Jabrill Peppers had a few messages to deliver — to Giants fans, to his teammates and to Giants head coach Pat Shurmur.
And, as tantalizing fate would have it Sunday, the Giants safety got to deliver a bonus message — to the player he replaced when the Giants traded for him in the offseason, Landon Collins, who had signed as a free agent with the Redskins after four productive seasons with the Giants that included three Pro Bowl selections.
With 1:19 remaining in the third quarter of the Giants’ 24-3 rout of the Redskins at MetLife Stadium, Peppers picked off rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. and returned it 32 yards for a touchdown, providing an exclamation point to the Giants’ second consecutive win after an 0-2 start.
There was chatter after the game that Peppers, who now wears Collins’ old number 21, had been chirping he was the real Giants’ No. 21 and that it got back to Collins on the opposing sideline.
At the end of the game, there was a minor scuffle between the two players, an altercation Peppers downplayed as “just football, man,’’ and Collins dismissed when asked about it, saying, “Next question.’’
But Peppers answered a few questions with his performance Sunday.
As soon as he got back to the Giants sideline after his pick-six, he made a beeline to Shurmur and had a word with him.
“I said, ‘That’s one of the reasons you guys brought me here; I’m going to make you look good and do my due diligence,’ ’’ Peppers said. “That pick-six made it a three-score game,’’ Shurmur said. “That’s important.’’
For Peppers, who entered Sunday with two interceptions in 32 career games, it was the first pick-six of his career.
“I tried to do the wall hop, but I was a little tired and didn’t quite make it,’’ Peppers said of his celebration.
And to do it with Collins, whom he’ll be compared, watching was not lost on Peppers.
“Absolutely, I felt like this was a great game for me to come out here and prove myself and maybe change the narrative a little bit — for me as a person and as a player and us as a whole defense,’’ Peppers said.
“He wants to prove his worth, prove this is why you all brought me here,’’ fellow Giants safety Michael Thomas said. “He wanted to have a big game and he came up with a big play.’’
Asked if Collins was an added motivational factor for him, Peppers said, “I don’t need any of that to be motivated. I motivate myself. I have this chip on my shoulder. I’m always going to be motivated. It [Collins’ presence] might add a little fuel to the fire, but I’m always going to come out there and play like my hair’s on fire.’’
Asked about the skirmish, Peppers said, “It’s all love, man. That’s just football. I respect those guys, I respect what [Collins] did in his career, but it’s all love. Ain’t nothing to it. It’s just football, man. That’s it.’’