JPP fired up to face Giants
Former N.Y. star says few teammates called him after he was traded
East Rutherford, N.J. They were longtime teammates and champions on the
New York Giants’ Super Bowl team in February 2012.
Eli Manning and Jason Pierrepaul will add a new dimension to their eight-year friendship Sunday when the Giants (2-7) host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-6) at Metlife Stadium.
They’ll be opponents for the first time.
As he has been the past 15 seasons, Manning will be quarterback for the Giants. Pierre-paul will be playing defensive end for Tampa Bay in his first game at the Meadowlands since New York traded him to the Bucs in March to clear salary-cap space.
Pierre-paul has had this date checked since the schedule was announced.
“Eli is Eli, man. I know one thing: If he’s hot, he’s going to continue being hot,” Pierre-paul said of Manning, who took some heat off himself by throwing three touchdown passes and engineering a late TD drive in the Giants’ win over San Francisco last Monday night. “We’ve got to get after him early and he knows I’m coming. I’m coming Eli, I’m coming. Just letting you know.”
Pierre-paul didn’t get the best sendoff after the trade. Not many teammates called him, although Manning did.
“He’s a leader. I actually learned this from him, he comes in every morning real early,” said Pierre-paul, who has eight sacks this season, two fewer than the entire Giants team. “He started that as a rookie. He never changed. Eli’s a great guy. But I ain’t falling asleep on him. That’s for sure.”
Manning laughed saying, he hopes JPP takes it easy on him.
“He’s getting a lot of sacks and making plays,” Manning said. “I expect him to be fired up. Hopefully we’ve got a game plan for him, and make sure we try to control him.”
The Giants’ offensive line, which added waiver-wire pickup Jamon Brown at right guard, had one of its better performances Monday. Manning, who has been sacked 32 times, was taken down once. Left tackle Nate Solder will probably go against Pierre-paul most of the time.
Since Pierre-paul lines up at different spots, right tackle Chad Wheeler also will go against him. Expect a tight end to chip in.
Tampa Bay has the NFL’S top-ranked passing attack and is also No. 1 in total offense. With 3,251 yards passing, the Bucs have thrown for the second-most yards through the first nine games of a season in NFL history behind the 2000 Rams (3,330).
They’ve had over 500 yards total offense four times this season, but are 1-3 in those games, including last week’s loss to Washington. Turnovers are the biggest reason. They are a league-worst minus-19 and have gone six consecutive games without a takeaway.
Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans and New York’s Odell Beckham Jr. were part of an outstanding class of rookie receivers who entered the NFL in 2014. Evans (5,416) and Beckham (5,282) rank 1-2 among the class in career yards receiving, while Beckham is first with 42 TD catches, followed by Evans with 36. Beckham has 24 100-yard receiving games, tops in the class. Evans is next at 17.