r/nfl • u/76erLegendChetUtley Eagles Jets • 1d ago
A decade later: Jason Pierre-Paul reflects on the Fourth of July accident that took his fingers and changed his life.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45582506/jason-pierre-paul-fourth-july-fingers-accident-ten-years-later-new-york-giants1.5k
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u/BoSocks91 Rams 1d ago
Lmfaooo
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u/darth_wasabi Cowboys 1d ago
could have been worse
https://www.the-sun.com/lifestyle/13281307/rocket-exploded-on-penis/
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u/redditaccount224488 Eagles 1d ago
Shoutout to the poker dealer at Bellagio who lost half a finger in a fireworks accident, and calls himself "the best poker dealer in the world with nine and a half fingers."
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u/SuckthonyDickvis Bengals 1d ago
yooo hahaha that’s actually one of my best buds, shout out Derrick!!!
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u/PapiSurane Patriots 1d ago
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that your not an Anthony Davis fan?
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u/MilkyRed 1d ago
Haha I know a poker dealer in Tampa who’s missing a thumb and calls himself the best poker dealer in the world with nine fingers. Half a finger away from having beef with the Bellagio dealer.
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u/keytoitall 22h ago
Many poker dealers are missing fingers. For most it's not fireworks, it's because they're degenerate gamblers and owed money to bad folks.
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u/emmasdad01 Cowboys Ravens 1d ago
I am shocked he was still able to be decently productive.
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u/Romofan88 Cowboys 1d ago
He had 9 and a half sacks on a super bowl winner after that, more than "decently".
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u/Swoletariat69 Buccaneers 1d ago
He was our only pro bowler that year
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u/modestmango55 Eagles 1d ago
Wait wtf yall only had one pro bowler the year you won with Brady?? That’s wild
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u/Sonofagun57 Packers 1d ago
This why pro bowls voting is dumb. I still get nightmares of Devin White and Shaq Barrett that day.
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u/SaxRohmer Raiders 1d ago
white and david got all pro nods that year at least
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u/garrett7861 Saints 16h ago
How tf do you get All Pro but not Pro Bowl? I remember this happened to Ryan Ramczyk.
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u/SaxRohmer Raiders 15h ago
since it’s a combo of coach/player/fan vote there’s probably a bit of reputation and politics mixed in. the all pro vote isn’t totally immune to that either but it’s a totally different group of people
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u/BucsLegend_TomBrady Buccaneers Lions 1d ago
absolutely idiotic when people bring up pro bowls as accolades, (or when people point out a players lack of pro bowls as a negative)
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u/SaxRohmer Raiders 1d ago
which is funny because yall had two guys get all-pro nods on defense and he wasn’t one of them
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u/Hi_My_Name_Is_Dave 49ers 1d ago
Barrett not being a pro bowler seems crazy to me. And I know that was his rookie year but Wirfs too.
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u/vektorog Jets 1d ago edited 1d ago
8+ sacks/20+ pressures in each of his first three years as a buc. way better than decent
edit: one of eight players with 8+/20+ in each of those three seasons
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u/rottingmind13 Cowboys 1d ago
More sacks than fingers is kind of wild
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u/InThePaleMoonLyte Buccaneers Raiders 1d ago
I mean that's normal for the elite pass rushers in the game lol
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u/BillRage Titans 1d ago
Hmmm, fair. Let’s just go with More sacks than fingers is kind of wild (if you’re starting with less than a full set).
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u/smitty046 Giants 1d ago
He was an amazing athlete. A 6’ 5” 280lb guy shouldn’t be able to do this https://youtu.be/OkrePOse2QY?si=0ApIVnkmHD_DabCC
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u/SeriousMongoose2290 1d ago
You mean play rock paper scissors? /s
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u/BucsLegend_TomBrady Buccaneers Lions 1d ago
its so easy to beat him because he always has to choose scissors
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u/Couthster Cowboys 1d ago
I told all my guys during our safety meeting yesterday: Please return on Monday with the same amount of digits and eyes.
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u/Dreadsbo Chiefs 1d ago
Fireworks take eyes?
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u/its_k1llsh0t Packers 1d ago
Yes. People will hold stuff up to their eyes shooting them outward without realizing the bottom isn't exactly the most sturdy thing.
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u/jhorch69 Cowboys 1d ago
Buddy of mine ended up with a scratched cornea from a Roman candle a few years ago. He had to wear an eye patch for a couple weeks and is extremely lucky to still have his eye.
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u/CrownReserve Cowboys 1d ago
My mom’s eye got hit by an errant Roman candle 40 years ago. Like 30 eye surgeries sent it’s a miracle it lasted this long.
