As a New York Giants' fan, you have to absolutely love the attitude emanating from the Meadowlands these days.
Star defensive end Justin Tuck is the latest player to discuss the embarrassment of last season, and the desire to erase it.
"A lot of people said our fans got spoiled because I’ve been here five years and we made the playoffs four years in a row and we won the Super Bowl. But I don’t agree with that. I think we got spoiled," he said. "We started 5-0 and we kind of looked at ourselves like, ‘Here we go again. We’re going to make the playoffs and blah, blah, blah.’ And then we got hit in our face and we couldn’t respond. So it’s a good thing. I’m actually happy all of that happened last year because now we have to start from square one."
Tuck also expressed optimism about new defensive coordinator Perry Fewell.
"He’s made all the right steps with the players. He has every guy’s back in that room and everybody has his back right now," Tuck said of Fewell. "And that’s hard to say, considering the season we came off last year where people pointed fingers at each other, people were pointing fingers at the coach, people were pointing fingers at the D-line and people were pointing fingers at the safeties, the corners and the linebackers.
"It was bad last year and to be able to make that fresh start like we have so far, that’s encouraging."
Player after player has been quoted similarly this off-season. The common themes -- the embarrassment of 2009, the determination to prove it was an aberration, the praise for Fewell and underlying criticism about the mess Sheridan made, the idea that players are putting in more extra work than they have in the past.
These are all positive developments. Let's just hope they translate into victories on the field.
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Inside Football's Pat Traina and I hosted 'New York Giants Talk' Thursday night. If you missed it, download the podcast. Rick Snider of Warpath Confidential was our guest, and he had lots of interesting things to say about the NFC East rival Washington Redskins.