Healthy Pierre-Paul ready to bring the pain

season against the Cowboys on Sunday night, but it also shows just how far Pierre-Paul has come since his July 2015 fireworks incident.

The 28-year-old’s career was in jeopardy after having his right pointer finger amputated and half of his right middle finger removed, too.

He played just eight games later that year, learning to adjust with his new handicap.

Then last season, Pierre-Paul showed he could still play at a high level, registering 53 tackles, seven sacks and three forced fumbles in just 12 games after a core injury resulted in seasonending surgery.

But that’s just a minor hurdle compared to what he’s been through.

“To be honest, my hand surgery and my hand incident, I feel like there’s no injury I can’t overcome,” he said. “If I can come back from that I can come back from everything, so I proved it. I’m out here playing well right now, I’m just trying to get better.”

His preseason play certainly indicates he’s getting better.

While Pierre-Paul did not play that much this preseason, he still made plenty of noise in the two games in which he appeared.

He finished with two tackles, half a sack and an interception against the Browns and three tackles, a sack that resulted in a safety and a pass defended against the Jets. “I’m still getting warmed up,” Pierre-Paul said.

The Giants hope Pierre-Paul is warmed up by Sunday night against the defending NFC East champion Cowboys.

A Week 1 win would go a long way for Big Blue as Pierre-Paul and the Giants defense are the reason why some are talking Super Bowl potential.

“We got great players here, we got great talent. You look around there’s talent all over the room,” Pierre-Paul said. “But it’s going to take a team. You can’t just look at everybody individually. The team is good. It’s not a Super Bowl team yet, but I feel like if we don’t make those mistakes and close out games like we need to do—take it one game at a time, we’ll get to where we need to go.”