Jason Pierre-Paul making giant leaps

This is a story about football. Jason Pierre-Paul would not be interested in reading it.

He may be quickly developing into the Giants' best defensive lineman, maybe even their best defensive player, and he's becoming a force who is drawing attention throughout the NFL. But watching football, reading about it, enjoying the game, that's not Pierre-Paul's thing.

These days, he watches some video of opponents to prepare for games, but there's a good chance he'd never heard of some of the quarterbacks he's sacked this season before he landed on them.

That general apathy for the biggest sport in the country goes all the way back to his childhood in Deerfield Beach, Fla., when he avoided the NFL like a bad infomercial.

"No, never did watch NFL football," Pierre-Paul said. "It's iffy right now, too, but I do watch my opponents and my teammates and stuff. My brother watched football all the time. He was like, 'Come on,' but I just walked out of the room."

The Giants are glad he was not watching Sunday night's game against the Cowboys on television -- or trying to avoid it. He had two sacks, forced a fumble and blocked the potential game-tying field goal in the final seconds.

Were it not for his efforts -- between the sack for a safety and the blocked kick, he provided a single-handed five-point swing in a three-point game -- the Giants probably wouldn't have that first-place glow about them heading into Sunday's game against the Redskins.

The Giants drafted him despite that lack of football acumen because of his physical abilities. They considered him a "freak" athlete at the time of his first-round selection in 2010. He has an uncommon combination of size, speed and strength, the arm span of a 747 and the thrust of one, too. "Big, big motor,'' Tom Coughlin said.

Which players would he compare to? Jevon Kearse? Richard Dent? It doesn't matter, Pierre-Paul probably has never heard of them. This week, though, he did admit to some vague awareness of one of the players he is starting to draw comparisons with: Lawrence Taylor.

Given how little he cares about football, it's incredible how good he is at it. And scary how much better he can become.

"The sky is really the limit for him," defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said. "What you saw Sunday is just a glimmer of how good he can be. To me right now, he's putting it together and he's retaining some information and knowledge. We think he can play much faster than what he's playing, mentally as well as physically. He'll be a terror."

So the effort that won him NFC defensive player of the week honors is only a fraction of what he can become?

"This guy is so talented," Fewell said. "We see it in practice. We see him every day do things that amaze you. He can be so much better than what he is right now."

With Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora limping through this season, Pierre-Paul has become the Giants' go-to defensive lineman. He has 121/2 sacks, more than Umenyiora and Tuck combined. He has 21 quarterback hits, nearly a third of the team's total of 61; no one else has more than eight.

A few weeks ago, Pierre-Paul and Chris Canty were standing off to the side of a practice drill waiting for their turn when Canty asked the second-year player to do him a favor. The request was for a standing back flip. Pierre-Paul put his arms at his side, flexed his knees a bit, and threw his 6-5, 278-pound frame over itself. He landed in the same spot in which he was standing when he launched.

"He's one of those guys that can do it all," Canty said. "He's a playmaker. Wherever you put him on the football field, he's going to make it happen. Watching him develop throughout the season has been awesome. I'm glad he's on my team."

Pierre-Paul may be just learning the X's and O's of football, but he understands one very important aspect of the game.

"It just comes from the heart," he said of his hustle. "Ever since I was young, when I started playing football, I didn't know too much, but it was something that always came from the heart. Just run. If you are going to do something, might as well do it full speed, especially if you know the calls. Just go full speed. You are going to make mistakes, but once you go full speed, it's in the past."

Pierre-Paul is going full speed to the top of the NFL's watch list, and pretty soon he'll be at the superstar level -- if he's not there already. And if Fewell is right, if what we see now is just a sliver of his potential, he could wind up being an all-time great.

"When I'm an old man sitting on the couch, I'll be like, 'I used to play with him,' " defensive end Dave Tollefson said. "I'll say to my son, 'Look at him. I remember when he was a young kid.' "

The Tollefson boys will be watching his highlights on some futuristic television. It's a good bet Pierre-Paul won't be.