Palladino: JPP's Stupid Decision Was Selfish, And It Could End Up Haunting Giants

By Ernie Palladino
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Thanks to Jason Pierre-Paul, general managers the world over have now learned they should add another item to the list of forbidden offseason activities.

No skydiving, no motorcycling, no base-jumping and, most expressly, no playing with explosives!

If only JPP's situation was that funny. In turning his hand into crispy chicken as he lit off a van full of Fourth of July fireworks, the Giants' defensive end showed that his on-again, off-again pass rush since his 16 1/2-sack 2011 wasn't the only thing that has been off about him. While it's no crime to nearly blow off one's hand, it does show an incredible selfishness and lack of judgment from a man looking at -- minimum -- a one-year, $14.8 million franchise tender.

That's a lot of scratch, but it's nothing compared to the $60 million-plus he wants over a long-term contract. It is incumbent on anyone asking for that kind of dough to keep himself in tip-top shape at all times, and that means using common sense to avoid activities that can endanger that goal.

JPP proved he doesn't have that asset. In response, his team is apparently protecting its own assets -- the green kind. They probably won't yank away the tender, since that would turn Pierre-Paul into a free agent who could theoretically sign with a division rival and haunt the Giants for the next several years. But reports indicate that any talks on a long-term contract may soon disappear.

As financially wise as that may be -- considering management has no idea the shape in which their defensive end will return in, or when he'll return -- it stands to reason that they'd also be angry at him. Pierre-Paul has now put Tom Coughlin and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo in a real fix.

They were depending on him to provide the bulk of the weak-side pass rush, hopefully to return to the back-flipping monster of 2011. Spagnuolo wants to bring pressure from all over the field, but it's going to start from up front, and that means JPP.

On top of that, Pierre-Paul had something to prove. Those 12 1/2 sacks last year were more mirage than real. Until the final six games, when he exploded for nine sacks against the dregs of the league, he had recorded just 3 1/2 sacks. Unlike his two previous years, Perry Fewell couldn't even blame it on injuries or the double-team. JPP, despite playing all 16 games, had become rather easy for an average offensive line to handle without expending a lot of extra manpower.

Damontre Moore showed some ability as a pass rusher with 5 1/2 sacks last year, but until he proves otherwise in training camp he can only be regarded as a situational player. He has a long way to go before anyone considers him a starter on either side.

Robert Ayers, Jr. is coming off his own injury problems, and George Selvie is more of a run stopper than a quarterback hunter.

Owa Odighizuwa is a rookie who, despite comparisons to Justin Tuck as an outside-inside force, doesn't have the experience to handle a JPP role. And Kerry Wynn could well turn into a flash in the pan. He impressed in the last handful of games after spending most of the season on the game-day inactive list.

With one bad decision, Pierre-Paul sent Spagnuolo's playbook airborne, its pass-rush sections thrown to the wind.

It's a mess, and the Giants have no idea when, or even if, it will get straightened out.

All from one bad, stupid decision.

They never thought their star defensive end would create these kind of fireworks.