It seems that New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul had a good month of December. His team won three of its final four games to clinch the NFC East title and the accompanying playoff berth. He was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week twice and named to the 2012 Pro Bowl team. And now, for his efforts, the league announced that Pierre-Paul has been named the NFC Defensive Player of the Month for December/January.
Pierre-Paul registered six sacks, a safety, a forced fumble, a blocked field goal, two passes defensed and 37 tackles during the month. He had at least one sack during four of New York's five games, including two games with two sacks. It was the first time he won the monthly award.
For the season, Pierre-Paul notched 16.5 sacks, joining Lawrence Taylor and Michael Strahan as the only Giants to record at least 16 sacks in a single season. He also had 86 tackles.
-- SB Nation New York will have all the coverage you need throughout the week in this StoryStream. See Big Blue View for complete Giants discussion and analysis. See The Falcoholic and SB Nation Atlanta for complete Falcons discussion and anlysis. See SB Nation's NFL Hub Page for full playoff coverage.