Bucs' Pierre-Paul on facing Giants: 'Emotions running big'

Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul plans to let out his frustrations against his former team on Sunday.

Pierre-Paul was traded from the New York Giants to the Buccaneers in March. While he accepted the move as merely business related, the 29-year-old admitted that he found it "shocking" that he only received phone calls from general manager Dave Gettleman and quarterback Eli Manning upon leaving the organization.

"I wouldn't say hurt. Just the fact that the only thing I got was a phone call. You know what I'm saying?" Pierre-Paul said on Wednesday, four days before the Buccaneers (3-6) visit the Giants (2-7) at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

"I didn't speak to no owners or nothing. Obviously, I gave a hard eight years with the New York Giants and won a Super Bowl there, and the only thing you get is a phone call. I wouldn't say I was hurt but it was just shocking. You know what I mean?

"At the end of the day this is a business league. At the end of the day, we have to do our jobs no matter what team we play for. You're a football player, you're a pro, so you've got to do your job to the best of your ability. That's what I've been doing."

Pierre-Paul has collected a team-high 8.0 sacks and 13 quarterback hits for Tampa Bay this season, and he plans to add to those totals on Sunday.

"Honestly, I had this game checked off since I left there," Pierre-Paul said. "Emotions running big. I'm coming, man. I'm bringing the house down."

Pierre-Paul recorded eight sacks with the Giants in 2017 before being traded to Tampa Bay for a third-round draft selection in the offseason. The two teams also swapped fourth-round picks.

The 6-foot-5, 278-pound Pierre-Paul has collected 460 tackles, 66 sacks and 14 forced fumbles in 120 career games since being selected by the Giants with the 15th overall pick of the 2010 NFL Draft. He also started all four games in the 2011 postseason for New York, recording 18 tackles, four passes defensed and a half-sack in helping the Giants win Super Bowl XLVI.