Eli Manning picked apart Seattle’s secondary for 232 yards and three touchdowns and Ahmad Bradshaw added two TDs — all in the opening half — and the Giants routed the Seahawks 41-7 on Sunday.

Coming off its bye, New York (6-2) won its fifth straight game and is among the NFL’s top teams halfway through the season.

The win had a little extra meaning. Five years ago at Qwest Field, the Giants were penalized 14 times — including 11 false starts — in a 24-21 overtime loss. A year later, after the Giants made claims that artificial crowd noise was being piped into the stadium, the Seahawks jumped to a 42-3 lead in another win over New York.

This time, the Giants were called for just two false start penalties and handed Seattle its worst home loss since 2002. It was the Giants biggest road win since a 41-7 win at Washington in 1993.

Manning’s passer rating was a nearly perfect 152.3 in the first half. He finished 21 of 32 for 290 yards and TD passes of 46, 6, and 5 yards. Bradshaw, Brandon Jacobs and D.J. Ware combined for 201 yards rushing, while Hakeem Nicks had six catches for 128 yards.

About the only positive for Seattle was keeping quarterback Charlie Whitehurst upright and in the game after the Giants had knocked out five quarterbacks already this season.

But Whitehurst’s performance, in his first NFL start, should silence those calling for the end of Matt Hasselbeck’s tenure in Seattle. With Hasselbeck out with a concussion, Whitehurst completed 12 of 23 passes for 113 yards and two interceptions.

It didn’t help Whitehurst that two starting offensive linemen were out, along with three-fourths of Seattle’s starting defensive line. And Seattle’s run game never got started against the Giants defense with Marshawn Lynch held to 48 yards on 11 carries, 26 yards coming on one run.

Whitehurst did complete the first regular season pass of his career — for a 3-yard loss — and he threw a 36-yard TD pass to Ben Obomanu early in the fourth quarter, the Seahawks first touchdown since the second quarter against Arizona two weeks ago.

But Whitehurst wasn’t alone in Seattle’s general ineptitude. Offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates called a double pass on third-and-1 in the first quarter that fell incomplete when Whitehurst overthrew tight end Chris Baker by 10 yards.

After Manning hit Nicks on a 46-yard touchdown — a drive kept alive by an illegal contact call against Seattle rookie safety Earl Thomas on third down — Leon Washington fumbled the ensuing kickoff. Jonathan Goff recovered and returned it to the Seattle 4 and Bradshaw piled in on the next play.

Washington’s next kickoff return went for 57 yards and Lynch got Seattle its first first-down on a 6-yard run. But two plays later, Lynch fell on his face before the snap and was called for a false start. Whitehurst was intercepted on the next play on a throw into the end zone that Mike Williams should have caught, but instead was deflected and landed in the hands of Terrell Thomas.

Manning then led the Giants to another score, hitting Steve Smith on a 6-yard TD pass and a 28-0 lead. Smith celebrated by running over and standing next to a “Volume 12″ sign in the end zone and getting a beer shower in the process.

Down 14 with less than five minutes to play against Arizona. Chants of “Fire Childress!” filling the Metrodome. A Super Bowl-or-bust season on the brink.

Suddenly, Favre conjured the kind of magic that simply hasn’t been there all season, engineering another jaw-dropping fourth-quarter comeback that may have not only saved the Vikings’ season, but coach Brad Childress’ job as well.

Favre threw for a career-high 446 yards to rally the Vikings from 14 points down in the final four and half minutes and Ryan Longwell’s 35-yard field goal in overtime lifted them to a 27-24 victory over the Cardinals on Sunday.

“There was a point in that game where I think everyone in the building thought this is not going well. We don’t stand a chance,” said Favre, who has 46 career fourth-quarter comeback wins. “But we did.”

Favre threw a 25-yard touchdown to Visanthe Shiancoe with 27 seconds to play in regulation, then hooked up with Bernard Berrian on a 22-yard pass in overtime to move the Vikings into position for an improbable victory.

The 41-year-old quarterback completed 36 of 47 passes with two touchdowns and two interceptions in easily his best performance of the season. Percy Harvin had nine catches for a career-high 126 yards and Adrian Peterson racked up 144 total yards and two TDs for the Vikings (3-5), who were dogged by questions about Childress’ job security all week long.

