The line to get inside the River Rock Restaurant and Marina Bar in Brick Township, N.J., on Tuesday night snaked throughout the expansive facility, out the front door and into the parking lot, looking for a while like it might stretch all the way out to Route 34.
If you hadn’t noticed the marquee sign rising above the adjacent liquor store and lighting the misty night sky, you’d have thought John and George had risen from the dead to join Paul and Ringo for a Beatles reunion inside.
No Beatles. The sign read: “Here Tonight: JPP.’’
Jason Pierre-Paul might be gone for the moment, but he’s hardly forgotten.
On the day his teammates began preparation for Sunday’s wild-card playoff game against the Packers, the Giants lightning-rod defensive end — who has missed the last four games with a sports hernia — was 50 miles south on the Jersey Shore, and he spoke to The Post about how much he burns to get back onto the field with his teammates.
“The deeper they get, the more likely I’m coming back,’’ Pierre-Paul said in his first interview since before his Dec. 7 surgery. “The guys want me to come back and that makes me want to come back even harder than I did before. I’m doing the best I can to get back and hopefully I can get back before the last game.’’
“The NFC Championship Game?’’ he was asked.
“Maybe before,’’ he said.
Pierre Paul said he plans to be on the Lambeau Field sideline with his teammates Sunday.
“It depends on my health, but that’s the hope,’’ he said.
Pierre-Paul called the Giants in the playoffs “very exciting,’’ adding, “We’ve waited for — what? — five or six years for the playoffs. There you go. Why not win the whole thing?’’
Pierre-Paul, who was not on the sideline for the Giants’ regular-season finale at the Redskins, inspired his teammates with a prerecorded video that was played in the Saturday night team meeting before their pivotal victory over the Cowboys three weeks ago that cemented this playoff run.
“That was really just me being me,’’ he said. “It wasn’t emotional, it was just me being the great guy and great player that I am. As much as I wanted to be out there I couldn’t, but those guys did a great job of taking care of business.’’
Asked if he has any special motivational plans for his teammates for this week’s playoff game, Pierre-Paul said, “You never know. There’s nothing to be said now. Our job was to get into the playoffs and win. Everybody wants a Super Bowl, but we can’t talk about it, we’ve got to go out there and do it.
“I’m pretty sure the guys are ready to take it to the next level.’’
Pierre-Paul conceded he can’t help but think of the similarities between this season and 2011, the last time the Giants were in the playoffs, having to go through Green Bay en route to the Super Bowl.
“We want a ring,’’ Pierre-Paul said. “We’ve got an opportunity to put a ring on our fingers. Hey, they’re in the playoffs, so it’s time for them to run the table.’’
Pierre-Paul talked while sitting at a table with a couple hundred fans lined up to adore him, something that was not lost on him — particularly considering his complicated journey that included the frightening fireworks accident that left his right hand mangled.
“It’s a blessing,’’ he said, looking around at all the people. “It’s a blessing for me to actually still play this game and still have wonderful fans to come out here and support me. I’m so happy for it.’’
Pierre-Paul emerged from behind a makeshift curtain at the Big Event NY signing at about 7:45 p.m., sat down at a table and signed jerseys, pictures, regular-size helmets, mini helmets, posters, hats, cards — whatever fans put in front of him, including a hand-drawn picture with “Happy Birthday’’ written on it by a young boy wearing a JPP No. 90 jersey.
“That’s for me? I’m gonna hang it on my wall. Will you autograph it?’’ he said.
“Get back on that field,’’ another fan urged him.