Photo Of Jason Pierre-Paul's Hand

ERNIE PALLADINO, Associated Press

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul says he never worried about his future in football after a July 4 fireworks accident cost him his right index finger.

In his first comments since the mishap, Pierre-Paul on Friday recalled his time in a Florida hospital with a mangled hand and burns covering his arm.

He says that even as the fireworks blew up he wasn't frightened. This was the seventh year he put on a pyrotechnics display for the neighborhood children. He says: "I looked at my hand, and my fiance was going crazy. But I kept calm."

Pierre-Paul signed an incentive-driven, $8.7 million contract Tuesday and took part in contact work the next day. He says he will not attend Sunday's game in New Orleans because he does not want to distract his teammates.

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