Tom: JPP a no-show till he’s ready

COACH AND PLAYER have finally spoken. And Jason Pierre-Paul won’t be back in East Rutherford anytime soon.

On Saturday, Giants coach Tom Coughlin said that he’d finally gotten in touch with his star defensive end, in a phone call on Friday night. And while Coughlin said the two had a “good conversation,” Pierre-Paul also made official what most believed: He will not return to the team until he is healthy enough to take the field.

“He’s looking forward to coming,” Coughlin said. “He’s anxious to be here. But he’s not going to come until he feels like he’s ready to be able to play.”

It’s the course of action that most expected Pierre-Paul would take. The Giants’ finest pass-rusher is still recovering from injuries to both hands sustained in a Fourth of July fireworks accident. He had at least his right index finger amputated as a result, and, just a month later, it remains unlikely that he’s in football shape.

He has yet to sign his $14.813 million franchise tag tender and remains without a contract. By not inking a deal until fully healthy, he prevents the Giants from placing him on the non-football injury list. If the Giants chose to place him on the NFI list, they would not have to pay him.

Coughlin said he has little clue when Pierre-Paul will be fit for action, so he has no idea when the defensive end will join the team. “It could be whatever amount of time,” the coach said. “I’m not even going to speculate.”

But the coach is sure that Pierre-Paul wants to be with the Giants. In the days immediately after the injury, the defensive end put up a wall between himself and the outside world, even shutting out Giants officials from his hospital recovery room. But since then, Pierre-Paul has gradually opened the lines of communication, making contact with GM Jerry Reese and several teammates. Robert Nunn, Pierre-Paul’s position coach, has been texting him regularly.

“There’ve been many people talking to him,” Coughlin said. “He’s little by little tried to make his contacts.”

Just as important, Coughlin said, is that JPP wants to return. To hear Coughlin tell it, only technicalities are keeping the defender out of camp.

“I was glad to hear his voice,” Coughlin said. “He sounded good. He sounded interested, that he wanted to get back here.”