EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- During the New York Giants' two most recent Super Bowl runs and many of their greatest wins in between, a devastating pass rush has carried the defense. It was the difference-makers that haunted Aaron Rodgers and twice flicked aside Tom Brady. So it has been a little jarring this week to hear that when it comes to rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III, the same Giants defensive linemen confess that he actually gets in their heads a bit. Not the other way around.

This is new. This is strange.

Justin Tuck was the first to volunteer that early this week when he looked ahead to Monday's rematch against the Washington Redskins and said of RG3, "Until I exit stage right, it seems like he's going to be a fixture in my dreams and nightmares."

Jason Pierre-Paul and the Giants are preparing for another four quarters of chasing Robert Griffin III. Brad Penner/US Presswire

Mathias Kiwanuka, Jason Pierre-Paul and Chris Canty have been similarly effusive about Griffin as this week has gone on. Then Tuck, speaking again Thursday, added that as he and Osi Umenyiora were watching film of the Giants' 27-23 escape against Washington on Oct. 21, he turned to Umenyiora and asked, "Did he really do that?" after Griffin backpedaled away from the rush on a first-quarter play near the goal line faster than the Giants were coming at him and smartly threw the ball away.

"If I tried that," said Tuck, "I'd probably fall on my ear."

Doesn't this break some unwritten rule? Whatever happened to defensive linemen growling that quarterbacks are pretty-boy preeners who should play games in skirts? Remember nose tackle Tony Siragusa's famous retort when the Giants' Michael Strahan joked before Super Bowl XXXV that Siragusa ate so constantly he left chicken bones on the field, even during games? "Chicken bones? Those are quarterback bones," Siragusa sniffed, as if he'd been insulted.

The most remarkable thing about RG3 is not that he is playing well -- he was the No. 2 overall pick in the draft and the Heisman Trophy winner, after all. The shock is how he has made even surly defensive linemen sound alarmingly similar to fans a scant 11 games into his NFL career.

Normally, rookies (and especially rookie quarterbacks) get the wait-and-see approach from their NFL peers. Not so with Griffin. Already, he looks like one of those mind-expanding players the league has never seen before: a quarterback who can fly like Deion Sanders and has the arm strength to throw 65 yards downfield and the smarts to complete passes at the sort of high-percentage clip that Joe Montana used to make routine. A man who can slice up defenses throwing from the pocket and blow up that old claim that you can't make the option running attack a staple in the NFL?