It doesn’t happen often in the NFL where a player stays with one team for their entire career.

Even players that are Hall of Famers don’t end up sticking with one team. Some take it in stride, understanding the business side of things, while others hold a grudge, feeling they were wrongly let go.

Jason Pierre-Paul finds himself in this situation as he faces his former team, the New York Giants on Sunday. Pierre-Paul spent eight years in New York, seeing time as the star defensive player en route to a career of making an all-pro team, two Pro Bowls, and of course, winning Super Bowl XLVI.

Pierre-Paul was traded from the Giants to the Bucs unexpectedly this off season. It came as the Giants started a new regime at general manager woth Davis Gettleman. Needless to say Pierre-Paul has been thinking about this game for a while.

Bucs DE Jason Pierre-Paul

“This one has been checked off since I left there,” Pierre-Paul said. “I’m pretty sure they know I’m bringing the house down. At the end of the day, it is what it is, I know once I get there, I’m gonna be going 100 percent.”

The veteran defensive end might be playing his first season in pewter and red, but he reflected on his time in New York, he had all nice things to say about the Giants.

“Great organization, I have nothing bad to say about it.” Pierre-Paul said. “The owners there, the Mara’s and Tisch’s, that’s a great organization, nothing bad to say about them. I loved it there the years I spent there, they took great care of me.”

The memories are fond for JPP, but not everything was sunshine and rainbows for him upon his departure. He didn’t leave the team on his own terms, and he’ll just leave it at that.

“I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily angry,” Pierre-Paul said. “I only got a phone call, but, at the end of the day it’s a business, you got to keep it moving, that’s the way it is.”

Another fun little caveat for a player returning to his old stomping grounds is how the fans will react to him. Pierre-Paul said that he loved the fans in New York, but he’s not exactly sure what the reception will be when he gets there. It’s still a business trip, so playing well is first and foremost.

Bucs DE Jason Pierre-Paul – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“I don’t know,” Pierre-Paul said about how he thinks the crowd will react to him. “I got a lot of people supporting me there, so, other than that, I’m going to be okay. I don’t need a lot of support, but at the end of the day, I know it’s going to be crazy out there. I’m just going to go out there and a give it my all. That’s all I do every Sunday, give it my all and we’ll see what happens, see if I can put on a show or not, right?”

During his time with the Giants, Pierre-Paul notched 58.5 sacks, with a career season high of 16.5 in 2011, the same season he became a Super Bowl champion. He’s carried over that same production in Tampa so far with eight sacks, which would already put him at his fourth career highest if he didn’t record another one this year.

After practicing against him for all these years, he’ll be chasing after Eli Manning on Sunday, probably the first time he’s been able to hit him without coaches yelling.

“I’m coming, Eli,” Pierre-Paul said with a wide grin on his face. “He knows I’m coming.”

Pierre-Paul then jokingly said that he’ll have to lay him down because of the new roughing the passer rule. He went on to say he personally thinks Manning is a Hall of Famer.

Pierre-Paul gets a homecoming on Sunday, but of course, he as always is keeping it professional before letting the moment get to him.

“I’ll say it will be emotional at some point,” Pierre-Paul said. “But you know you got a job to do, Sunday is game day, and I’m going to play to the best of my ability and it’s coming.”