Jason Pierre-Paul was at his locker doing an NFL Network interview when Olivier Vernon, a towel around his waist, stopped on his way to the shower to lean in and say, “JPP’s my hero!”
JPP (2.5 of Big Blue’s four second-half sacks) wrecked the game for Jay Cutler and the Bears on Sunday the way Lawrence Taylor once wrecked the game for the other quarterback and the other team. He and Vernon (one sack, one tackle for loss) dominated in the second half of Giants 22, Bears 16, bringing back Deja Blue memories of Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora, or of Strahan and Justin Tuck. Or 56. Maybe on this day No. 90 was 56.
“He’s a monster,” Vernon said.
Monster of the Meadowlands. Monsters of the Meadowlands.
“JPP is JPP, man … ain’t nothing changed about him,” Vernon said. “He’s still a beast out there.”
Beastie Boys, who enabled the Giants to Bear-ly win, and extend their winning streak to five, and stay in position to make the playoffs.
The two of them, JPP and OV, were playing Moneyball against the Bears’ ragtag offensive line — JPP making it impossible for the Giants not to reward him with a long-term deal at the end of this one-year, $10 million prove-it contract, Vernon showing why the Giants signed him to that five-year, $85 million deal, $52.5 million guaranteed.
JPP had already registered 1.5 sacks when Cutler drove the Bears to the Giants’ 30. In other words, Big Blue, gashed in the first half by running back Jordan Howard, and even by Cutler, had them right where they wanted them.
And now here came JPP, raging at Cutler following the two-minute warning, strip-sacking him for a 14-yard loss, and it wasn’t long before Landon Collins was making his weekly pick.
“I rushed the edge. That was basically it. It wasn’t nothing special,” JPP said.
It was plenty special.
“He took over, man,” Jonathan Casillas said. “That’s the JPP that not only myself, but everybody’s used to. OV’s getting over this little hand deal he had in the beginning of the season, and you could see these boys playing. I don’t think Cutler sat in that pocket one time in the second half.”
Vernon’s hand, which hindered him for a month or so, has healed enough to give JPP the partner in crime he hasn’t had in a while.
“He’s a good teammate, he’s a good player, he’s a humble guy, he doesn’t do a lot of talking … me and him together is a dominant duo,” JPP said.
The feel-good ride back toward prominence, the great expectations that were mushrooming, this dream of catching the Cowboys … suddenly they all were on the brink of being gone with the wind, a treacherous crosswind that diminished Cutler and Eli Manning in the fourth quarter and the kickers who made the PATs a misadventure.
JPP was asked what the mindset was in the huddle when Cutler was 30 yards from the upset.
“Can’t score … buckle down,” JPP said. “I even told some guys when it’s time to bow up, it’s on us. Guys respond. I responded myself. I can’t just do the talking. I gotta show up.”
He has come back against all odds, come back without that club for his hand mangled by fireworks, come back with a new perspective on life, come back as a leader.
“I think without God and the strong heart that I have, without family and support, I wouldn’t be able to make it, but I’m here now,” JPP said. “I knew I would come back and do great things without the club. I just wanted to get back, just to show that no matter what’s going on in your life, you could overcome it, and that’s what I did. What I went through was simple, man, you got people that got cancer and everything. Those are the real hurt people.”
As relentless as he has been, JPP only had 1.5 sacks prior to Sunday.
“I told you, man, they come in bunches,” JPP said. “It’s not really about the stats, it’s about winning the game.”
At halftime, the defense was animated and angry. And here’s how angry Big Blue played after intermission: Cutler was 6-for-16 passing. The Bears had 5 rushing yards.
“We definitely have a great defense, no question,” JPP said.
Vernon now has four sacks, and an immeasurable ferocity and tenacity. He has never felt the pressure of living up to that monster contract.
“It’s not about the outside,” Vernon said. “It’s about just myself. I have a lot of pride in what I do playing this game, and that thing’s never gonna change for me.”
I suggested to him that JPP should have sealed himself a big-money deal.
“I want him to be here,” Vernon said.
As he walked out of the locker room, I told JPP what Vernon had said. “Hey, ain’t up to me,” JPP said. “At the end of the day, this is a business, so … ”
He began walking away when I shouted out: “But you’d want to be here, right?”
“Of course,” JPP said. “Why not?”
You better believe Giants fans left MetLife Stadium with this thought: JPPlease stay.