Although this contest was closer than the final score would indicate, the positive that NY can take from this game is that they made the plays that had to be made in the fourth quarter.
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Two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul has returned after losing a finger in a July 4 fireworks accident.
Meanwhile, the Giants defense got a lift from the season debut for Pierre-Paul, who played 46 of 63 defensive snaps (73 percent), according to the team.
“I had fun out there”.
“It was more so before the game I was just watching him and watching him go through his pregame, seeing him sit there and look at his locker and stuff”, defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said.
The game was a homecoming of sorts for Pierre-Paul, who played in college at South Florida.
If nothing else, the NY Giants (5-4) are a resilient group this year.
Pierre-Paul had 12 1-2 sacks in 2014 and rejoined a defense that’s last in the National Football League with nine sacks through nine games.
“I think the players were excited to have him as a part of our team and have him active tonight”, Coughlin said. With their victory, the Giants maintain their lead in the NFC East but the big news of the day was the return of defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul to a unit that needed a few sort of spark. “However our description is at the end of the season, we’ll let you all do that”. Casillas was a full five yards behind Evans when he caught the pass, and sprinted 45 yards to chase him down at the Giants’ 12-yard line. It continued a drive that would allow the Giants, up 23-18 at the time, to milk most of the remaining clock and sap the energy from the already exhausted Tampa Bay defense.
The Bucs have actually had at least 117 rushing yards in each of the last five games and have averaged 153.4 yards per game on the ground in that span. If one uses that arbitrary floor of 117 yards, this is just the second time that a Tampa Bay team has hit that mark in five straight outings, and the first time one has done so in the same season.
The rookie’s 2-point conversion pass to the rear of the end zone was caught out of bounds. The Bucs got only a short field goal, however. Wade scooped up an errant lateral to punctuate the finish.
“Thought we were ready to get over the hump, but we’re not quite there yet”, Tampa Bay coach Lovie Smith said, lamenting dropped passes, untimely penalties and other mistakes that undermined his team.
Rarely would you blame a receiver who caught eight passes for 152 yards, but Evans’ performance was one that he called “unacceptable”.
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“He’s just going to keep getting better and better”, the coach added in the NY Times report. Moments before, cornerback Alterraun Verner undercut Odell Beckham Jr.’s slant route and intercepted Eli Manning, giving Tampa Bay a prime opportunity to erase the Giants’ 20-12 lead.
