As far as the Giants are concerned, what’s most noticeable about Justin Pugh’s first season is there’s not much to notice.
His rookie year is heading for the stretch run and Pugh on Sunday, as always, will line up as right tackle when he starts against the Redskins in his first visit to FedEx Field. If form holds, Pugh will be on the field for every offensive snap and in three hours’ time will adhere to the offensive lineman’s credo that the less said about him, the better.
Few around the Giants will look fondly at the 2013 season as the franchise braces for yet another (four of the past five years) winter without a postseason. One of the brightest lights to shine through the darkness has been Pugh, and it looks as if the Giants got it right with their first-round draft pick from Syracuse, a player who figures to be a pillar on the offensive line for years to come.
“I would just say I’ve grown,” Pugh told The Post. “It has been a steady increase from the first day I stepped in here, never playing right tackle in my career to where I’m at now it’s like night and day.
“I think I’ve steadily gotten better through each week, through each rep.’’
The improvement has been readily apparent, just as Pugh always has been readily available. So many rookies, regardless of their talent level, find it difficult to get on the field because they cannot stay healthy. They are slow to acclimate to the NFL game, they move too fast, or too slow and most of all, they get a strain, bruise, a tweak, they miss time and thus their development is delayed. It happens all the time, which is why to many players believe the best part of a rookie season is when it is over.
Pugh, though, has not missed a thing. He has started all 11 games, and if he goes 16-for-16, he will be the first Giants rookie first-round pick in 32 years to start every game. The last time it happened? When a linebacker named Lawrence Taylor but called LT made something of a splash back in 1981.
If you buy into Woody Allen’s line “Eighty percent of success is showing up’’ then Pugh’s success in large part comes from always lining up, a trait that endears him to teammates and especially coaches.
“I think it’s very important that he’s played, he’s grown, he’s learned week in and week out,’’ coach Tom Coughlin said. “He’s gone up against some outstanding defensive players, ends, and he’ll do the same thing against that group of outside backers. His ability to get in there, he’s a very smart young guy. He’s very competitive. He wants it very badly. It’s going to be a huge plus going forward.’’
Not that Pugh is some prodigy. He was supposed to engage in a training camp battle with veteran David Diehl for the right tackle job, but Diehl needed surgery to repair a damaged right thumb and just like that, Pugh was installed as a starter. He wasn’t ready, and his performance in the first four games was unremarkable.
“I was upset with how I was playing, there comes a point in time where you say ‘Hey, enough’s enough,’ and you got to go out there and keep fighting, keep battling,’’ Pugh said. “It’s something that has made the season good for me.’’
Pugh has allowed just one quarterback pressure in each of the last four games.
“I know I’ve been playing better. I’ve been getting better,’’ he said. “But I still got a ways to go with my technique, knowing my assignments, run blocking I got to keep getting better at that and just keep learning, that’s the most important thing.’’
Nothing has been taken for granted. The Giants were concerned about Pugh’s weight falling as he dropped near 300 pounds and so he has a chef prepare meals for the entire week to maintain his 308 pounds. He partakes in yoga every Monday with all of the other rookies to help with flexibility.
Coughlin said Pugh fits in with the other hard-working, dependable offensive linemen the Giants put on the field for their two Super Bowl triumphs.
“He’s a lunch-bucket guy for sure,’’ Coughlin said.
And he brings it every day.