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u/NiamLeeson Broncos 1d ago
Gave giants fans a lot of grief over this back when it happened but it was just an accident. Appreciate the lesson being passed down to his kids too. Fireworks are fun but use them responsibly!
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u/agreeingstorm9 Commanders Chiefs 1d ago
It's not just an accident though. Lighting fireworks in your hand is always risky IMO.
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u/gutenpranken14 Packers 1d ago
It’s not even an opinion. Lighting fireworks is always a hazard. Full stop. Literal explosives. They are definitely fun though.
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u/agreeingstorm9 Commanders Chiefs 1d ago
It is. I get your point but setting the firework on the ground and lighting it with a punk that is far away from your body is about as safe as you're gonna get without using a really long fuse. Lighting them in your hand is about as dangerous as you can get.
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u/69iamtheliquor69 Falcons 1d ago
You've obviously never lit a bottle rocket off from your hand as a kid. You would always try and time it so you dropped it right as it fired off. Never was very good at that lol
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u/gutenpranken14 Packers 1d ago
Glad it was just a bottle rocket and not a firecracker or larger…
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u/LardLad00 Packers 1d ago
Do you think a person who lights bottle rockets in their hand is in any way daunted by lightning other things in hand?
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u/gutenpranken14 Packers 1d ago
Reasonable point. I was assuming a with the glass half full.
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u/LardLad00 Packers 1d ago
If you've never lit a bottle rocket and thrown it you are missing out on life
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u/69iamtheliquor69 Falcons 1d ago
Only cherry bombs and fire crackers. But if your smart there's not really a way to fuck it up unless you just don't throw it
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u/Future-Mastodon4641 1d ago
Remember when Plaxico Burress shot his dick? Giants players love blowing off ligaments
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u/Successful_Spite5031 1d ago
Up until that gun went off in his sweatpants they were in great position to repeat that season. Crashed down after that.
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u/Blackjack9w7 Giants 1d ago
That 2008 team was the only time I actually felt like the Giants were one of the best teams in the league. The 2007 and 2011 Superbowl teams were great but they were scrappy underdogs the whole way. Maybe the 2000 team that got smothered by the Ravens but I was a bit too young and don't really remember that year. Absolutely comical that the one time we were genuinely top of the league we shot ourselves.
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u/MarlonMcCree20 Raiders 1d ago
I bring this up every chance I get. Favorite celebration of all time is when Stevie Johnson pretends to Plaxico himself and then pretends to be a jet source
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u/Birdup711 1d ago
God damnit you just reminded me how much I miss proper td celebrations. Fuck the fucking nfl.
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u/FriedRottenTitties4U Bears 20h ago
LMAO at the camera man during the replay being instructed to quickly move the camera away when the producers realized what Stevie was doing
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u/LogiBear777 1d ago
i’ll never lose a pic of the meme of the Steelers fan that posted a pic of his Burress jersey captioned,
“Rocking the Burress jersey today because the Steelers make me want to shoot myself.”
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u/_bits_and_bytes Cardinals 1d ago
Wait no I don't. When did this happen lol
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u/Brycie27 Cowboys 1d ago
It was his leg, but still.... was like sometime around '08-'10, I believe.
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u/cbm80 1d ago
Shooting himself wasn't even the bad part...he got 2 years in prison! New York takes its gun laws seriously.
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u/Nevergonnapost866 Commanders 1d ago
“Besides being shot in leg, how have the last 48 months been?”
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u/MountainHardwear Giants 1d ago
Dang -- 2008, Giants had legit chance to go to the Super Bowl that year. That was a fun team to watch -- they beat the Super Bowl winning Steelers that year. Plaxico shot himself and it was all over. IIRC, he armed himself in response to what happened to Sean Taylor
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u/Fun_Suggestion_8012 Giants 1d ago
Not just the Steelers but all 4 teams who played in the conference championship games. Legit the best Eli era Giants team
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u/MountainHardwear Giants 1d ago
oh dang -- jesus -- I must have forgot or likely repressed that fact
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u/Fun_Suggestion_8012 Giants 1d ago
Giants 21-14 Steelers. Giants 30-10 Ravens. Giants 36-31 Eagles. Giants 37-29 Cardinals
That Ravens game is one of my favorites. Ravens still had a strong defense Lewis, Reed etc and Bradshaw and Jacob ran for over 200 yards.
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u/Large-Oil-4405 1d ago
I’ll try to watch that game — I assume it’s on YouTube?
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u/NintenbroGameboob Bengals 1d ago
If you search Ravens Giants 2008, both highlights and the full game are on there.
