Rueben Randle caught his third touchdown pass of the season and 15th of his four-year NFL career with the Giants when he found himself wide open late in the first quarter of Sunday’s 32-18 victory in Tampa, Fla. He barely had to move in the end zone as he hauled in an 8-yard pass from Eli Manning.
“It was probably the easiest one I’ve had throughout my whole career,’’ Randle said. “I wanted to do some jumping jacks, but I didn’t want to make it that obvious.’’
Randle was able to play 65 of 75 offensive snaps, despite again dealing with a tender hamstring.
“It’s still a little sore, but it’s better than the past weeks,’’ he said. “Probably one more week and then after the bye, hopefully I’ll be where I can go out there and play full speed.’’
The analytics outfit Pro Football Focus liked what it saw from Jason Pierre-Paul in his 2015 debut. JPP had two quarterback hits and four pressures, and PFF gave him the third-highest Pass Rush Productivity grade of all 4-3 defensive ends in Week 9 — six total pressures on 32 pass rush snaps.
To ease the load on fill-in middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley, the defensive calls from the sideline were sent in to Devon Kennard, who wore the specialized helmet with the radio receiver in it. Brinkley, subbing for Jon Beason (injured reserve) and Uani ’Unga (not activated because of a neck injury), was awarded a game ball after he came up with a team-high seven tackles, forced one fumble and recovered another.
Coach Tom Coughlin would not speculate if Will Beatty will be activated this week off short-term injured reserve. Beatty, coming off a torn pectoral muscle, must be activated later this week or he goes on season-ending injured reserve. Coughlin has not expressed much in the way of praise or optimism about Beatty’s return.
Brad Wing punted only once — the first time in more than five years the Giants had only one punt in a game. The last time it happened was Nov. 7, 2010 in a 41-7 victory at Seattle. … Beason’s season is finished, having played just five games, a year after he made it into just four games. His NFL career is likely over as he winds up another season on IR. “Jon has been an outstanding leader here,’’ Coughlin said. “He is a man of principle. He is a guy who loves to play, loves to compete. But the inability to really put the injuries to rest and be able to have some kind of an idea when, in fact, he could play and could be able to stay out there, there just wasn’t any answers to those kinds of thins.’’