New York Giants general manager Jerry Reese took a calculated gamble on South Florida defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul in the 2010 NFL draft and selected him in the first round.
The move to take a player with only one year of major college action is paying off.
In his second season, Pierre-Paul has developed into a force and will be the X-factor when he faces the Falcons in the playoffs Sunday afternoon.
“He’s playing really good, and they are moving him all over the place,” Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey said. “We are going to have to send some help to try to make sure that we handle him.”
At 6-foot-5, 278 pounds, Pierre-Paul terrorized tackles as he registered 16.5 sacks and was selected to the Pro Bowl.
“Pierre-Paul had a great season,” Falcons left tackle Will Svitek said. “He’s very athletic.”
Svitek likely will spend the most time on Pierre-Paul, who lined up at middle linebacker Sunday night against Dallas. Falcons center Todd McClure expects him to be a rusher if he lines up at middle linebacker Sunday.
The Falcons has pass-protection issues early this season, but seemed to solve them when Svitek was inserted for Sam Baker at left tackle and when Joe Hawley took over for Garrett Reynolds at right guard.
Svitek will get some blocking help from a tight end or a running back.
“We’ve worked together hard,” Svitek said. “We take pride in protecting Matt. This week is a great challenge because this defensive line gets after the quarterback better than anybody else [that they’ve faced].”
Pierre-Paul also is a factor on special teams. He had a key blocked field-goal attempt against Dallas on Dec. 11.
“They had five defensive linemen on their field-goal block unit,” Falcons special-teams coordinator Keith Armstrong said. “The strength of their team is probably that defensive line, and they are on field-goal block. ... They are big, and they can create some push.”
Armstrong compared Pierre-Paul to a young Julius Peppers, whom the Falcons faced twice a season when he was with Carolina.
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