The delivery of the words from Jason Pierre-Paul did not match their content, which can be described only as damning.
The Giants' fifth-year defensive end — arguably their most important defensive player and a bit of an enigma at that — sat at his locker after practice Thursday and spoke from his heart.
About heart.
As in, according to Pierre-Paul, the Giants not having enough of it.
If this is true, it cannot bode well as the 3-5 Giants face their most daunting task in an already disappointing season when they play the Seahawks in Seattle on Sunday.
"That's what it comes down to,'' Pierre-Paul said, speaking as he usually does in even, if laconic, tones. "[There is] a lot of talking going on, but at the end of the day it's all about heart, all about that individual and what he's got. It's definitely missing from a lot of guys.
"You've just got to have it, man,'' Pierre-Paul went on, just getting warmed up. "Like, in this game of football, you can tell when you look at film who's more passionate about the game. To play this game and you've got to have heart, and a lot of guys don't have it. I can sit here and say we all do, but we all don't.
"It has to be everybody. We need everybody to contribute as one and do what we've got to do to win. Football is not an individual game. In basketball, LeBron James can take over a game by himself.''
Football is the ultimate team sport, with all 11 players on the field at one time needing to act in concert to succeed. Pierre-Paul is not wrong in saying that.
But an argument can be made that — other than quarterback Eli Manning — Pierre-Paul is the one player who can actually take over a game with a superior performance. We saw evidence of that in 2011, his second NFL season, during which he recorded 16 ½ sacks, two forced fumbles, 88 tackles and was one of the most disruptive defensive forces in the league.
Since then? Not a lot of the same.
It would be unfair to call Pierre-Paul an ordinary player since his career year, but there have been only occasional glimpse of the 2011 Pierre-Paul, just enough to tease you into thinking it's still in him and just enough to agitate you into wondering where it's all gone.
The talk, as it pertains to Pierre-Paul, always seems to be about "when" he's going to "return to form.''
Here's the thing, though: What exactly is "form'' for him?
The assumption is "form'' for Pierre-Paul is the way he played in 2011. But that was one year, 16 games, 12 starts.
Including this season, during which he has 3 ¹/₂ sacks, Pierre-Paul has 33 career sacks, which means exactly half of the production in his four-plus years came in 2011.
So "form'' for Pierre-Paul would seem to be the way he has played in every year other than 2011.
Is Pierre-Paul a victim of his own success, having created unrealistic, unattainable expectations for himself to chase in futility for the rest of his career?
Asked if he believes the public expectations of Pierre-Paul returning to that 16¹/₂-sack form are unfair, Giants coach Tom Coughlin joked: "Twelve would be nice, thanks.''
"He knows; he looks at it,'' Coughlin said, speaking before Pierre-Paul made his assertions about the Giants lacking heart. "He's very explosive in practice and sometimes not as explosive in games, and we're trying like heck to work with his technique a little bit more to give him a little bit of an edge.''
Pierre-Paul insisted he's watching as much film as he ever has, and is cognizant of the drop in production. He insisted he's not burdened by the expectations of 16 ½.
"Hey, at the end of the day, there are high expectations for me, so I've got to live up to it,'' he said. "That was three years ago, right? I'm looking to get better now.''
He'd better hurry. The Giants' season is headed for a third consecutive year without a playoff berth — and his contract is up.
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