Asked if he felt he was playing for Childress’ job, Favre said, “I felt like I was playing for mine. I’m just being honest. … Have I always got along with my coach, head coach, quarterbacks coach, offensive coordinator? No. Do I always agree with the plays that are called? No. Why should that factor into me wanting to be the best player I can be?”

LaRod Stephens-Howling returned a kick 96 yards for a touchdown and Michael Adams returned a fumble 30 yards for a score for the Cardinals (3-5), who appeared to have the win sealed after stopping the Vikings on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with just over six minutes to play and a 24-10 lead.

But Favre directed scoring drives of 40 and 77 yards in regulation, quickly turning chants of “Fire Childress!” to “Let’s Go Vikings!”

“I think they came expecting to see an execution,” Childress said. “And it ended up a pretty good football game at the end.”

It was an exhilarating end to another tumultuous week for the Vikings. It started with Childress deciding to cut receiver Randy Moss, a move that not only stunned players but team management and ownership as well. His messy handling of the situation raised serious doubts about his job security, and he also nearly came to blows with Harvin in practice on Friday.

Childress said he spent 15 minutes with Harvin before the game to clear the air.

“We’re playing an emotional game with emotional people,” Childress said. “It’s part of what makes him good. Tempers can raise every now and then.”

Owner Zygi Wilf declined to comment on Childress’ status, only contributing to the speculation.

“The big thing is getting a win right now,” Wilf said before the game. “The big thing is to win this game and to be crowned division champions and we’re going to fight our (butts) off.”

They did just that.

Vikings receiver Greg Camarillo chased down Cardinals safety Kerry Rhodes on an interception return in the first quarter, jarring the ball loose just before Rhodes was about to score a touchdown. The ball squirted out of the back of the end zone for a touchback, a play of pure hustle that played a huge role in the outcome.

“I didn’t see him at all,” Rhodes said. “I thought I was in.”

Big Blue is now 2-2 in a division of 2-2 teams, after the Eagles (2-2) today were taken down by Donovan McNabb and his equally mediocre Washington Redskins (2-2) while the Dallas Cowboys (1-2), the pre-season favorites to make it to the Super Bowl this year, finally broke through with a win over their intra-state rival Houston Texans last week. As a matter of fact, after todays’ games, exactly 11 of the league’s 32 teams are sporting 2-2 records.

If that’s not a testament to parity permeating the league, nothing is. More than a third of the teams are sitting with .500 records. Yuck.

The NFL is now a league with a paucity of competent starting quarterbacks and as anyone knows, a team losing it’s starting signal-caller might as well kiss the season goodbye. Injuries are a part of the game but God forbid if a starting quarterback gets hurt. The backups are putrid and most of them couldn’t play competently even if they received all of the practice reps that the starters get.

Did anyone watch Todd Collins of the Bears last night? He came in for the concussed Jay Cutler, who had been treated like a ragdoll by the Giants pass rush. With the Bears down only a touchdown in the third quarter at 10-3, they had the ball on their own two yard line at third and 9. With Todd Collins behind center, instead of trying to make a play to either get a first down or, at the very least, give Bears punter Brad Maynard a little breathing room to kick the ball out of the end zone, Bears coach Lovey Smith didn’t trust his veteran, Collins, to even make the smallest of passes against the raging Giant defense. Instead, the call was for an off-tackle dive that gained exactly what it deserved to gain. Zero yards.

And Collins is a guy with more than ten years experience in the league carrying clipboards on the sidelines of NFL stadiums.

The NFL has now officially become a league of equality. There are no longer any super teams but there are going to be a lot of 9-7 teams at season’s end. I’m not sure if Roger Goodell, the league’s commissioner was shooting for mass mediocrity among the conferences and teams but frankly, he’s got it now.

Every game your favorite team is going to play this year will be that much more crucial to their staying in the race, such as they may be, for a playoff spot. As long as this is a league where few, if any teams will pull away to 10-2 starts, even the Kansas City Chiefs, down in the dumps for so many years, have a chance to make the playoffs. Sure, they are (shockingly) the only undefeated team left in the NFL but nobody, absolutely no one expects their little magic carpet ride to continue much longer.

Like the rest of the league, the Chiefs just aren’t that good.

So, before Tom Coughlin and his coaching staff break down the film of tonight’s game, which included four more lost fumbles by the Giants offense, they will surely look at each other and say, “we still stink but tonight, we stunk less than the Bears.”

