this every time I talk, we win," Jacobs said. "It's just like we walk through the playoffs and we do all the stuff we had been doing all season long."

Jacobs said the Giants are eager to prove themselves this season. He noted that the return of injured defensive end Osi Umenyiora will help the defense and that young receivers are stepping up to replace Burress, who was released in April, and Amani Toomer, who was not re-signed.

"It's definitely a motivating thing for me as a player, and as part of this team and for a lot of other players in this building, to come out and show we can win 12 games next year and go a bit farther," Jacobs said.

Receiver David Tyree, whose spectacular catch on the winning Super Bowl drive that Eli Manning capped with a TD pass to Burress, feels that same hunger on the team, along with a sense of humility.

"I don't think there wasn't a person in here who wasn't looking forward to the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. the New York Giants in the Super Bowl," Tyree said. "That was the ticket that probably would have went for something last year. The bottom line was we fell flat when we had an opportunity in the playoffs. We played a great regular season but everyone knows that means nothing."

Center Shaun O'Hara said the setback made him appreciate winning the Super Bowl more.

"I think it makes you even more eager to get back to that," he said.

Manning doesn't sense a change in the attitude this season. He sees a team still trying to get better.

"We felt we had a good team last year," the quarterback said. "We had opportunities and we just didn't take advantage of them the way we could have. Only certain times you feel you have all the right guys in the right spots and you feel like you have playmakers and people are special and you can be a great team. We felt that. We didn't take advantage of it."