Jason Pierre-Paul undergoes surgery, out 6 weeks — report

Jason Pierre-Paul had surgery Wednesday morning, according to a report from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, and is expected to be sidelined for six weeks. That would mean that Pierre-Paul’s season is over unless the Giants advance deep into the playoffs. The surgery was for what is being called a “core-muscle injury.”

Pierre-Paul will finish the season with seven sacks. He compiled 5.5 of those in back-to-back games against the Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns in Weeks 11 and 12. A six-week recovery would mean Pierre-Paul would likely be unable to play until the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 22.

“Guys have to step up. We have Kerry Wynn, he has played a lot of football here. Romeo (Okwara) and (Owa) Odighizuwa. I don’t know his health, but we have guys behind him that I believe are going to do a really good job,” said defensive captain Jonathan Casillas. “But no one is JPP. No one is Jason Pierre-Paul. No one can really do the things that he can do for us or for anybody, so it is going to be different things that might have to do. I don’t know what that is quite yet, but his presence will be missed out there.

Pierre-Paul has played 91 percent of the team’s defensive snaps this season. In addition to his seven sacks, he is second in the NFL is passes defensed by a defensive end with eight and sixth in quarterback hurries with 24, one behind teammate Olivier Vernon.

“The way he plays them, he plays at a high level,” Casillas said. “He has a great motor, he is a guy that can run anybody down when they break a run or catch a pass and he is one of the best pure pass rushers in the NFL.”

Wynn has a half-sack this season. Neither Okwara or Odighizuwa have registered a sack.

Pierre-Paul can be a free agent at the end of the season. Is it possible we have seen JPP for the final time in a Giants’ uniform? It will certainly be interesting to see what his value will be on the open market.