Filling in some blanks
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- September
- 24
We’re not likely to hear from Plaxico Burress for a while, but he’s got some explaining to do.
No, the Giants are not confirming exactly what happened. We know Burress did not come to work on Monday along with his teammates. Nor did he bother to check in with team officials or return a multitude of messages until a phone call to director of player development Charles Way, later that night.
The mess is being characterized as a miscommunication by his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, which is no suprise.
“Here’s the most I feel comfortable saying because it’s a private matter and it has to do with Plax and his family,” Rosenhaus said via conference call. “He had some responsibility that he needed to take care of as it relates to his family. The most unfortunate thing here is there was a lack of communication. In talking to Plax, he feels bad about that, obviously, and it’s something we can’t do anything about now.”
There was no explanation offered as to why Burress was unable to call the Giants.
“A statement was made, and I think we’re all saddened by it, but we want to make sure the message is loud and clear,” Tom Coughlin said. “We’ve had success here because of the team concept. The team concept means, basically, that everyone is responsible and accountable, and we don’t let the other guys down. That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to acknowledge one of our guys has had a violation of team rules, and we want him back, and we want him back on very good terms. We tried to do this thing the right way.”
Rosenhaus indicated he’s engaged the NFLPA in hopes of having the suspension overturned.
“I think he was very surprised and very, very disappointed,” Rosenhaus said when asked for Burress’ reaction. “Certainly, he did not anticipate his conduct would lead to him being suspended.”
Eli Manning just kind of shrugged the whole thing off.
“Obviously, coach and upper management had to make a decision and the players move on,” he said. “We got to prepare for Seattle. We got guys who can play receiver. We have playmakers who’ve shown their ability, and guys who earned their spot in preseason and training camp because they’re out there and performed well, so we’ll be fine.”
Domenik Hixon will probably get to play a starring role Oct. 5 against Seattle.
Since the Giants were not on the field Monday to walk through corrections, most of his own teammates didn’t know Burress was missing. The wide receivers didn’t think anything of the absence when they gathered for the position meetings.
Go ahead, read between the lines on this one.
“I mean, Plax, he does what he wants,” Steve Smith said. “We don’t see him a lot of the time. I thought it was a normal day. I didn’t know if he was going to come or not. I didn’t know he was getting in trouble for that. We never really know when it comes to Plax.”
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 at 12:58 pm by Mike Dougherty. 
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Ernie Palladino
“I mean, Plax, he does what he wants,†Steve Smith said. “We don’t see him a lot of the time. I thought it was a normal day. I didn’t know if he was going to come or not. I didn’t know he was getting in trouble for that. We never really know when it comes to Plax.â€
That doesn’t sound too great.
That’s a great quote from Steve Smith. Thanks.
Plaxico didn’t practice because of his ankle last year. So he was probably rehabbing during practices. So, it’s understandable that the recievers would not think anything of it. This year he’s supposed to be at practice. That’s harder to get away with blowing off than rehab. So he got caught and hopefully they’ll still win and he’ll see that he needs them more than they need him.
People forget that before their playoff run this was only considered a decent team. A lot of that perception and the mixed results probably had to do with lack of cohesion with Plaxico. He finally got on a roll and the rest is history. It would be good to keep him in sync this season.
I admire Coughlin’s courage in benching one of his key players. Good coaches know they can’t allow stars to break the rules because it can lead to dissention on the team. Poor coaches allow stars to break the rules because they feel the team cannot win without those stars.