Plaxico Burress

The old saying is, you give them an inch and they’ll take a mile. Another saying, not so old, is, From the penthouse to the outhouse.

Both of those sayings – and many more that I could think of – apply well to Plaxico Burress, the star wide receiver for the New York Football Giants. Pardon the pun, but it appears that he’s shot himself in the, uh…the leg on this one.
It seems so long since Plax was the hero of New York, the singly-most feted sportsman since Mark Messier guaranteed a Stanley Cup playoff victory and ended up bringing Lord Stanley to the Big Apple. Arguably, it was Plaxico whose incredible heroics on a gimpy leg in January’s NFC Championship Game against Green Bay at Lambeau Field – 151 yards receiving against Al Harris, one of the NFL’s better corners – sent the Giants to Glendale, Arizona and to their date with the New England Patriots and destiny in Super Bowl XLII. Sure, Corey Webster picked Favre off in overtime, but Plaxico Burress was a deep threat every single time Eli Manning took a snap from centre and looked to hurl the pigskin.

Two weeks after beating Al Harris to a pulp at frozen Lambeau Field, Burress found himself in much warmer conditions, playing New England in the Super Bowl. He famously predicted a victory, by 23-17. People thought he was crazy. No one thought the Giants had a chance. Even this ardent Big Blue man wondered what the Giants D could possibly do to slow down the Brady-Moss-Welker juggernaut that had rolled – correction: stomped – over the rest of the NFL.

Burress was there when it counted. He guaranteed a victory, Messier style, and provided. He burned Ellis Hobbs in the same sort of way he’d burnt Al Harris the week before. Except the stakes were much higher here. There were less than 5 minutes to play in a tense Super Bowl. And Burress, breezing past Hobbs, found himself alone in the upper corner of the endzone. Eli Manning saw him there. Eli, who had come into his own through the remarkable playoff run that had seen the Giants record road victories against Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay, floated the ball perfectly. It was caught by Burress. Touchdown. Giants 17-14. Unbelievable.

Ten minutes later, Bill Belichick had left the field. The Patriots perfect season had come to it’s end at the final hurdle. Manning was the VMP, but in so many ways, Plaxico Burress had won the game with his burning route past Hobbs and his TD reception. He was on top of the world. No doubt about it. He was in the penthouse.
It turned out that that Sunday night inside University of Phoenix Stadium was the beginning of so many troubles for Plaxico. He went out seeking a new contract. He held out at mini camp, and knew the Giants would budge because, after all, Eli Manning and the Giants needed someone reliable on the far side of the field from Amani Toomer. Jeremy Shockey had moved on to New Orleans. Burress saw Eli seeking him out, just like Eli had looked for Shockey on those big third- and fourth-down conversions.

As Plaxico had doubtless expected, the Giants caved and offered him a huge new contract just hours before the opening game of the new season. Burress responded well. He went out and torched the Redskins as he had torched Al Harris and Ellis Hobbs during the playoffs earlier that year. The Giants won. Plaxico had his new contract. It all seemed perfect –

Until Burress was suspended for not attending a meeting. He missed the game against Seattle where the Giants put up 44 against the hapless ‘Hawks. He wasn’t missed. Domenik Hixon, another playoff hero, filled in ably. Following Burress’ enforced layoff, word emerged that, in a career in New York that had only just topped 50 games, Plax had been fined some 40-50 times. Amazing. No wonder he needed that new contract. Half of it was going to charities across New York.

We thought that was the end of things. Anyone with any sense thought that Plax would lay low, attend training, meetings, film studies, whatever. We all thought he’d do whatever it took to stay in Coach Tom Coughlin’s good books. No one wanted to think about mentioning Plaxico Burress and Pacman Jones or Tank Johnson or anyone from the Cincinnati Bengals – sorry, Carson Palmer – in the same sentence, but it’s slowly getting that way.
Friday night, Plaxico after being ruled out of the Redskins game due to a bad hamstring, was with his team mate, Giants linebacker (and defensive captain) Antonio Pierce at what could only be described as a disreputable place, the Latin Quarter (or LQ) Nightclub. God knows exactly what went on there, but the night ended with Burress in hospital being treated for an accidental gunshot wound. The NYPD investigated further. Burress was charged with criminal possession of a weapon – his gun, the gun he shot himself with, was unlicensed – and pleaded not guilty. Bail was set at $100k.

Now, at this early stage we cannot even begin to call Burress guilty. He’s always going to be innocent until proven otherwise, but one thing that we can examine here and now is what the Giants can do. What they should do. He needs to be cut. Don’t get me wrong, like every other Giants fan, I love Burress for scoring the winning Super Bowl touchdown and for his huge performance two weeks previous against Green Bay. But he is NOT the sort of person the Giants organisation needs.

We’ve all seen the sort of disruption that Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones, Tank Johnson and all the Bengals players who’ve been arrested have been to their team. Look it what it’s done to those teams. Dallas are only just pulling itself out of a hole this year and the Bengals have endured years of hell after their playoff appearance following the 2005 season. The Giants are in the midst of a big season, and are primed for a Super Bowl run. They do not need this sort of distraction at this end of the season, and they need only look at the Bengals or Dallas if they are even considering keeping Burress around.

Sad to say, but it seems that Plax is more trouble than he’s worth. The Giants management, aided by Couch Coughlin have some tough decisions to make as to Burress’ continued status with the team. Of course, Commissioner Roger Goodell, who has been notoriously hard on players who get mixed up with the wrong side of the law, may take the decision out of the Giants hands. So might the NYPD. If found guilty, Burress faces 3 ½ to 5 years behind bars.

If neither the law or Commissioner Goodell step in, it will be up to the Giants. I say let Burress go. The team does not need his distractions this close to the playoffs. In fact, they don’t need it at all. His replacement, Domenik Hixon, has been incredible in the two games – vs. Seattle and Arizona – that he’s filled in. He does it for probably about half the coin and certainly half the trouble, and, most importantly, Eli Manning likes throwing to him. Reference the handful of big third-down catches that Hixon made vs. the Redskins on Sunday. From where I sit and type – which is, admittedly, a long way from the turf of Giants Stadium – it seems like a good deal all around.

Hixon is Plaxico Lite. About as good on the field, and certainly much less trouble off of it. For that reason and many others not least of which is that every day you open the paper of log onto NFL.com and there’s a Plaxico Burress story, I believe that we’ve seen the last of #17 in New York Giants blue.