DE Jason Pierre-Paul
December 18, 2014
Q: Does achieving double-digit sack numbers matter to you?
A: Nope.
Q: A lot of guys see that as a benchmark for a good season…
A: I am just playing football. I think I am doing a great job at it.
Q: Antrel [Rolle] was saying how big these two games are… How big is it for you guys?
A: It is pretty big. Every game is big to me. We have to take care of the job and win out. We are trying to win out. This week we have to take care of St. Louis. They are a good team. We have to take care of them.
Q: Your sack numbers the last three games have gone way up… Do you look at those as a measurement of how well you are performing?
A: Not really. Before my sack numbers, I was playing well. Like I said, it is all about numbers, but I was playing well before that, way before my numbers.
Q: Numbers can obviously be big for a free agent… Do you look at it like maybe you needed some of these numbers for a contract?
A: Not at all, I just play my game. The guys on the defensive line are communicating well. I had to step up big time and play to the high expectations that everyone expects me to play at. I think most of all, it is the communication part. [Defensive Line] Coach [Robert] Nunn has done a great job of communicating with us on what he wants us to do on the field. We had that before, but the guys on the field weren’t communicating right. You can see it if you go back and watch a couple games. I saw it. We weren’t communicating. We are doing a great job now. There are a lot of young guys out there now. [Johnathan] Hankins is doing a great job. Damontré [Moore] is doing a great job. Kerry Wynn stepped up big time. He is playing the run. He has gotten way better since he has been here, and I stepped up big time.
Q: Have the defensive calls become more aggressive?
A: No, not really. It was mostly the communication part. Anytime the communication is not there, it will lead to chaos, especially on the [defensive] line. It has been there and we have been rolling with it with the guys that we have. I think we have been doing a very good job of that.
Q: Part of your game that doesn’t really get a lot of mention is playing the run, which you have been doing very well… Has that had an impact on how people are playing you?
A: Don’t come to my side. Or me and Hank’s [Johnathan Hankins] side. I just take pride in playing the run and getting to the quarterback. You can’t get to the quarterback unless you stop the run. I do a great job of it. I take pride in that.
Q: Do you see teams playing you differently because of you being a run stopper?
A: I think they run the opposite way.
Q: Do they block you differently for your pass rush now, too?
A: It is up to the teams. I don’t really care what they do. I have one job and that is playing the run and getting to the quarterback. That is basically it. I don’t really worry too much about what the other team is going to do. I am out there playing football and being the great football player that I am.
Q: Has Hankins’ pass rush helped?
A: Me and Hank. I talk to Hank. Hank and I talk a lot on the field. He helps me out a lot and I help him out. He has become a very good player in his second year. I am proud of him. He has seven sacks now. He is dominating the pass rush now. He can play the run. So do I. We take pride in that.
Q: A few weeks ago, you said you could run the table… What would running the table mean to this team?
A: We are just trying to finish out and win these couple of games that are left. We have two more, but we have to start with one first. We aren’t worried about what happened in the past. The past is the past. The only thing we can look towards is the future, and we have been winning, so we have the St. Louis Rams and they are a very good team. They are going to come play hard and we are going to, too.
Q: How hard is it to keep the intensity up these last two games?
A: It is not hard. Guys are coming in and being professionals. We know what we have to do to get the job done. That is play great football and execute the plays that are being called.
Q: What is the biggest difference you see in [Johnathan Hankins]?
A: I think once he got comfortable in the system, he just started letting it free. He just started playing well. Hank is a good player. I am not just saying that because he is my teammate, but he has been playing the pass. If I call something and it is not something that is supposed to be called and I call it, the communication is there with he and I. If I say let’s run this and it is not the call – as long as he is getting it and I am running it and he’s right behind me and he will do his responsibility, then it won’t be a play that gets messed up.
Q: Do you feel that he has made you better this year?
A: Yeah. Anytime you have two guys on the same side that are working with each other, the numbers go up and the run won’t be there. We have been doing a great job on the right side. I play both sides, but I am normally on the right side. The numbers don’t lie. You see it.
He's GREAT? Hardly. A 9.5 sack season is GREAT?
I keep beating this drum, and it's still worth repeating. If you give this guy a big contract he will be the GREATEST DE to give you 9 sacks a year and bite on the read option every single play when it's run to his side.
JPP is a good / above average player, but very very immature as these comments suggest.
A good player gets 4 million dollars per year.
So the defensive linemen get to call their own stunts and twists? Regardless of what anyone else, oh let's say LBs or Safeties, are doing!? I don't understand.