TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Warren Sapp jokes that he and Michael Strahan get along on their new television show because they square off on camera hundreds of miles away from each other rather than in person.

“We can’t physically choke or grab each other, so it’s all right,” Tampa Bay’s All-Pro defensive tackle said.

Truth be told, two of the NFL’s best pass rushers share many of the same views on football and have mutual respect for one another’s accomplishments on the field, even if it doesn’t always seem that way.

Two years ago, Sapp was critical of the play in which Strahan broke the NFL’s single-season sacks record because he felt the New York Giants’ star defensive end had been the beneficiary of a gift from Brett Favre.

So when the NFL announced this fall that Sapp and Strahan were teaming on NFL Network, it caught a lot of people by surprise. Wasn’t there bad blood between the players?

“The thing that most people don’t understand about me and Strahan is, if we were given 20 questions … we would agree on 18 of those 20 subjects,” Sapp said.

“I love the way he rushes the passer and I think he has the same admiration for me. But it’s one of those deals where you are fighting for the same prize in your trophy case. It becomes personal sometimes. … I had a strong opinion about it and I really believe rushers all over the world would agree with me with that. It is just one of those deals where we don’t see eye to eye on that one.”

Strahan entered Monday night’s matchup between the Bucs and Giants with nine sacks in his previous seven games, and 10 overall.

Sapp, approaching Hall Famer Lee Roy Selmon’s club record for career sacks, had three. He averaged nine per year in his first eight pro seasons and needed four to surpass Selmon’s 78 from 1976 to 1985.

Although Sapp doesn’t rank among the league leaders in sacks this season, Strahan said he still considers him the top defensive tackle in the game.

“I said years ago that everybody gets so stuck on sacks, and if a guy doesn’t have double-digit sacks he’s not having a great year. That’s so untrue,” said Strahan, who ranks fourth among active players with 105.

“I’ve seen enough of the Bucs on TV, and I know what kind of player Warren is, that if he’s not getting sacks, trust me, he’s disrupting and doing a lot of other things. You have to realize there are teams out there that will give a sack to somebody else in order for him not to get one, because maybe they would just rather somebody else get it than Warren Sapp. I don’t think you can diminish what’s he’s doing this year.”

Sapp and Strahan tape their appearances on NFL Total Access, which is structured to provide a view of the game through the participants’ eyes, each Thursday after practice.

Sapp sits in front of a camera in Tampa and Strahan does the same at the Giants’ headquarters. A monitor is set up both places, so the players can hear and see each other’s reaction.

“Just two guys who have been in this league for quite a while and done some good things in it, and we are just trying to shed a better light on the game, and how we play it, and some of the intricacies of the game,” Sapp said. “I think me and him do a good job.”