Jason Pierre-Paul has gone against Peyton Manning only one time, but he figures he has a solid idea what to expect.
“We practice against Eli every day, that’s a good thing for us,’’ Pierre-Paul said. “Otherwise nobody’s scared of Peyton Manning or whatever.
“He’s one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. You got to respect that. We can’t take him for granted. We got Eli here, too. Eli and Peyton are totally different people. If you ask me who’s better I would tell you I don’t know. We’ll see who’s better come this game.’’
Pierre-Paul anticipates he’s far more prepared to go after Peyton Manning than he was chasing Tony Romo in the season-opener.
“I played terrible, man,’’ Pierre-Paul said. “I’m not trying to sugarcoat it, I played terrible. My teammates probably say I did a good job coming off back surgery, but I think I played terrible. Knowing myself I can do better. Everybody knows that in this locker room. I’m not trying to have no excuses for nothing but that’s just the way it is.’’
Pierre-Paul spent every day of training camp on the physically unable to perform list and did not play in any of the four preseason games, rehabbing from offseason lower back surgery to repair a herniated disc. He finally got on the practice field the week leading up to the first game and the decision was made to put him on the field against the Cowboys. He did not start at right defensive end, but he did play 52 of the 74 defensive snaps and was credited with one tackle, one quarterback hit and in the fourth quarter he dropped Tony Romo for an 11-yard sack.
Clearly, JPP was not himself and no one expected he would be after missing so much time and playing in his first game since last Dec. 30. It was difficult for him to accept his performance.
Of his snaps, Pierre-Paul said “I think all of ‘em were terrible, for me. Looking at the tape it didn’t seem so bad. Anybody who knows me, I can do better than that.’’
The Giants put out their injury report heading into the game against the Broncos and Pierre-Paul is not on it, meaning the Giants do not consider him to be injured. For the first time, he went full in practice. Off the field, he says he’s spending increased time on a quad-mill working on his quad muscles “trying to get that burning sensation out of my legs.’’
Looking back at the opener, he decided “At the end of the day I wasn’t ready for that’’ but is glad his first game is in the past.
“Just trying to get to my grinding mode and do what I do best,’’ JPP said, “rush the passer and stop the run.’’