In the 2018 offseason, Jason Pierre-Paul was traded from the Giants to the Buccaneers as a third-round pick. This deal seems to be a bargain for the Bucs so far, as Pierre-Paul has already recorded 8 sacks and 27 tackles this season. The New York Giants as a whole team only have two more sacks on the season than Pierre-Paul alone.
In the last two games, however, the 29-year old Florida native remained silent. He seems highly motivated for the upcoming matchup against his former team, Eli Manning and the New York Giants. “Honestly, I had this game checked off since I left there, so emotion’s running big and I’m coming, man… I’m bringing the house down,” he told Kevin Patra of NFL.com (see article HERE).
In addition to that, Pierre-Paul seems disappointed by the way the Giants released him after eight seasons with the team and after winning a Super Bowl with them. “I wouldn’t say [I was] hurt. But the fact that the only thing that I got was a phone call, you know what I’m saying — I didn’t speak to no owners, no nothing… I gave a hard eight years at the New York Giants, won a Super Bowl there, it’s transition, but the only thing to get was a phone call — I wouldn’t say I was hurt, it was just shocking. But at the end of the day, this is a business league, and at the end of the day, we’ve got to do our jobs, no matter what team you play for. You’re a football player, you’re a pro, you’ve got to do the job to the best of your ability, and that’s what I’ve been doing,” Patra records him saying (see article HERE).
Things are looking good for Pierre-Paul to get out of this mini-slump with two consecutive sackless games and get back on track against his former team. It will certainly be an emotional game for the former University of South Florida product. He could easily have multiple sacks in this game.
