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Giants fans were blindsided today with the news that All Pro defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul underwent surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back.
The estimate for his recovery is 12 weeks, which would mean he's out for the remainder of the summer, but could be ready to return by the team's opener against the Cowboys on September 8th.
He had apparently been experiencing pain for a while now and recently his doctors decided that surgery was the best course of action.
"My back has been bothering me for a while, and even last season I played through some back issues," said Pierre-Paul. "The treatment I've been doing has helped manage the issue, but this procedure is going to get me fully healthy and there should be no more pain. I'm going to do everything the doctors tell me to do during my rehab so I can be back playing the game I love at a high level as quickly as possible."
I suppose it's good news/bad news for the Giants. The bad news is obviously that their best defensive player will be out for the rest of the summer and may not be in top shape when the season starts. Plus, we've seen certainly seen that when back problems start for a player, they can tend to keep cropping up.
That said, if this surgery does work and he stops experiencing pain in his back, both the player and the team will be better for it. Maybe he gets off to a slow start this year, but in the long run that's really not important.
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