Giants defeat Bucs in Jason Pierre-Paul's return

The most important letter for the Giants on Sunday wasn't a J, a P or another P. It was a W.

That's what they were able to secure by beating the Bucs, 32-18, at Raymond James Stadium. The defense rebounded from last week's debacle in New Orleans to allow only one touchdown and the offense, though shaky at times, was able to burn up most of the final five minutes of the game.

"We always preach about finishing, and tonight we did," Tom Coughlin said. "We kind of hung in there and we got ourselves a much-needed win."

One that allowed the Giants (5-4) to hold on to sole possession of first place in the NFC East. It also gave them some momentum entering next week's game against the unbeaten and seemingly unstoppable Patriots (where have we heard that before?).

"It was good to get that sour taste out of our mouth and to move in the right direction," defensive end Kerry Wynn said.

And, of course, they move on with their best defensive player having shaken off some of the rust from almost a full year without football.

Jason Pierre-Paul's debut was statistically uneventful, but it provided a spark to the defense. He played almost three-quarters of the team's defensive snaps, had two tackles and played with a large gray mitten-type contraption on his injured right hand.

"Yeah, he gave us a boost. He gave us a huge boost!" defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said. "We have confidence in all the players, but nobody can duplicate what he can do on the field."

The Giants had opportunities to pull away, but it still was a five-point game when they got the ball at their 20 with 4:57 left. They have struggled in that scenario this season -- needing a clock-eating late drive to seal a victory -- but this time they came through.

Odell Beckham Jr. caught a key third-down pass despite a low throw by Eli Manning to convert a first down, Bucs defensive tackle Akeem Spence committed a silly personal foul to add 15 yards to the drive, and the Giants kicked a field goal to make it an eight-point lead.

"That's huge," said running back Rashad Jennings, who ran for 27 yards on six carries in that final drive. "That's what it's all about, finding a way to finish. It doesn't have to look pretty, you just have to finish."

Trevin Wade finished it even more when he scooped up a backward lateral pass on a last-second desperation play and scored from the 5 for the final margin of victory.

"We needed a drive there at the very end, and we go get it," Manning said. "That was a big drive, what needed to be done to win, and we did enough good things to win the game."

The Giants' last offensive touchdown came early in the second quarter when Manning hit Shane Vereen with a 4-yard pass to make it 17-6. He had thrown an 8-yard touchdown pass to Rueben Randle on the previous drive to give the Giants their first lead of the game.

Manning also threw two interceptions, but the Giants' defense buckled down after both, holding the Bucs to a field goal and a punt.

The Giants had a 20-9 lead that nearly evaporated. The Bucs (3-5) closed to 20-18 on Jameis Winston's 10-yard run and dive into the end zone with 9:25 left, but his potential tying conversion pass intended for Russell Shepard was high.

The Giants responded with Josh Brown's 53-yard field goal to go up 23-18. That's when the defense, which was shredded last week in New Orleans and has shown a penchant for giving up go-ahead drives late in games, forced the Bucs to punt with just over five minutes left.

"Coming off of last week and the things that we went through and to come out here and get a stop and end it on defense is definitely a great feeling," cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie said. "It's definitely a great feeling. It's kind of a booster and you just keep going from there."

For a team that has struggled to close out games on both sides of the ball this season, to do so on both sides of the ball in a single game was encouraging.

"At times we didn't play as well as we are capable of playing," Coughlin said. "Then we kind of boosted it up at the end to make sure we were going to win. And that was good."

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.