NFL

Serby’s Q&A with Giants RT Justin Pugh

Rookie right tackle Justin Pugh, one of the few Giants offensive lineman who isn’t banged up, gave some healthy responses in a Q&A with Steve Serby.

Q: Describe Your on-field mentality.

A: I’m the type of guy doesn’t want to sit back and let things happen, I want to make things happen out there. And now in the NFL, not always being the biggest guy or the most experienced guy, you gotta go out there and fight, and I think that’s something I do. I’m from a blue-collar family where nothing’s given to you, you gotta earn it, and I think going out there and earning the respect of my teammates is something I’m working on right now.

Q: Do you play angry or mean?

A: I think [offensive line coach Pat] Flaherty says, if you play angry or frustrated, it affects your play in a negative way. But if you can play with that mean streak — where you go out there and you finish your blocks, do everything to the whistle, and then you get back in the huddle — that’s the way you take care of it. You don’t do anything after the play or any of that cheap stuff where you’re kinda like a punk. I like to go out there and physically beat my guy up between the whistle, and then go back to the huddle and have him thinking, “Oh, I gotta do this again.” So try to make that guy quit.

Q: How do you beat Chiefs outside linebacker Justin Houston?

A: Just get on him and be physical. He’s a physical player, he’s got great motor, so I gotta finish the play and fight longer than he does.

Q: How would you sum up what it’s like being a New York Giant?

A: There’s added pressure being a New York Giant. You’re in the capital of the world, basically. The standard that they have set here, the bar is very, very high — obviously, two Super Bowls in the last five years. You’re expected to win, you’re expected to win year in, year out. I’ve never been anywhere else, but I know that this is one of the best organizations in football, and it’s definitely first class, and I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of any other organization.

Q: How scary was your concussion in training camp?

A: It definitely was a little nerve-wracking. I never had a concussion before, I didn’t really know what it was like, so when I got hit originally, I just kinda shook it off. And then as the day went on, my headaches got worse and I had sensitivity to light, and I just felt off.

Q: You were an Eagles fan growing up. Any favorite players?

A: I liked Tra Thomas, Jon Runyon, Brian Dawkins, [Donovan] McNabb was a Syracuse guy. Watching the Eagles, I grew up watching the Giants, too, because of all the tough battles they had, so growing up seeing guys like Brandon Jacobs and being in the locker room with him now. … [JJustin] Tuck, Mathias Kiwanuka, seeing how they terrorized the Eagles (chuckle), and now you get to play with those guys is definitely an honor. And obviously Eli [Manning] , [Chris] Snee, [David] Diehl … I watched those guys growing up too.

Q: You also played defensive line in high school?

A: I got a pick-6, it’s online. One-handed.

Q: Did you spike it?

A: I did like the LT [LaDanian Tomlinson] where I kinda like just held it up like that as I ran into the end zone. And then I ran off the field and I was celebrating with everybody and forgot to go out there, so we got a penalty for the extra point because that was delay of game.

Q: Coach Tom Coughlin wouldn’t like that.

A: Yeah I know, but it was a Pick-6, you give up a little bit for that (smile)

Q: Describe Eli.

A: If we go out there and give him some time, he’s gonna make us look good, make everyone look good like he has for the past 10 years.

Q: Coach Coughlin.

A: Him and [former Syracuse coach Doug] Marrone, everything was you had to be five minutes early. There’s no hats, earrings in the building, no cell phones. They always stayed in your locker room. So obviously, I think Coach Coughlin is real big on the little things. You do the little things right on and off the field, you’re gonna be successful. So I think Syracuse definitely prepared me for the type of atmosphere I have here.

Q: What is it like blocking Jason Pierre-Paul in practice?

A: He’s a great athlete. I saw him play when I was at Syracuse and he was at USF, and he had like two pick-6s against us, and we were getting ready for the other defensive end and he came out of nowhere. It definitely helps you get better when you’re going against one of the best.

Q: What was the practical joke played on you by Eli and Snee in training camp?

A: We went out to dinner, we were in like the back room, and they brought me out a bill for I think it was $10,000. And I was thinking like, “What’s going on? I can’t pay this right now,” I didn’t get my contract, it wasn’t even in my bank account yet, so I had no money. I was looking at [fellow rookie Eric Herman], I’m like, “Hey you’re gonna have to give me a couple of bucks here ’cause I don’t know how I’m gonna be able to pay for this.” And then they told me they were just messing around, they brought out the check, it was only for like 700 bucks. I didn’t let it show, but I definitely was nervous.

Q: What drives you?

A: I hate losing at anything. I love to compete in everything I do.

Q: Your biological dad, David, passed away from a heart attack when you were 13.