If NFL owners are looking at the mess they’ve created on the field so far this year, imagine what the upcoming 18-game schedule is going to mean for the depth of NFL rosters and the quality of play.

Andrews, 6-4½ and 330 pounds, was at the University at Albany yesterday for a workout and signed with the Giants at 1:45 this morning. He later stood with his new teammates during this morning’s jog-thru and will begin practicing next week.

The 27-year-old Andrews drew interest from other teams, but signed with the fierce NFC East rivals of his former team.

“I guess they kind of picked me, but I picked them as well,” Andrews said. “I just like the atmosphere. The guys that I met, I can tell genuine people when I see them. And it’s right up the road in the NFC, same division where I come from and it’s real intense and I like that.

“They were always good games (between the Giants and Eagles). Always a nice little battle down in the trenches. (Eli) Manning was physical. I remember playing against Fred Robbins, we always had a great battle. It was fun. Some of my better games, I would say.”

But Andrews hasn’t participated in one of those battles since 2007. He played only two games the previous two seasons – none in 2009 – due to back problems that required two surgeries. But he has started all 52 regular season and postseason NFL games in which he has played. And Andrews has worked hard to rehabilitate his back and return to optimal condition.

“Our personnel staff has been monitoring Shawn’s progress for awhile now,” general manager Jerry Reese said. “He looks great and had a very good workout for us yesterday. He can play both guard and both tackle positions. We just have to take him slow for the rest of the preseason to get him into game shape. Shawn is very excited and grateful for this opportunity to play for the New York Giants.”

“You have to give the personnel people some credit,” Coach Tom Coughlin said. “They’ve been tracking the guy. You know he’s in excellent shape, starting to work out, very motivated.

“He had the back and some other issues that he had to deal with. But, sensing now that he really is motivated and that he really wants to play. He’s just a pleasant young man to visit with. He does indicate to you the kind of desire that he has to get back in the game.”

Andrews left no doubt that he is eager to get back in the trenches.

“I’ve put myself through various tests, and the only test for football really is getting on the field and just kind of going slow – (a) few plays here, see how the back holds up,” Andrews said. “I’m laying it all on the line. Not that I haven’t before, but this is it. So the Giants are going to get everything from me.”

Coughlin said he hasn’t decided if Andrews will begin working at guard or tackle. Andrews is a lefthander who can play both positions. Neither of the Giants’ starting guards, Chris Snee (knee) or Rich Seubert (hand) will play in tomorrow’s preseason home game vs. Pittsburgh, though neither is considered a long-term injury.

“We’ve got to do a bunch of work there,” Coughlin said when asked about Andrews’ position. “We know that he’s played guard and we’ll see. We’ll work him in.

“I would think he’ll get back (to football form) relatively quick. He’s in good shape. He’s in very good shape.

Andrews sounded as if he could be happy at either guard or tackle.

“I like the ‘right now’ aspect of the physical-ness of playing guard, but at tackle I kind of like the aspect of kind of showing my footwork a little bit – kind of showing off, if you will,” he said. “I guess it’s all physical, but I like both aspects and wherever they want me to be, that’s where I’m going to be.”

Andrews was Philadelphia’s first-round draft choice in 2004, the 16th pick overall. He immediately won the starting right guard job, but suffered a fractured fibula in the season opener against the Giants, ending his season.

Andrews started all 16 games and was voted a Pro Bowl alternate in 2005. He was a Pro Bowler in both 2006 and 2007, when he was universally considered one of the NFL’s finest offensive linemen.

The Giants have four Pro Bowl offensive linemen on their roster: Shaun O’Hara, Chris Snee, David Diehl and now Andrews.

In 2008, Andrews started the first two games of the season, but was then placed on injured reserve with a back injury. He re-injured his back early in training camp last year and again spent the season on injured reserve. The Eagles said he failed a physical in March and terminated his contract, but Andrews seemed to dispute that.

“That’s kind of tricky right there,” Andrews said. “I won’t say that…nah, I didn’t.”

Andrews said he had “a couple partial-disc removals,” the most recent last December. But he is confident his back can withstand the rigors of NFL football.

“The back is feeling pretty good,” Andrews said. “I’ve been working hard. I’ve been going hard — not that I’ve never worked hard in my life, but I said this is my last attempt at it and I’m going to go just all out. I’m selling out right now.”

