Giants Pierre-Paul ready to take down Brady

Jason Pierre-Paul knows exactly what he has to do in Super Bowl XLVI – get to Tom Brady.

The second-year defensive end from South Florida has enjoyed a strong start to his professional career since being drafted by the Giants, with 16.5 sacks so far in his sophomore season.

Now he has the biggest prize in football in his sights, with Brady and the New England Patriots standing between him and a Vince Lombardi trophy.

In 2008 the Giants were able to derail a New England term headed for perfection, and that was before Pierre-Paul arrived on the scene. The key to that victory – disrupting the brilliant Brady.

The plan this time round at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis will be no different, stopping the Patriot offense will be crucial for the G-Men.

Pierre-Paul said: “We have to get after him (Brady), and that’s what we have to do.

“He can pick our defence. He can throw the ball even if our coverage is very good. That’s scary, but as defensive linemen, we just have to get to him fast enough. Our secondary can cover the guys real quick, and hopefully that will help us out.”

As Pierre-Paul prepares for the biggest game of his life, he reflected on how it all came about. By chance.

“Basically, I started out (in high school) playing basketball and broke my leg. I then went to football my junior year, and I think it was the playoffs – Coach Greg Minnis, to this day I thank him, Coach (Manny) Martin, Coach (Art) Taylor – those are the coaches that helped me out and convinced me to play football.

“I never thought of playing football. They dragged me onto the field. I didn’t know what I was doing. All they said was rush the quarterback, basically, and that’s what I did from there on out.”

The rest, as they say is history, and basketball’s loss has been a huge gain for the Giants. Just ask team-mate Justin Tuck.

He said: “Jason never fails to surprise me. Everyone knows about the guy’s physical talents.

“The guy is an absolute beast but what I appreciate about him is that he comes in the film room every day and he tries to grow as far as noticing how teams try to attack him and noticing the blocking schemes that teams are trying to show him.

“I think that is where he has improved the most…He is noticing how to notice what teams are doing to him early in games and it makes it easy for me or Osi (Umenyiora) or (offensive line) Coach (Robert) Nunn ideas of how to adjust.”