Coaches of high school and youth sports must want to weep uncontrollably when concepts they teach, abstract and otherwise, get undone by something their kids see on television.

Which is why trumpets must be summoned when a professional athlete gets one right, so right that it becomes a moment to be recalled fondly and often.

Straight up: Jason Pierre-Paul's great hustle play from Sunday's Giants-Redskins game should be required watching for every kid playing any sport. Not sure why JPP's length-of-the-field sprint to jar the ball loose from Robert Griffin III didn't get legs on television or social media. Perhaps because it was too substantive to be sexy.

But if a coach ever wants to convey the message that you play as hard as you can by habit because you never know the result of maximum effort, he or she should show Pierre-Paul's resolve and how it was responsible for 10 points.

That's right.

One play.

Ten points.

It was late in the first half, what would turn out to be the final play, Redskins inside the Giants' 10. Griffin III dropped back to pass and saw the pass rush coming. With the game clock in single digits, Griffin III had a decision: throw it away and kick the field goal, or scramble and gamble on the touchdown, knowing time would run out.

Griffin III ran. He ran right, opposite where Pierre-Paul was lined up. Pierre-Paul was in full sprint in high speed pursuit of Griffin III, who was about to dive for the pylon. Pierre-Paul's effort appeared to be reminiscent of his team's season, in that day-late, dollar-short sort of way.

JPP made a full body dive at Griffin III and could only force the quarterback to bobble the ball slightly. Griffin III dove and hit the pylon, giving Washington what all of Met Life Stadium thought was a touchdown. Except it wasn't.

Turns out that the bobble changed the play. Without the bobble, Griffin III would have hit the pylon and scored. But Griffin III was forced to, in rules guru Mike Pereira's words, "repossess the ball" resulting from the bobble. It required him to maintain possession all the way to the ground, which Griffin III did not. No touchdown, half over.

The residual effect: Washington lost seven points. Two of its players got flagged 15 yards in protest, allowing the Giants to kick off in the second half in Washington territory. Tom Coughlin opted for an onsides kick, which the Giants recovered. They eventually kicked a field goal. Seven points the Redskins didn't get. Three points for the Giants. That's 10 points because of one play.

Think about it: The Giants are going nowhere. Pierre-Paul could have run half or three-quarter speed. It sure looked as though he wouldn't get there in time. And yet his effort was exemplary.

It didn't get much traction in the big, bad New York media, other than for a few of them to suggest this was JPP merely trying hard in a contract year. Plus, you can't appear too soft or gullible, not when you're trying to be the toughest guy in the press box.

Maybe fans, too, would dismiss this, reasoning that for all that money, the least Pierre-Paul could do is try hard. Think what you'd like. Free country. Except we all know that dogging it happens frequently in and out of professional sports. And for a guy on a losing team in a nothing game to go max effort provides an enduring lesson.

You try as hard as you can all the time. Words we hear frequently, sure. But this was the embodiment. I suspect that all fans really want from their players is to show they care. This play, for me, is right up there with Derek Jeter's face-first dive into the stands.

I'm not sure if Coughlin survives this season. I hope he does. He is a good man. He's won two Super Bowls. And his players have hardly quit. One of them just authored one of the great hustle plays of the season. Many seasons.

Here's hoping coach and player return. And for coaches everywhere to show Jason Pierre-Paul when they want to make a point.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius