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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- When the New York Giants returned to New Jersey shortly after 2 a.m. Tuesday morning after their season-opening "Monday Night Football" loss in Detroit, Damontre Moore was still stewing. He had Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford in his sights on that first-quarter play only to see Stafford get loose and find a wide-open Calvin Johnson for a 67-yard touchdown pass. "After the game," Moore said Thursday, "it was still eating me up." Moore's teammate, Jason Pierre-Paul, knew this and decided to send Moore a text of encouragement. "I just wanted him to know it happens," Pierre-Paul said. "Sometimes you get to the quarterback faster than you expect, and you make a mistake. But you can't let it bother you. You have to move onto the next play." Moore struggled to do that, by his own admission. He also didn't have too many "next plays" to move on to. Moore only logged nine plays on defense in the game Monday, and on Thursday Giants coach Tom Coughlin made it clear he wasn't being held out because he whiffed on that early sack. "No, no. Actually, he should've played more," Coughlin said. "There wasn't any intention there." Asked why Moore didn't play more, Coughlin said, "That's a good question. You'll have to take that to the defensive guys." So we asked defensive coordinator Perry Fewell, who said the plan was to use the second-year pass-rusher more Monday, but that the plan had to be changed because of injuries to guys like linebacker Devon Kennard and defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins. "We had several specialized packages for not only him but some other players," Fewell said. "One of the other guys got dinged in the game, so we had to put t hat package to the shelf. Hopefully we'll do better this week." Moore is an intriguing guy for a Giants pass rush that only collected 34 sacks last season and is determined to bring that number up. Thursday was his 22nd birthday, which means he's still a remarkably young player who's understandably still learning. But he's also an exciting talent who made an impact on special teams as a rookie and who could make an impact in the pass rush if he can figure out how to reliably keep from jumping offsides. "I thought he played with good energy," Fewell said. "We wished he would have capitalized on that one sack, but out of the number of plays he had, he only had the minus on that one missed sack. There are good things to come, I think, from him." Pierre-Paul said Moore's mistake on the missed sack was a simple technique error -- that he needs to go after the quarterback's outside shoulder on a play like that and not fall for the juke Stafford delivered. But he said he believes in Moore and agrees with Fewell that there are good things to come. There's opportunity for someone like Moore to come quickly as a helper in the pass rush, because they do need someone besides Pierre-Paul who can become a sack threat. "Honestly, we've got to get to the quarterback," Pierre-Paul said. "It wasn't good enough. I need to do better, everybody needs to do better on that defensive line, and we've just got to get to the quarterback. We stopped the run, but we've got to get to the quarterback."
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