In Philadelphia, Andrews had a successful if somewhat curtailed career. He accomplished more than many players and could have easily settled into a post-NFL life. But he believes he still has much to accomplish.

“I’m a competitor and I’m trying to follow the footsteps of the great Larry Allen (an 11-time Pro Bowl selection with the Dallas Cowboys). I want to be that good and even better and I think I have a chance to do that. In this conference, it’s competitive and I think I have a good shot to achieve that. So hopefully everything goes well, and it’s back to kicking butt.

“I never set the bar low. If I would set the bar low, I wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t have gone through a second surgery and I wouldn’t have come here to work out. I always want to be the best. I want to do better than ‘good enough’ and that’s what I aim to do while I’m a Giant.”

To make room on their roster for Andrews, the Giants waived offensive lineman Cliff Louis.

Post PM Practice – New Meadowlands Stadium

June 15, 2010

Q:  What is your reaction to working here in the new stadium?
A:  It’s good to be here; really good to be here.  We needed to get in here.  It is a beautiful, beautiful stadium.  I have been in the locker rooms, we have been upstairs.  We were in the Commissioner’s Club.  It a gorgeous place and it is one proud organization, we are, to think of this as our home stadium.  So to come in here, to have an opportunity to work on the turf, to check the wind out – it is different from Giants Stadium.  It is a different venue – it did swirl on us here today.  The crowd, the excitement, the energy to talk to our fans, to tell them how much we appreciate them and to say, hey, this is just a reminder of the 12^th Man Principle and how much we need them as we go into the regular season.  But this has been a very good experience to come in. I’m glad we did this on a beautiful, beautiful spring day.  The guys really appreciated it and it gives us a really good end to our first day – our second practice – our first day of our mandatory minicamp.
Q:  How about getting used to where the clocks are, where the replay is – there is so much that you have to get used to.
A: Yeah there us, but we have three preseason games to handle that. So that will be something that we will address as we come in here, for example, and do a two-minute drill, get ourselves oriented to where those type of things are — the 40-second, straight in front of us – very low.  So we would have to experience that. 

Q:  How is Domenik Hixon?
A:  I’m not sure yet – we’ll see.  This turf kind of snagged his foot.  He didn’t get it up out of the turf.  We are hoping that it is not something serious.  I think he will be sore tomorrow.  The extent of it, I’m not sure right now.  Domenik is a tough guy, now.  He has fought his way through some things in the past.  Hopefully this is not something serious.

JUSTIN TUCK

Post PM Practice

June 15, 2010

……..waiting for him to kind of run out of it but he keeps it going all day, all practice.  That is the biggest thing.  I love it …….

Q:  ………practice.

A:  That is not surprising. You know how New York fans are.  They probably have been champing at the bit to see some football action.  So we are excited about it.  We have the best fans in the world – no doubt about it.  I saw a guy with a Philly jersey on and I thought there was going to be a little trouble.  They kind of exiled him.  I thought he was going to get roughed up a little bit.  But it is great to be out here with our fans. We know that our fans love us and we love them, too.
Q:  Is there any way, even in late June, you can tell something about the way the field will play or the wind conditions – about what it is going to be like?
A:  You can tell. Sometimes when you look up at the goal post and one goal post is blowing in and the other one was blowing in, too.  So the wind is going to play a factor. But we like that.  We will be used to it by the time we play in here, so opposing teams are going to have something to deal with – especially come late fall.
Q:  How do you feel about this place – just kind of getting your bearings down?

A:  It is a different.  This is a new field.  So it has not been broken in yet.  It is still kind of soft.  So you have to wear the right cleats out here right now. But as we get out here on it more and get more comfortable in here, I’m sure it is just going to be just like we are making old memories like we did in old Giants Stadium.
Q:  The fans are out here just kind of hootin’ and ‘hollering.  Training camp is not here yet, ……this team and the enthusiasm of the fans seems to be as good as ever. 

A:  I think it is going to be an exciting team.  Coming off of last year and having the disappointment that we had last year – we are definitely champing at the bit to get out here and play good football.  And we didn’t do that all year last year.  And we are used to playing good football.  So that is what we want to get back to and that is what we are working for. 
Q:  It is a bit of a double edged sword.  The fans are very close to the bench.  When things are good, that can be good.  But that can also be bad. 
A:  We have ways of taking care of …………..  But that I don’t worry about.  The only thing I can do to control that is by playing good.

