Howie Long is a Hall of Fame defensive end with a son, Chris Long, who is an active defensive end with the Patriots. He knows a bit about the challenges of playing the position.
So, naturally, the Fox analyst has been curious about the career path of Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, who last season came back from a disfiguring right hand injury and this season hopes to return to his pre-injury level of play.
“It’s not like, if you are Jason Pierre-Paul or the Giants, you can reference something that’s happened in the past and try to model the comeback through that,” Long said Wednesday on a conference call previewing the season on Fox, which will telecast the Giants-Cowboys opener Sunday.