Giants' D-line gets after QB, each other
New York Giants Justin Tuck speaks with the media at their team's hotel in Indianapolis, Ind. (Feb. 2, 2012) Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara
INDIANAPOLIS
Tom Brady isn't the only player Justin Tuck is focused on tackling in the Super Bowl. He's also going to have an eye on taking down an unlikely target: Osi Umenyiora.
"It's always bragging rights with us," Tuck said. "We're all very competitive. When I get a sack, I'm looking right at Osi like 'Hmm.' And the same with him. We even compete in celebrating. I told him when he gets a sack in the Super Bowl, I'm going to tackle him before he's able to fly off. We're haters like that."
The Giants' defensive linemen are some of the most competitive players on the team. They go after each other in nearly every pursuit, from getting off the line of scrimmage in drills to seeing who can register the quickest sack in the games. They're obviously going to be keys to the game plan against the Patriots; none of them has hidden that concept. They want to pound Brady into submission, rattle him, make it the most uncomfortable Super Bowl of his illustrious career.
Winning the game and the championship will be the ultimate goal. But there also will be another title at stake. They'll be seeing who comes up with the most takedowns.
"We compete amongst each other, and if Justin gets a sack, I want two," Jason Pierre-Paul said. "If I get two, then Osi wants three. Basically you can say that we're greedy, but in a good way, to help our team out. We try to get there quick enough to help our secondary cover better and try to get to the quarterback as fast as we can."
Defensive line coach Robert Nunn has been coaching in the NFL for 12 seasons, surrounded by some of the proudest athletes in the world. These are men who view losing at anything from a football game to a card game as a fate worse than death. But in his two years with the Giants, he's found that competitiveness can reach new levels.
"I would say this is a different level from anywhere I've been," Nunn said. "Some of the veterans, Osi and Tuck, kind of start it, but they're all very competitive. They have a lot of fun with it."
"Yes, we clown around and stuff," Pierre-Paul said. "If you look around, especially in the D-line room, we clown around. But when it's time to work, we work. That's a good thing. We know when to shut it off and turn it on."
They'll be turning it on full blast against Brady. And not just Tuck and Umenyiora and Pierre-Paul -- the entire defensive line, including Chris Canty, Rocky Bernard and backup Dave Tollefson. And then there is linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka, who joins the defensive ends on special occasions the way Young sometimes would play with Crosby, Stills and Nash.
"Each guy, I'm not sure we'd be here without each of them," Nunn said. "Each of them has done a great job. It's a fun room to teach in. It's a good chemistry."
Like any chemistry experiment, there's the possibility of an explosion. But defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said the players have not pushed back against the many combinations and roles he uses. In fact, they're even competitive about who gets to be the one not to rush the quarterback, which is the glamor job of the line.
"Our guys have been great because we put them in positions that normally defensive linemen would say, 'No, I don't want to do that, I want to put my hand down and do this,' " Fewell said. "Sometimes they are arguing and fighting to do the things we like to do with them, whether it be dropping back in coverage or playing a linebacker position. The game has become a lot more fun because the players have bought in."
Ultimately, that's what the game is about. Having fun. Dogging on each other. Chewing up opposing quarterbacks. And seeing who is the best at all of it.
"The most important thing is to have fun on the field," Pierre-Paul said. "While you're doing it, you just see a great group of guys having fun, and it makes you want to have more fun."
