TAMPA, Fla. — Jason Pierre-Paul had a broken neck and was at home in south Florida when the Bucs played the Giants last season and rookie quarterback Daniel Jones ran for the what proved to be the winning touchdown for his former team.
"That last play, I knew he was going to run the ball. Just on my couch, looking," Pierre-Paul said Friday. "What can I do?"
But Pierre-Paul will have a closer vantage point Monday night when the Bucs visit the Giants, the team that traded him to Tampa Bay more than two years ago.
It will be an emotional return for Pierre-Paul to MetLife Stadium, where he spent eight seasons with the Giants, went to two Pro Bowls and became a Super Bowl champion.
Now 31 and in his third season with Tampa Bay, Pierre-Paul leads the team with 5.5 sacks and feels fortunate just to still be playing football.
A fireworks accident July 4, 2015, resulted in the loss of several fingers and threatened to end his career. So, too, did the one-car accident that resulted in a neck fracture.
But JPP is back, and while he has no hard feelings toward the Giants, he says they made a mistake by trading him.
"You already know they made a mistake," Pierre-Paul said. "When I left there, I got 12.5 (sacks) that year. And when I came off a broken neck, I got 8.5 (last) year. And I'm having an amazing season this year. It's not that I'm trying to show them they made a mistake, it's just the fact that I know I wasn't washed up or finished up. This Sunday, I have to show them, you know? It's my old team. And we've got to show them the new Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"We're coming for their necks. They know that. And Jason Pierre-Paul ain't going nowhere. I'm going to Monday Night Football and I'm going to destroy the Giants. That's what I want as an individual. But I still have love for them. Period."
