Jason Pierre-Paul is as cheerful as the firework that destroyed his right hand. The Giants DE spoke publicly to the media on Friday.

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He appeared in good spirits, despite missing out on millions and damaging his hand.

"Of course it's going to have a special glove. I'm missing an index finger,” he said, per NFL.com. "I'm still the same Jason Pierre-Paul. That hasn't changed. I've probably gotten even better.

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“So you know, I'm ready to play football and help my team win."

Somewhere, Brian Baldinger is banging his head against the wall. The NFL analyst was adamant in July that Pierre-Paul’s best days are behind him.

“For every defensive end and outside linebacker, the whole game is your hands. It's about grabbing and controlling people with your hands,” he told NJ Advance Media. “It's about engaging and disengaging. You're never going to have the hand strength you had before. Even if you grab with four fingers right now, or even three fingers and your thumb, you're not going to have the strength that you would normally have.

“You get a tremendous amount of strength from your forefinger, index finger and the space between the two. That's how you control your opponent. You just cannot be the same player without it. Everything you do is to get that guy off of you."

Clearly, Pierre-Paul disagrees.

The jury is still out on his ability to perform. A mutual decision was made to keep Pierre-Paul from traveling with the team to New Orleans.

Given his progression in practice, however, he’ll be able to make his case on the field sooner rather than later.

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