Giants want Brady to hear footsteps again
New York Giants' Jason Pierre-Paul answers questions during a media availability. (Feb. 2, 2012) Credit: AP
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Giants weren't happy with their pass rush against Tom Brady when they played the Patriots in November. They had only two sacks and were credited with only three quarterback hits.
But that doesn't mean they weren't effective. In fact, Jason Pierre-Paul, who had one sack, said they were in Brady's head more than they were in his face.
"It's like he felt us," Pierre-Paul said Thursday. "When we looked back on the film, we watched the film, and we didn't really rush like we can rush as a defense. He was throwing balls on the ground and stuff."
Brady was shaky. He completed 28 of 49 passes for 342 yards, but he threw two interceptions and many of his incompletions were uncharacteristically ugly. Pierre-Paul said that was because he was reacting to pressure that wasn't really there.
One of the biggest examples of that was the flinch that Brady gave on the first play of the third quarter. The Giants sent a four-man rush and Brady was in the pocket for about four seconds when he suddenly recoiled as if he were about to be hit. He lowered his right shoulder and started to bring the ball into his body to secure it as he hit the ground. But no one was there.
Pierre-Paul was about a yard or two to Brady's right, the way Brady was facing, so he could see that pass-rusher. Linval Joseph was pushing up the middle, about three yards in front of Brady.
Brady did recover and completed a pass to Aaron Hernandez, but that little flinch showed that he was starting to get a little rattled. They're remembering that this week as they prepare for Super Bowl XLVI.
"He did react to pressure that didn't exist, and he was just throwing the ball places where there wasn't even a receiver there," Pierre-Paul said. "Imagine us getting there even faster and actually doing our jobs and getting hits on him."
Brady and the Patriots might be imagining that right now. And not in a good way.
"He's a great quarterback," Pierre-Paul said. "If you give him time in the pocket to pick on your secondary and throw the ball, he's going to hurt you . . . Us, as a D-line, we know that the pressure is mostly going to be on us."
Unless, of course, it's on Brady. Real or imagined.
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