A: It was tough for me, being 13 years old. My parents got divorced when I was in first grade, that’s when I ended up moving to the new town that I was in [Holland, Pa.]. My dad worked in NASCAR, and he sold like souvenirs, back in late ’90s, early 2000s, you would go to a race, there would be these big trailers, and my dad would sell souvenirs out of the trailers. He did well, he traveled all over the country, it was a big business, but then everyone started selling things online. That’s kinda when his business didn’t work out anymore, so he had to stop doing that. He didn’t go to college, so he ended up working random jobs here and there and finally settled down in North Carolina. Two months before he passed away, I went down and worked with him for a whole month down in North Carolina, he was putting in cable into the ground. So like from the cable box down off your street up into your house, we would dig the trench up into your house. That month was miserable for me … every day wake up at 5 a. m. … I think at that point in time — I was in seventh grade going into eighth — that I realized I was like, “I’m definitely getting my college education.” After that, I was actually in detention in Middle School — I guess I was late too many times, I don’t know what it was that I was in trouble for. But I remember my stepdad came and got me out of detention, and he told me, and it was … I was devastated. I mean, I was a 13-year-old kid. Losing your father is definitely something that’s tough. And I think my stepdad was huge getting me through that, ’cause he had lost his dad a couple of years prior, too, so he had just gone through the same thing, even though he’s a lot older than me. It’s still the same thing once you get down to that bare level of when you’re just devastated. It’s still tough, my dad’s family, just being around them. … I look just like my dad. My grandmom is constantly saying I look like him and like always reminding me of it. It’s something that is tough, but at the same time, I know how proud he would be of what I’m doing now. And it’d be kinda cool to see what his response would be, ’cause he never was really big into football, and I was just getting into football when he had passed away. He was in the Navy, I got his dog tags tattooed on me, so I always have ’em with me.

Q: Describe your mom Carolyn.

A: She’s a sixth grade teacher. She does everything for me. She’s that person I go to when I gotta talk about anything. … She cries at all my games. Every game she comes to, she cries. I just rented my apartment, my mom came home and furnished everything for me and did all that stuff that I can never do. So she made it look presentable. So yeah, she’s a saint.

Q: Why does she cry at every game?

A: I don’t know, you have to ask her. I think she just gets like so worked up. She knows I’m gonna do well … but she just gets scared something could happen, or I might not play well, or someone might say something bad about her baby, you know? (smile). So I’m glad she doesn’t have any of the social media because people get pretty ruthless on there (chuckle). Everyone always tells me, “Your mom was crying before we even got into the stadium today.” I give her a hug and just laugh about it.

Q: Tell me about your stepdad.

A: His name’s Frank Gavaghan. When him and my mom met, he had two older boys, so I have two older brothers that are 10 and seven years older than me. When I first met them, it was rough. I was little back then, they would gang up on me. I was babied by my mom and my sister, then I get into the household where there’s three men, so I had to start doing the chores around the house. If my brother was told to cut the grass, I was told by him to cut the grass. But it actually the best thing that ever happened to me, they definitely toughened me up. When I moved in I had my two older brothers? And then next door there was four boys. So literally every night, we were either playing street hockey, tackle football outside, everything that kids do in the neighborhood. My stepdad taught me discipline, he taught me hard work. He didn’t go to college either, but he worked his way up. He’s a construction worker and now he’s a superintendent. His company built [MetLife] Stadium. He became that kind of father figure to me once my dad passed away. He was the one who grounded me, or whenever I did anything bad, I had to answer to him.

Q: Describe your childhood.

A: I would always be kind of like getting myself into trouble, I was a sore loser. I’d throw a tantrum when I would lose. I guess it kinda worked out well for me because that competitiveness is what’s gotten me to where I’m at today, I hate losing still. My grandma had this checkers board, and I never lost ever. And the reason I never lost is ’cause if I ever lost to somebody, I never played that person again (chuckle). I would always beat my grandmom, and finally she beat me this one time, she always says I never played her again after that.

Q: Three dinner guests?

A: My dad, he passed away when I was in eighth grade; George Washington; I got seven best friends, so I probably would do a dinner with all of us — we’re one unit, so that’s why I would do that (smile). I grew up with these guys since like second grade.

Q: OK, it’s your Q&A, name each guy.

A: Mike Perkiss; Jason Laderman; my roommate who I live with now, he works for Nickelodeon in the city, his name is Corey Radel: Jake Lerner; Jarred Dorfman; and then I got my two buddies, Andrew Leace, he goes to Penn State right now, he just got a job engineering down in Washington, D.C., so he’ll be at all my Redskin games down there, and last but not least, my buddy Harrison Green, he’s actually a football coach down at University of Southern Alabama. It’s crazy ’cause he never played ever, and like he’s working his way up the ropes. He was at Penn State, and GA’d there, he’s constantly calling me, trying to ask me for tips and stuff ’cause he never played.

Q: That’s not the Pugh Crew?

A: That was my sister who did that. My sister and my two cousins, started the Pugh Crew when I played in the All-Star game in high school. You got a T-shirt if you came to the game, and then after that, every game if you came to one of my games, you get a Pugh Crew T-shirt so you’re part of the Crew.

Q: Were they all at your house the night you got the draft call from Coach Coughlin.

A: Yeah, my seven best friends were there, and then my two other buddies that I grew up with — Kevin Brooks and Jake Shear.

Q: Why the beard?

A: I got a baby face if I shave the beard, so I always keep it on. Offensive linemen have to have that manly, tough mentality, so this helps me out a little bit. I got something working with Conair, they just started a men’s line for their beard trimmers.

Q: How did you get involved in that?

A: My best friend Corey Radel, who I live with, his mom is high up in Conair.

Q: Favorite movies?

A: “Rocky IV,” “Anchorman,” “The Internship.”

Q: Favorite actor?

A: Vince Vaughn.

Q: Favorite entertainer?

A: Eminem.

Q: Favorite meal?

A: Pizza, buffalo chicken.