DE Jason Pierre-Paul, who left last Sunday’s loss in Pittsburgh after just 32 plays with an ap-parent groin injury, will now likely miss the remainder of the regular season after undergoing surgery for a sports hernia on Wednesday morning.
Sources believe the former All-Pro defender be out the full six weeks and may not see the field again unless the Giants make it deep into the postseason, either the NFC Championship game and/or the Super Bowl.
Pierre-Paul was coming off a ring of strong performances including a monster game against the Cleveland Browns in Week 12 in which he earned NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors. He has 53 total tackles on the season with seven sacks and three forced fumbles. JPP also re-turned a fumble for a TD against the Browns last week.
The Giants will likely go with a combination of Kerry Wynn, Owa Odighizuwa and Romeo Okwara to fill JPP’s role, which will not be an easy task. Up until leaving last Sunday’s game, JPP had been on the field for 95.4% of the club’s defensive snaps this season.
JPP’s absence will certainly hurt the Giants along the defensive line and put more pressure on Olivier Vernon, the other starting defensive end, who has been surging the past few weeks with sacks in five consecutive games.