The Giants' six-game winning streak came to a screeching halt last Sunday against the Steelers and now their playoff hopes are in serious jeopardy after pass rusher Jason Pierre-Paul underwent sports hernia surgery Wednesday morning, according to ESPN.com's Jordan Raanan.
It's expected to be a six-week recovery, which means the Giants will be without one of their best players for the stretch run. The big questions for Big Blue now: Can the Giants win in the meantime and will JPP will be healthy enough to return in mid-January should the Giants still be playing?
It's been almost a year-and-a-half since Pierre-Paul suffered a serious hand injury during a fireworks accident. He missed eight games in 2015 and when he returned, he didn't have full use of his hand during games because it was taped into a club. As a result, he finished the year with just one sack.
Through 12 games of the 2016 season, Pierre-Paul has seven sacks, eight passes defended and three forced fumbles, and according to Pro Football Focus, he was the NFL's third-ranked defense end behind only Cameron Jordan and Brandon Graham.
The former first-round pick signed a one-year, $10.5 million "show-me" deal in March, and is coming off January hand surgery. He'll be 28 years old when his contract expires, but for now Pierre-Paul is focused on more immediate matters. Namely, getting healthy and helping the suddenly reeling Giants should they find a way to make it into the postseason.
As it stands, New York is the No. 5 seed in the NFC, but that could change with games against Dallas, Detroit, Philadelphia and Washington remaining on the regular-season schedule.
