Jason Pierre-Paul has emerged as the new star of the New York Giants defense. Like Victor Cruz on offense, JPP is rapidly ascending to rock star status among Giants faithful. He joined WFAN in New York with Joe and Evan this week to discuss his success, which includes his first Pro Bowl appearance, and the Giants' upcoming Wild-Card game agains the Atlanta Falcons.
Sports Radio Interviews has the full transcript. Below are excerpts of the interview:
Q: What are your feelings heading into the playoffs for the first time?
Pierre-Paul: "Basically I think it's going to be a continuation. All we have to do is just play how we've been playing for the last couple of games, because every game for the last few game is, like this week, every game was a playoff game to us. In our mind-frame, these are playoff games and we've been playing playoff games to get in the playoffs."
Q: How much does it help you when the guys around you on the line are healthy?
Pierre-Paul: "It changes things tremendously. Osi came back, Tuck came back and, as you can see, everybody was getting sacks and hitting the quarterback, pressuring the quarterback. ... That was a good thing. Not only are they trying to block me, but they're trying to block Osi and Tuck as well. ... But we were just going out there having fun, man."
Q: What's it mean to make the Pro Bowl in your second year?
Pierre-Paul: "This is great, man. I thank God for it. What I do best is play great football and go 120 percent, that's it. Hopefully I'll make it every year but hopefully I won't be able to make it this year [because we're in the Super Bowl]."