BAD TIME TO CALL A PASS
JPP calls this one Super important
Jason Pierre-Paul knows just how important this week’s game against the Eagles is, and he’s calling for the team to be Super prepared for Sunday.
“Honestly, it’s a must-win game,” he said. “I know we need this game. It’s a division game. I don’t see us going 0-3. We’ve started 0-6 before. This team, we’ve got good talent. We have to come together.”
PierrePaul was not done there, stating exactly how the Giants should be approaching Sunday.
“I just think every football game — this is how I see it and this is how I play — go out there like this is a Super Bowl,” he added. “We got one game to play, go out there and this is a Super Bowl. Don’t worry about the 14 games we have left. Go out there and play like this is the Super Bowl and you’re coming up with a win.”
Earlier in the week, head coach Ben McAdoo said it was good to have an edge when asked about people counting the team out.
Pierre-Paul seems to have embodied that edge.
He even provided an impassioned defense of the recent criticism of Eli Manning — mostly from his coach — and did not sugarcoat the problems surrounding the offensive line.
“Eli is a great quarterback. I’m just saying that from the bottom of my heart, not just saying this for everybody to hear, but he is,” Pierre-Paul said. “We need to block up front. That’s just the point of the game.
“When you play football, it starts up front. It starts with the defensive line. It starts with the offensive line. So, we have to play our best on the defensive line. Offensive line has to play their best. So, they’re going to come out and do good this week. All this week has been just rushing to the ball because we’re putting an emphasis on it. So, I think they get the picture."
The Giants better hope they get the picture or they could be staring at 0-3 with an 0-2 division record while the Eagles could be atop the NFC East at 2-1 with a 2-0 record in the division.
Even if things start to click, that would be a pretty tough hole to climb out of.
And while many point to the 2007 Giants starting the season 0-2 and going on to win the Super Bowl, PierrePaul has been on teams that have gotten off to poor starts and did not have such luck — particularly in 2013, when they began 0-6.
The Giants defensive end does not see that happening, though.
“I don’t see the players that we have are going to allow that,” he said. “Even with our defense, last year we started off pretty bad and we picked it up. …We have to actually do the work. That’s what we did and we finished on one of the top most defenses.”
Pierre-Paul can talk all he wants about how crucial the game is and what the team is doing to improve, but the Giants need to show results and he knows that.
“At the end of the day, we care about this team and to hold it together, we have to be accountable for everything,” he said. “Our actions speak louder than words. That’s what I always live by. Action speaks louder than words and whatever you put on tape is what you’re going to see on the field.”