Jason Pierre

Jason Pierre-Paul became the latest Giants veteran to question the team's inner toughness when he said there were 'a lot of guys' on the roster who lack the heart to play at a championship level.

'It's not all about attitude, it's all about heart,' the defensive end said on Thursday when asked about the team's morale following three straight losses. 'You can have the attitude, you can have the swagger, you can talk. It's all about heart and if you don't have no heart to play this game, then you're going to continue losing ... When it comes down to it, it's all about heart. If you don't have heart, that's something you can't give a player. You just have to have it.'

And the Giants? Do they have it?

'It's definitely been missing from a lot of guys,' he said. 'You just have to have it. In this game of football, you can tell when you look at film who is more passionate about the game. Maybe I'm wrong, but at the end of the day I know what it takes to play this game and you have to have heart. A lot of guys don't have it. I can sit here and tell you we all do, but we don't.'

Pierre-Paul's indictment comes in the same week that captain Antrel Rolle said he saw no 'pulse' from the Giants on the sideline during their 40-24 loss to the Colts on Monday night. Tom Coughlin refuted that, saying he thought the Giants played hard, and he attributed Rolle's comments to his emotional nature. And Rolle does seem to hit on those same themes several times a year. But for another player of Pierre-Paul's stature to reach roughly the same assessment is alarming.

Coughlin did note on Thursday how 'emotionally draining' losing can be for a football team. And the Giants haven't just been losing, they've been getting blown out. All five of their losses this season have been by 10 or more points. That trend of lopsided defeats reaches back to last year. Seven of their last 16 losses have been by 21 points or more, including last year's 23-0 loss to the Seahawks. That's the team they play on Sunday.

'We know what we have to do,' Pierre-Paul said of the upcoming game against the defending Super Bowl champions. 'We can't lose no more. Everybody knows it. We can't lose no more otherwise we're just going to be coming in here to play the game and get a check. And I don't want that.

'We've got a good team,' he added. 'A lot of the times we lost, we beat ourselves. The offense has to get it right, the defense has to get it together, and the special teams. We know what we gotta do to win. It's either win or go home. That's how I look at it. I'm pretty sure we're going to come out and play this week. Everybody knows what's at stake.'

Playing out the last string of games with nothing to play for is something the Giants experienced last year, and Pierre-Paul agreed it was miserable. He hopes that the Tin Men in the locker room can find their heart fast enough to avoid a second straight dreary December.

'We all know how it feels here,' he said, 'and we all know what it takes to win here so we'll be OK ... I can sit here and talk all day to y'all, but at the end of the day it's all about the individual and what he's got going on. It's definitely been missing from a lot of guys. But we'll get it together.'

Lokasi:

Share :