Mike Pelfrey seems to have developed a pair of something, not sure exactly how to say it.  But pitching 24 consecutive scoreless innings and compiling a 3-0 record for a mediocre team like the Mets is a sign of something good, isn’t it? He’s challenging hitters like never before and using both sides of the plate with a 93 mph heater and a good, hard slider. Maybe, just maybe this is the year when it all comes together for the 6’7″ righthander.

Javier Vasquez didn’t get it done on the road, either. He hasn’t gotten out of the sixth inning this season. He’s developing this little Ed Whitson appeal, if anyone remembers Ed Whitson. I do know Billy Martin, rest his soul would have remembered Whitson. He got his butt kicked by Easy Ed in a bar, once after having one too many and berating his sensitive pitcher, who never quite got used to playing under the intense scrutiny of New York fans and its press corps. Vasquez, who failed in his first go-around in the Big Apple as a Yankee several years ago, needs to recoup all of the loose ends of his emotions and become a more focused pitcher. It would also help if he lays off his 84 mph breaking stuff (he’s throwing it about 40% of the time) and make Jorge Posada put down the number one more often. Vasquez has a good fastball but either seems to have lost confidence in it or his mechanics are a bit out of whack, lowering his velocity to about 89-90 on his out pitch.   

Get on the ball, NFL general managers! Go ahead and get that kid receiver from the University of California, Nyan Boateng, signed up as a free agent. He plays much faster and elusively than the 4.66 forty he ran at the NFL Combine would indicate. It’s like Steve Smith of the NY Giants once told me when I asked him what he did the forty in. He said, “I did a 4.5 in college.” When I inquired what he thought his time would be now, as an established NFL wide receiver who caught over 100 balls last season from Eli Manning, Smith laughed and said, “Not a 4.5 anymore, that’s for sure.” 

The measurables in evaluating a college player are fine and dandy. It certainly doesn’t hurt to know how many times a kid could lift 225 pounds on the bench press. But, the numbers don’t measure a kids’ heart or the size of the inevitable chip on his shoulder when he goes undrafted or gets taken late in the game. There’s nothing wrong with bringing a kid in who plays with a little anger-fueled intensity during training camp. Let’s get Nyan in camp, someone.

Congratulations to NY Giants P.R. guru Avis Roper and his wife who gave birth to Sydney, their beautiful new daughter. Other than a little bleary-eyed, Avis tells me everyone in the Roper household are doing fine.

Instead, today’s completion of  rounds two and three likely elicited reactions from fans that were closer in emotion to the more current show known as Glee.

The problem lies in the fact most of the high-profile college stars are usually chosen in the first forty or so picks. After the heavily publicized, All-American-caliber players are off the selection board, the endless stroll to the podium to call out the next couple a hundred or so names can become a mind-numbing experience for most viewers except perhaps, the ultra die-hard draftniks. There may be interesting stories associated with these young pros-to-be but those stories don’t appeal to enough of a prime time audience for four hours.

The most dramatic story lines over these past two nights were something far less satisfying than “who shot J.R.” quality. In football parlance, it was more like “who’ll take Jimmy Clausen” and, “what will happen to Colt McCoy.”

The two star quarterbacks, Clausen from Notre Dame and McCoy from Texas were skipped over in the first round despite putting up huge statistics throughout their acclaimed careers. For many reasons, NFL teams decided to either draft for other positional needs or felt these two quarterbacks were probably not franchise-altering performers.

The one quarterback who was viewed as an immediate impact player was Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford who, despite recent surgery on his throwing shoulder proved to NFL teams in pre-draft workouts that he had healed well and had retained his arm strength and accuracy.

The bigger surprise at the quarterback position, and perhaps the story worthy of primetime television programming was the drafting of Tim Tebow, the University of Florida lefty thrower, by the Denver Broncos, with the 25^th pick of the first round. Tebow, a two-time national champion, had not been rated an NFL-quality talent but had generally been accepted as a great leader and winner at the college level. It was felt right up until the day of the draft by many personnel experts that Tebow’s game wouldn’t translate well to the professional ranks. Scouts had viewed his throwing motion and his lack of accuracy as major drawbacks in evaluating his skills in a league where a split-second delay in delivering a pass invariably leads to a drive-killing interception. It was felt Tebow simply lacked the physical tools to successfully make the transition to the NFL. One wiseguy scribe, noting Tebow’s well-publicized devotion to spiritual and religious pursuits, described his drafting by Denver as the teams’ wish to fill, not a need for a quarterback but for the job of team chaplain. Evidently, Denver’s hierarchy feels differently. We’ll see.