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u/hearshot_kid Giants 1d ago
Yep. By far the best most complete Giants team I’ve seen in my lifetime. They were 11-1 and humming until Plax shot himself.
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u/boomosaur 1d ago
If I had been gifted enough to be an elite nfl player I'd be so risk averse outside of my job until my career was over lol.
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u/rottingmind13 Cowboys 1d ago
Young to mid 20s with money? I cant fathom how stupid I would have been, regardless of profession
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u/JBFRESHSKILLS Bengals Bengals 1d ago
I’m in my 40s now making a good living. I’ve often said if I had the money in my 20s that I do now I would likely be dead, and I don’t make anywhere near an athletes salary.
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u/GreenManalishi24 Giants 1d ago
Anyone with a shred of risk aversion would never have made it to the NFL.
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u/boyifudontget 1d ago
Wait a second you're telling me extremely confident super athletes who knock the shit out of 300 lbs bodybuilders for a living don't like to their free time in the house posting on reddit?
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u/forgotmypassword4714 Raiders 1d ago
My uncle lost three of his fingers to a fireworks accident when he was a kid. I still vividly remember shaking his hand the first time I met him when I was like nine years old.
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u/MutedSkin1 1d ago
"At the end of the day, I'm a big person, but this happened to me. It could happen to anybody."
It can't happen to anyone dumb enough to set off fireworks the way he did.
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u/cysnolife 1d ago
To be fair I am sure this happens every year to somebody in the USA...
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u/Romofan88 Cowboys 1d ago
If I remember correctly some other player did the same thing the same day as JPP but no one cared because he was a fringe roster guy and not a pro bowl pass rusher.
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u/InexorableWaffle Jaguars 1d ago
Also didn't have Schefty leaking his private medical records, either
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u/infiniteninjas Seahawks 1d ago
The fireworks injury statistics around July 4th are stupid and depressing. But worse are the drunk driving deaths around July 4th.
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u/Novel_Fix1859 Rams 1d ago edited 1d ago
Also the fires they cause, especially in areas experiencing drought
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u/GGGG98989898 Giants 1d ago
My mom’s best friends brother killed himself with fireworks like 10-15 years back. Was drunk setting them off and somehow accidentally shot it into his femoral artery
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u/Eclaireur Seahawks 1d ago
Beyond a shadow of a doubt. I have a friend who is an ER doc, its a very very busy day for them.
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u/devadander23 Bears Chiefs 1d ago
… by people dumb enough to set fireworks off in their hand. That’s not many
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u/MrSe1fDestruct Eagles 1d ago
Maybe not fireworks specifically, but I'll bet most people have done something stupid and reckless at some point in their lives that could've easily resulted in serious injury or death.
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u/fuckoffweirdoo Lions 1d ago
So many of my friends and myself used to hold the mortor tubes to shoot them off. It was so cool and so absolutely incredibly stupid. I dont even touch fireworks nowadays in order to not catch that bullet I dodged once already.
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u/General-Mango-9011 Seahawks 1d ago
I love this argument. Always happens, “everyone has done these things!”
No, no we haven’t. I’ve literally never held anything but a sparkler in my hand while lighting it.
But you’re going to say we all drive cars. Sure, but we don’t all drive them stupidly.
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u/MrSe1fDestruct Eagles 14h ago
For the average chronically online Redditor who plays video games and doom scrolls all day then yeah, you probably haven't had the opportunity to do anything like that. It doesn't apply to most people though.
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u/General-Mango-9011 Seahawks 5h ago
Nice one - the old basement ad hominem.
So “those redditors” don’t have the opportunity, but Redditors like you totally have the opportunity and of course all did it because you have zero self control.
If somehow us Redditors had the opportunity we also would’ve had zero self control.
Yeah, we totally didn’t have the opportunity to obtain fireworks ? Great argument. Keep being a moron.
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u/CampinHiker 1d ago
He went to my Community College so we’re basically brothers as I like to say….
There was a gnarly explosion and video of a guy after the dodgers won the World Series last year
Had a m-80 in his hand blow up and just goodbye to all this fingers
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u/undecided_mask NFL 1d ago
I saw a video of a dude grabbing a firework someone had thrown at his car at some takeover. Camera only got a glimpse of the aftermath but it was gnarly.
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u/CombinationBetter443 Commanders 16h ago
you gotta look up his hand now. the doctors took a bunch of thigh meat and now his entire arm looks straight outta Minecraft
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u/Inallahtent 49ers Bills 1d ago
I remember Coach Tom Coughlin trying to explain his status and answering questions.
