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EAST RUTHERFORD Youth Eli Manning Jerseys , N.J. (AP) — They were long-time teammates and champions on the New York Giants‘ Super Bowl team in February 2012.Eli Manning and Jason Pierre-Paul will add a new dimension to their eight-year friendship Sunday when the Giants (2-7) host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-6) at MetLife Stadium.They’ll be opponents for the first time.As he has been the past 15 seasons, Manning will be quarterback for the Giants. Pierre-Paul will be playing defensive end for Tampa Bay in his first game at the Meadowlands since New York traded him to the Bucs in March to clear salary-cap space.Pierre-Paul has had this date checked since the schedule was announced.“Eli is Eli, man. I know one thing: If he’s hot, he’s going to continue being hot,” Pierre-Paul said of Manning, who took some heat off himself by throwing three touchdown passes and engineering a late TD drive in the Giants’ win over San Francisco last Monday night. “We’ve got to get after him early and he knows I’m coming. I’m coming Eli, I’m coming. Just letting you know.”Pierre-Paul didn’t get the best sendoff after the trade. Not many teammates called him, although Manning did.“He’s a leader. I actually learned this from him, he comes in every morning real early,” said Pierre-Paul, who has eight sacks this season, two less than the entire Giants team. “He started that as a rookie. He never changed. Eli’s a great guy. But I ain’t falling asleep on him. That’s for sure.”Manning laughed saying, he hopes JPP takes it easy on him.“He’s getting a lot of sacks and making plays,” Manning said. “I expect him to be fired up. Hopefully we’ve got a game plan for him Eli Manning Jerseys Stitched , and make sure we try to control him.”Here are five things to watch Sunday:CONTROLLING PIERRE-PAULThe Giants’ offensive line, which added waiver-wire pickup Jamon Brown at right guard, had one of its better performances Monday. Manning, who has been sacked 32 times, was taken down once. Left tackle Nate Solder will probably go against Pierre-Paul most of the time.Since Pierre-Paul lines up at different spots, right tackle Chad Wheeler also will go against him. Expect a tight end or a running back to chip him.EXPLOSIVE OFFENSETampa Bay has the NFL’s top-ranked passing attack and is also No. 1 in total offense. With 3,251 yards passing, the Bucs have thrown for the second-most yards through the first nine games of a season in NFL history behind the 2000 St. Louis Rams (3,330).They’ve had over 500 yards total offense four times this season, but are 1-3 in those games, including last week’s loss to Washington. Turnovers are the biggest reason. They are a league-worst minus-19 and have gone six consecutive games without a takeaway.CLASSMATESTampa Bay’s Mike Evans and New York’s Odell Beckham Jr. were part of an outstanding class of rookie receivers who entered the NFL in 2014. The group included Brandin Cooks, Jarvis Landry, Devante Adams, Sammy Watkins Youth Odell Beckham Jerseys , Allen Robinson, Jordan Matthews, John Brown and Kelvin Benjamin. Evans (5,416) and Beckham (5,282) rank 1-2 among the class in career yards receiving, while Beckham is first with 42 TD catches, followed by Evans with 36. Beckham has 24 100-yard receiving games, tops in the class. Evans is next at 17.LACK OF PRESSUREThe Giants have 10 sacks. Rookies Lorenzo Carter and B.J. Hill lead with two apiece. The Bucs had allowed 26 sacks, but they also throw the ball an average of 41 times.“We’ve got to find a way to get some more pressure,” Giants defensive coordinator James Bettcher said. “We’ve got to win some more 1-on-1s, we’ve got to beat the back when we get on the back in protection. If we get a free runner, we’ve got to time up our pressures a little bit better. We had a couple of those this past week when our timing just wasn’t good enough. We were a little late in the pressures and we’ve got to clean that up, and play better on third down.”A RETURNMANThe Giants seemingly have found someone to return kickoffs. Corey Coleman handled the job for the first time in his NFL career, averaging almost 31 yards on three returns.Special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey was confident the 15th overall pick in the 2016 draft (Cleveland) could handle the job after being signed to the practice squad on Oct. 18. He had been waived by the Patriots.“He did it in college Odell Beckham Jerseys Stitched ,” McGaughey said. “That’s part of our job as coaches, we’ve got to do our research. I worked with Art Briles, so I always followed Baylor kind of closely so I knew about him and I knew about his past. Kid can run.” EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — New York Giants defensive back Michael Thomas wasn’t caught off guard by Andrew Luck’s stunning retirement this weekend.The two have been friends for the past 15 years. It started as opponents on the football field in high school in Houston and continued as teammates at Stanford, and well beyond that.They have discussed more than football in recent years. So while the announcement of Luck’s retirement on Saturday night was surprising, Thomas said he was aware the Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback was mulling walking away from the game.“I was just calling him and texting him, that’s my brother, grew up playing against him in high school, been knowing him since I was 14-years-old,” Thomas said Sunday after practice. “It’s a personal issue, obviously. I am not going to disclose what me and him talked about personally but I support him. He had a great ride and if that’s the decision he makes it is probably for a good reason.”Thomas would not say what he and Luck said, but insisted the decision by Luck was in the best interest of the 29-year-old and his family.If there was anything that bothered Thomas, it was seeing Colts’ fans boo Luck as he walked off the field after they became aware of the retirement during Indianapolis’ 27-17 loss to the Chicago Bears.Luck did not play in the preseason.“Fans need to understand that man, this game Color Rush Ryan Connelly Jersey , as physical as it is, is taxing on everybody’s body,” Thomas said. “I don’t care if they think it’s a quarterback, they are not taking it. No, they are taking punishment. That’s the reason he has been dealing with injuries before. Any player, when they decide they have given this game all they could and they are going to step away from it for a personal reasons, whet ever it is, to boo him, that’s not right regardless of if they think it’s premature or too early for their liking. That’s not fair.”A member of the NFLPA’s executive committee, Thomas was happy to see Luck walk away on his own terms, saying most players don’t get to do that.“You’ve done it right if you felt you have given this game everything you could,” Thomas said. “You start looking at your kids. You start looking at your family, how much you’ve sacrificed, how much they’ve sacrificed and the time you have missed away from them. (If) Your body and your physical and mental health and safety is not there and you want step away from the game to spend more time with them and give time back to them Youth Ryan Connelly Jersey , that’s to each man.”Giants safety Antoine Bethea has been through a similar experience with the Colts. He was on the team when Peyton Manning missed the 2011 season with a neck injury and the Colts finished 2-14. The following year they drafted Luck and cut Manning, who signed with Denver and led it to a Super Bowl in 2015.Bethea played two seasons with Luck, who he described as selfless.“He would do anything for you,” Bethea said. “The ultimate pro who would come in early every day and work hard. A great all-around person, you see how smart he is. To see him in this type of situation, he is looking out for himself, which he should be doing.”NOTES: Giants coach Pat Shurmur said Eli Manning will not play in the final preseason game against the Patriots on Thursday. Rookie Daniel Jones will start at quarterback. … Second-year CB Sam Beal, who has missed last season with a shoulder injury and has not played in a preseason game this year with a hamstring issue, wants to play Thursday. “I’m not going back on IR,” he said. “I’m not. I’ll be killed before I go back there.” … Giants G Will Hernandez, who was flagged for three penalties on the first two series against the Bengals, admitted he beat himself up over the weekend. He vowed the mistakes would stop. “They pity party is over,” he said.