 As it turned out, Clausen, listed on most football scouts’ draft prognostications as a first rounder was finally selected with the 48th pick by the Carolina Panthers, the former home of Jake Delhomme who spent much of his last two years being chased by onrushing defensive linemen and getting smashed to the ground much more than he would have preferred. Unless Panther head coach John Fox does something about the Panthers’ porous offensive line, Clausen, more of a pocket passer than a scrambling quarterback, will find himself running for cover a lot of the time. His years at Notre Dame, also a team with offensive line problems will have given him good practice for his professional experience with Carolina, it appears.

McCoy, a national champion with Texas, had to wait all the way till the 85th pick, by the Cleveland Browns before he could call himself a professional player. Despite his near-legendary production as a four-year starter at Texas, his short stature and average throwing arm turned off NFL teams, but not as turned off as many televisions across America became as the names of insignificant story lines, I mean, college players rolled off the tongue of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Having noticed Mr. Mara walking out of the Giants administrative offices and headed towards his car shortly after his Giants had picked Pierre-Paul with the 15th pick in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft, I asked Mara, as we stood in the parking lot why he was leaving the Giants complex so early, with the first round less than half completed.

“I don’t think we’re making any deals to get players at the bottom of the first round,” he told me. “I’m ready to get home and come back tomorrow for the rest of the draft.”

I wondered  how it felt to have chosen a player many of the so-called experts were describing as either a hit or miss type of athlete, meaning, Pierre-Paul had the potential to either become a huge star or a huge bust.

“We’re really happy about it,” he said. “He was the highest rated player on our board. If you told us before the draft that he’d be available to us at number 15, we’d have been very happy.”

There was a potentially terrible moment for the Giants early in the draft when the Oakland Raiders, that bunch of unpredictable clowns, went against type and chose Rolando Mclain, the 6’3”, 255 pound star linebacker from Alabama. The Giants had been known to have focused their loving eyes on Mclain, given their lack of run-stopping ability last season. 

“I kind of expected Mclain to go off the board that early but we had a big grade on Pierre-Paul so we’re really happy with who we ended up with,” said Mara.

Pierre-Paul is not an experienced football player, having played only one year of high school ball and only one year of Division I football at South Florida, after having bounced around two junior colleges. I wondered if Mara was concerned by the limited exposure on the kids’ resume.

“His lack of experience was one of our concerns but he showed rare talent and all of our scouts felt athletically, he had no limitations but does have a huge ceiling so we thought it was worth the pick.”

I reminded Mara that the Giants last general manager, Ernie Accorsi, used to love making baseball analogies when it came to football. In baseball, the old adage is you never have too much pitching. I told the Giants owner how Accorsi used to tell me, “in football, you never have enough people rushing the passer.”

John laughed loudly and confirmed how Ernie used to tell him the same thing.

“We do have a lot of defensive ends now (Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Mathias Kiwanuka, Dave Tollefson and now, Pierre-Paul) but they’re all players who will play in the rotation. Three years ago, we won the Super Bowl and had a bunch of defensive ends playing in that rotation, too.”

Pierre-Paul is the only former USF player expected to get drafted in tonight’s first round. He was projected to go as high at No. 8 to the Raiders by some NFL draft analysts. If he is selected No. 24 overall or high, he’ll supplant Dallas Cowboys cornerback Mike Jenkins (25th overall in 2008 draft) as the highest-drafted USF player in school history.

Pierre-Paul’s stock exploded when a video of him doing more than a dozen back-flips became a YouTube hit, drawing more than 500,000 hits and the attention of NFL scouts. The 6-foot-5, 270-pound Pierre-Paul also impressed scouts at the NFL combine with his athleticism.

“They ask me do I feel like I’m ready for the NFL, I say I just feel ready,” Pierre-Paul said at USF’s Pro Day. “Put me on the field and I will produce.”