Eli Manning Justin Tuck
(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

During Landon Collins’ second annual Celebrity Charity softball event on Saturday, two of Eli Manning’s former teammates, Justin Tuck and Shaun O’Hara, spoke with the media briefly to come to the defense of their former quarterback.

Saturday saw a reunion of former and current New York Giants as they came together for Landon Collins‘ second annual Charity Softball event to raise money for the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Foundation.

The highlight of the night came when the former head coach and founder of the Jay Fund Foundation made a surprise appearance.

The event pit Team Jacobs, which was captained by former Giants running back Brandon Jacobs and consisting of players from the Super Bowl 42 and 46 team, against Team Collins, captained by safety Landon Collins and consisting of current Giants players, competing in dodgeball, a home run-hitting contest and, finally, the softball game.

During the festivities, two former Giants, Justin Tuck and Shaun O’Hara, took a break and spoke to the media about their former quarterback, Eli Manning, who led them to Super Bowl glory. They each spoke about how he’s been treated the last several years.

“They’ve wasted the last few years of Eli’s career, they’ve wasted his prime,” O’Hara said. “It’s been hard to sit and watch that happen. I’m glad to see that they found a way to correct it, but Eli can still play the game.”

O’Hara also added that Manning’s brother, Peyton, set the NFL record for touchdown passes with 55 at the age of 37 back in 2013 and that there’s no reason to think Eli Manning, who turned 37 in January, doesn’t have a lot left in the tank.

Justin Tuck echoed O’Hara’s sentiments.

“I agree with him (O’Hara),” Tuck said. “We all know what Eli can do when he is healthy and when he has comparable athletes around him. I don’t think he had those. Anything other than that, you are just lying to yourself.”

Tuck also said about speaking of the current Giants that the youngsters pick his brain because he has a lot of knowledge to offer.

As far as how the softball game went, Team Collins defeated Team Jacobs 21-7. Davis Webb was the star of the game hitting four home runs and fielded several ground balls. He was so good those struggling New York Mets may want to send him that tryout invite right now.

But on Saturday night, everyone was a winner as the event raised $35,000.

Jason's first love was football while growing up in northern New Jersey. For the past three years, he has covered the New York Giants, as well as several boxing events along the East Coast.