Pierre-Paul "loving" new special teams roles

Initially the idea of playing special teams didn’t sit well with Jason Pierre-Paul, the Giants’ first-round pick. He had never done it before, and learning it on the fly in the NFL didn’t seem all that enticing.

But that’s all changed, rather quickly in fact. So much so that Pierre-Paul said after practice Friday, “I’m loving it.”

“What changed?” Pierre-Paul asked, repeating the question. “Well, I realized it’s me just running down there, being the first one there with everyone else following after me, and I'm trying to make a tackle.”

There's a certain freedom that comes with racing down the field as fast as you can. On the kickoff return team he serves as the first line of blocker – what used to be the wedge -- which means he has to hit his man with enough force to go in the direction he wants. That, he said, is fun.

“It’s like two cars going at each other and someone is going to let off the gas before the other,” he said. “That’s how I think about it.”

The Giants’ special teams as a unit wasn’t exactly impressive in their season-opening victory over Carolina, but the coaching staff came away with rave reviews for their top pick. Pierre-Paul almost blocked a field goal and had a nice tackle on a kickoff coverage.

Tom Coughlin and special teams coordinator Tom Quinn both referred to him as "a force."

"I saw the last kickoff, one of their players grabbed him by the back of the collar to hold him back like that and he still went and made the play," Coughlin said. "So I was impressed by that.”

Pierre-Paul is a latecomer to football; he started late in high school and only played Division I for less than a season at South Florida. So it's especially reassuring for the Giants to see how quickly he's picked up a role that*s brand new to him.

“Let’s put it this way, he is learning every day,” Coughlin said. “And fortunately, he is in a position where he wants to. And I still see it. You probably saw it the other day, that fresh, young look about even special teams. He kind of grabbed hold of that and went out there and really did a nice job.”

When Pierre-Paul was asked what the toughest part of his learning process has been, he smiled and shook his head side-to-side. He thought it was going to be tough, he said, but it*s been anything but.

“If you go full speed you have nothing to worry about,” he said. “But if you’re slacking or you’re taking your time – ‘OK, I’m going to let this guy go down first’ -- then something [bad is] bound to happen to you.

"It’s a hustle position. First one to ball.”