There were moments early in the season when Justin Tuck took a look over at rookie defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul and wondered if he was ever going to amount to anything with the Giants.
“There were times I was thinking, ‘Maybe we made a mistake with that 15th pick,’ ” Tuck said yesterday.
“He’s proved me completely wrong. I worried about his work ethic to begin with, maybe that was just me misdiagnosing he was so overwhelmed. Now it seems everything’s kind of clicked with him. He’s playing really well.”
Pierre-Paul notched his first two NFL sacks in last week’s 24-20 victory over the Jaguars, and is getting increased time on the field along the defensive line.
The first-round draft pick from South Florida, who only played one year of major college football, has shaken off his inexperience to become a player the Giants can use down the stretch of the season.
“We have a lot of defense in and it’s very difficult for a young player to recall and remember all that defense,” defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said.
“He’s been able to do that, and now he’s capitalizing and he’s able to make some plays. Some of the plays we would hope he would make earlier in the season, but now because we’ve been able to spoon feed him, he has been able to make those plays now.”
Pierre-Paul said the key to continued success is to never be satisfied.
“Act like you never got a sack,” he said.
There were times when Tuck thought sacks and pressures wouldn’t be coming out of Pierre-Paul.
“He’s made tremendous strides,” Tuck said. “This is normally when rookies start hitting that rookie wall. He looks like he’s burst through that. He’s playing well, and not just because he had two sacks last week.
“He’s picked up the defense better, he’s more attentive in meetings, he just seems like he’s starting to let his athletic ability take over. He’s not thinking as much.”
Osi Umenyiora said Pierre-Paul reminds of “A younger DeMarcus Ware,” a college teammate of Umenyiora’s at Troy State.
“I saw DeMarcus growing up,” he said. “I saw his attitude and the way he plays, and they’re very similar. He’s just bigger.”