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New York Giants: Jason Pierre-Paul not ruled out for Week 1 yet

By Nick Ziegler

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One of the strangest situations in football this offseason was with Jason Pierre-Paul and the New York Giants.

Pierre-Paul lost one of his fingers in a fireworks accident on the 4th of July, and since then there have been a lot of secretive actions by him. The Giants sent people to Florida where the injury occurred, but Pierre-Paul wouldn’t meet with them.

We really have no idea how he is doing and neither does his head coach Tom Coughlin. With no real knowledge on his status, Coughlin wouldn’t rule out Pierre-Paul for Week 1 against the Dallas Cowboys.

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“Maybe he comes in and he’s in great shape and the doctors clear him right away,” Coughlin said to Jordan Raanan of NJ.com. “He practices two days and goes and plays. I don’t know. I’m not sure about anything … but I’m not going to rule that out either.”

Before the fireworks accident, Pierre-Paul was in a hold out looking for a new contract which obviously hasn’t come since this situation started. There will be things to learn for Pierre-Paul, as the Giants have a new defense after bringing back defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

“A lot to catch up with,” Coughlin said to Raanan. “The other thing is I don’t know where he is from a conditioning standpoint. I don’t know how much he’s been able to do. He’ll have some time to spend to get ready.”

“I think he’ll come quickly through the football part of it,” Coughlin said to Raanan. “He’s had an iPad and he’s watched and so on and so forth. Hopefully that part we’ll be able to get him up to date on that. And another thing is he’s coming into a game plan situation, so it’s very specific. So he has to learn specifically what his responsibilities are as we get into the regular season rather than the entire playbook.”

If by some miracle Pierre-Paul is able to play in Week 1 it would be a huge boost for the defense. Pierre-Paul was the best player on the Giants’ defense last season, but it’s hard to tell what kind of player he will be from here on out.

Pierre-Paul has surely had a difficult time adjusting to normal life without a finger, and he will also have to adjust to that on the field.

There are plenty of questions to ask about Pierre-Paul, as his status for Week 1 will be a major story heading into Sunday.

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