Jason Pierre-Paul is ready to go. tphotography.com

By Michael Eisen
June 6, 2016
 
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – There’s an old saying that normal is a setting on a dryer, which might help explain why Jason Pierre-Paul seems indifferent to returning there.
 
“I will never be completely back to normal,” JPP said today.
 
But that doesn’t preclude Pierre-Paul from being a consistently productive defensive end, one who stops the run, harasses quarterbacks, and inspires his teammates. And that is exactly what he expects to be.
 
“I am doing everything that they ask me to do. I find ways around it,” Pierre-Paul said after an organized team activity. “That is why I am out there today. I am lifting weights, I’m out here with the guys. I won’t say it is normal, but it is normal for me. I can deal with it.”
 
Pierre-Paul’s standard has been an issue since the fireworks accident last July 4 that badly injured his right hand, costing him his index finger, and half the 2015 season. He played the final eight games with his hand encased in a club, which limited his ability to make plays.
 
“When you are playing with a closed fist in a wrap,” he said, “you aren’t going to be able to do anything with that.”
 
Pierre-Paul was asked if he had a lot to learn when he returned, having had no previous experience in Steve Spagnuolo’s defense.
 
“I was basically just dealing with my hand, man,” he said. “I’m still learning the system. Every guy in here is still learning the system. We’re just doing what needs to be done, getting things done on the defensive side of the ball. Coach Spags is doing a great job. There are certain things I just don’t get. I’m not saying that (Spagnuolo) isn’t doing a great job, but I have to better myself at what I don’t get.”
 
JPP has shed the club for a glove, which will enable him to grab runners and quarterbacks and help him be the kind of complete end that made him a Pro Bowler in 2011 and 2012.
 
“I had to play with a club last year, but I knew I wasn’t going to play with it this year,” he said. “That is basically it. I am going to be making more tackles. For what I came back and did, that was awesome, that was amazing. But to be honest, I didn’t really have to play last season. It was just to help the team out. I think I did a great job and I wanted to be here, so that is why I came back early.”
 
Although he and the rest of the players won’t engage in contact until August, Pierre-Paul has made a positive impression in the Giants’ organized team activities.
 
“He has definitely improved his fundamentals,” coach Ben McAdoo said. “I’m sure if you asked him, he would be able to give you a pretty good indication of it. He looks a lot more comfortable. He has always been a very disruptive player and we expect that to continue.
 
“Obviously, he has a year under his belt now. He has been able to hit the weight room and is able to go out and practice fundamentals with it for a year, so obviously he is ahead of the game that way.”
 
Four weeks from today will be the one-year anniversary of Pierre-Paul’s accident.
 
“I will be gone,” he said. “I won’t even be in the United States. Where I’m going, they don’t celebrate the Fourth of July.”
 
But he will certainly be cognizant of the date. Will it mean something to him, since one of the most significant events of his life happened on that national holiday?
 
“It will be a year,” he said. “I have overcome a lot of things in my life. That will be something that I overcame and I’ll put it behind me. That will be it.  … It seems longer, for what I had to do. But I am okay.”
 
*McAdoo was asked if he’s been impressed with second-round draft choice Sterling Shepard, the wide receiver who made another impressive catch today.
 
“The thing about Sterling is he will make a mistake, as a lot of young guys do and a lot of veterans do,” McAdoo said. “But he doesn’t seem like the guy that is going to repeat that mistake. So once he makes a mistake, he will fix it, he will move on, he will learn from it and he is continuing to pick things up and he is doing a nice job right now for us.”
 
*Safety Darian Thompson, the third-round selection, made a heads-up play by immediately giving himself up after intercepting a pass in a two-minute drill.
 
“(Thompson) picked the ball off and then took a knee,” McAdoo said. “He had enough awareness to know that the game was over at that point in time, with the offense only having one timeout and under 50 seconds (remaining); I believe that was what was on the clock at that point on the tipped ball, so he showed good awareness there. You can obviously feel the pass rush a little bit with the front and the secondary has good coverage, so that is encouraging.”
 
*The Giants will conclude their OTA’s this week before wrapping up their offseason program with a mandatory minicamp beginning next Tuesday.
 
“The structure of practice will be similar for this time of the year,” McAdoo said. “We will have them for a little bit longer in the day, so we will be able to get them on the field, and extra time to get some simulated training in in the afternoon, but otherwise it will be pretty similar. A little more meeting time.”