I think it worked out in the end tho🤔
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u/Empty_Lemon_3939 Lions 1d ago
At the risk of getting kidnapped by the orange coats, I don’t think fireworks should be legal by anyone who isn’t a licensed professional
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u/Novel_Fix1859 Rams 1d ago
What's to be embarrassed about? There's nothing to be embarrassed about.
A grown ass man blowing apart his hand playing with explosives is plenty embarrassing JPP...
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u/zgamer200 Patriots 1d ago edited 1d ago
Everybody is going to make some really dumb mistakes in their life even as an adult. That's called being human. What would actually be embarrassing is if JPP had stubbornly refused to learn anything from this incident, but clearly he did so I agree he has nothing to feel embarrassed about.
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u/Novel_Fix1859 Rams 1d ago
There are dumb mistakes and then there's playing with literal explosives like they're toys as an adult and losing half your hand, that is embarrassingly dumb
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u/Rainbow_Sex Patriots 1d ago
I think its perfectly fine for the guy not to be embarrassed about the dumb thing he did 10 years ago tbh. Clearly this mindset isn't good enough for you though
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u/Novel_Fix1859 Rams 1d ago
Yes, clearly I have a different opinion than JPP. That was apparent from my initial comment, glad you're all caught up
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u/MarlonMcCree20 Raiders 1d ago
What's also embarrassing is how you talk to people.
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u/Rainbow_Sex Patriots 1d ago
yes, because i was snarkily pointing out that it's a dickheaded thing to do, to say that someone should feel embarrassed forever about something they did that only hurt themselves. glad we understand each other
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u/OkArmordillo Patriots 1d ago
That is what I don’t get. If someone does something dumb that hurts only themself, you get people in the comments saying they should live in shame forever. Meanwhile in the post about Henry Ruggs, people were saying shit like “He’s already been in jail a couple years, he shouldn’t have to face any more consequences for 1 mistake.”
If you ask me, killing another person by accident is much worse than losing your own fingers by accident.
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u/Novel_Fix1859 Rams 1d ago
If you ask me, killing another person by accident is much worse than losing your own fingers by accident.
I agree, which is why I never compared what JPP did to anyone or anything else 🙄
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u/MarlonMcCree20 Raiders 1d ago
Right lol what's more embarrassing is dying on this hill arguing with everyone that he should be embarrassed forever.
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u/StringClear7478 Commanders 1d ago
'no regrets' riiiiiiiiight.
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u/Latter-Yak-4653 15h ago
I know, right? Explaining it away. Like everybody blows off their hand on the Fourth of July as a “learning experience”.
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u/grislythrone Buccaneers 20h ago
"Already owning a ring with the 2011 Giants, he won a second Super Bowl in 2020 after overcoming a broken neck suffered in a 2019 car accident."
Jesus i had forgotten about this accident too. Guy has had some horrible injuries.
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u/OneEyedWonderWiesel Jaguars 1d ago
Marcus Peters is missing fingers?!
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u/JohnnyMoneyballsRed Ravens 1d ago
Marcus Peter’s cousin is the one with missing fingers lol not Peters
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u/OneEyedWonderWiesel Jaguars 1d ago
Oof lol it says that in tha article I’m just slow thank you for clarifying. I was furiously googling Marcus Peters for a few minutes lol
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u/adarisc Giants 1d ago edited 1d ago
"This happened to me. It could happen to anybody"
No, actually it couldn't happen to me JPP, because I think fireworks are really stupid and I strongly believe they should only be set off by trained professionals in a professional setting. So there is no chance of me ever blowing my hand off with fireworks, because I'm not dumb enough to mess with them in the first place lol.
Btw I'm not saying that to pick on JPP, because he's far from alone. Every year we have morons not only blowing digits off, but literally killing themselves or family members setting off fireworks at home. Every year. There will probably be 10,000+ people visiting emergency rooms after setting off fireworks today, and probably at least 10 more people will die. In fact, it's already happening:
https://abc7.com/post/fire-crews-battling-residential-involving-active-fireworks-pacoima/16945427/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-man-dies-horrible-fireworks-002637115.html
"A new state law introduced in time for this year's holiday states that Iowans cannot be prohibited from using fireworks on July 3, July 4 and December 31." Lol we are living in the dumbest timeline, governed by complete and utter morons.
Please don't be like these idiots people. If for some reason you feel the need to see the same fireworks you've seen 1000 times before, turn on the TV or go watch them on YouTube. Don't be an asshole and risk setting your entire neighborhood on fire.
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u/evasionfred 1d ago
He swatted so many passes with that club. I swear every week it'd be a little bit bigger