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 Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:31 pm
link: herehttp://www.giants.com/news/headlines/story.asp?story_id=36356
story here:
The Giants today announced they have released veteran wide receiver Plaxico Burress, who played for the team the previous four seasons
The status of Burress, 31, has been the subject of much conjecture since last Nov. 29, when he was wounded in an accidental shooting in a Manhattan nightclub. He was inactive for the Giants’ victory in Washington the following day, then placed on the reserve/non-football injury list for the remainder of the season. The team also fined Burress and suspended him for four games for conduct detrimental to the team.
“I am an optimist, and I believe most situations can be worked out,” said General Manager Jerry Reese. “We hung in there as long as we could in hopes that there could be a resolution to this situation other than the decision we made today to release Plaxico. It wasn’t to be, so now we have to move on. Like everybody else here, we want nothing but the best for Plaxico, and we are appreciative of the contributions he made to this franchise.”
Burress is perhaps best known for catching the game-winning touchdown pass in the Giants’ upset victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. He eluded Patriots cornerback Ellis Hobbs with an inside move, then ran to the outside, where he caught Eli Manning’s 13-yard throw with 35 seconds remaining in the game. Burress had two receptions in the Super Bowl, catching Manning’s first and last passes of the game.
In his four years with the Giants Burress caught 344 passes, which places him 12th on the franchise’s career list, one catch ahead of Earnest Gray and three behind Aaron Thomas. Burress had 3,681 receiving yards and caught 33 touchdown passes for the Giants.
“Plaxico’s contribution to our championship season in 2007 can never be underestimated or undervalued,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin. “He displayed tremendous determination throughout that season. Having said that, I have always been as concerned about Plaxico as a man as I have been about him as a player, and my hope is that everything that has happened over the past several months represents a turning point. He is a young man with a family who has a whole lifetime ahead of him, and I personally wish him and his family well.”
Burress had caught a pass in 115 consecutive games in which he played – including 56 with the Giants – until he was shutout at Arizona on Nov. 23, the game before the shooting incident. Burress started but left the Arizona game after one series with a hamstring injury and did not return.
Burress’ 23 postseason catches with the Giants leave him fifth on the team’s career list and his 310 postseason yards place him third.
Last year, Burress played in 10 games with nine starts and caught 35 passes for 454 yards and four touchdowns. He played his best game on opening night, when he had 10 receptions for 133 yards in a victory over Washington. His last Giants reception was an 11-yarder late in the second quarter in a victory over Baltimore on Nov. 16.
Burress joined the Giants as an unrestricted free agent on March 17, 2005. The date of his arrival is what prompted him to wear uniform No. 17. In his first season with the team, Burress played in all 16 games, plus the NFC Wild Card Game, and led the team with 76 receptions (the fifth-highest total in Giants history) and 1,214 yards (second-highest). He also tied for the team lead with seven touchdown catches.
Burress was selected NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his Week 4 performance against St. Louis, when he caught 10 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns. In the regular season finale at Oakland, he caught a 78-yard touchdown pass from Manning, the longest thrown by the Giants quarterback in his NFL career. Burress has caught each of Manning’s seven-longest touchdown passes.
In 2006, Burress started all 15 regular season games in which he played, as well as the NFC Wild Card Game. He led the Giants with 988 receiving yards and 10 touchdown catches. Burress was the first Giant with double-digit touchdown receptions since Gray had 10 in 1980. His 63 receptions were second on the team, trailing only Jeremy Shockey (66).
Burress started all 20 regular season and postseason games in the 2007 championship season despite an ankle injury that kept him out of practice virtually the entire season. He led the Giants with 70 receptions, 1,025 yards and 12 touchdowns. The 12 touchdown receptions were a career high and left him tied in second place on the Giants’ single-season list with Del Shofner, who had 12 scoring catches in 1962. The team record of 13 was set by Homer Jones in 1967. Burress became the first Giant since Shofner in 1961-62 to post back-to-back seasons with 10 or more scoring catches.
In 2007, Burress caught at least one touchdown pass in each of the Giants’ first six games (he had eight overall in that span) to become the second player since 1970 with a touchdown reception in each of his first six games of a season. The other was Jerry Rice, who had at least one touchdown reception in 12 straight games in 1987.
Burress opened the year at Dallas with a season-high eight receptions for 144 yards (his second-highest total as a Giant) and a career-high three touchdowns. His 60-yard touchdown reception on the Giants’ first procession of the season was his longest of the year. Burress set a Giants postseason record with 11 receptions in the NFC Championship Game in Green Bay, one more than Ike Hilliard had in the 2000 Championship Game victory over Minnesota. Burress’ 151 yards in the title game were the third-highest one-game total in team playoff history.
Burress joined the Giants after playing his first five NFL seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, for whom he played 71 games and caught 261 passes for 4,164 yards and 22 touchdowns. The Steelers selected Burress with the eighth overall selection of the 2000 NFL Draft.
His career totals are 505 receptions for 7,845 yards and 55 touchdowns. With three catches last Nov. 2 against Dallas, Burress became the 101st player in NFL history with at least 500 receptions.
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Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:35 pm
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Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:32 pm
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Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 6:57 pm
But the bad news is they are going to need a good replacement.
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Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 7:34 pm
Once the legal problems are done and dealt with, if he gets off lightly, there will be teams knocking down his door to get his services. Sucks that the Giants were put in that situation.
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 4:20 pm
I'm pissed about how much Plaxico Burress screwed over the Giants...I loved him when he contributed to our Super Bowl XLII run, but things went downhill from there. He underperformed, he got injured, he showed bad sportsmanship, he was fined, he distracted the team, he shot himself, he dragged out an ugly legal case, and now he hurt the team. It was obvious that he didn't want to be a New York Giant anymore, especially after allegedly turning down a re-worked contract with incentives, a few days ago.
We're going to miss the contributions of Burress to our offense on the field. He was a playmaker. He could catch tough balls, make plays downfield, be physical, and stretch the field so that our other guys to contribute. But at least the mental and off-the-field distractions will be gone. The Giants are a better football team with Burress, but now they can clear their heads. They had no choice but to release him.
Now, the Giants will probably have to use their first round pick (29th overall) in the Draft on a wide receiver. This could mean through either selection or a trade. I'm annoyed, because I was really hoping to draft a linebacker in the first round, but with Burress gone, that now seems out of the question. Guys on the Giants' radar are mostly Britt, Nicks, and Heyward-Bey. They could also look at Barden or Robiskie a little later on. They could possibly trade up for Crabtree, Maclin, or Harvin. They could also look into getting Braylon Edwards, Anquan Boldin, or Tony Gonzalez. I'm still excited for the Draft in a few weeks, but we now know that the Giants' biggest need is wide receiver...
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Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:24 pm
You got most of that on point. But they have to make sure they also address the rest of their defense.
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Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:27 am
vegito61283 You got most of that on point. But they have to make sure they also address the rest of their defense. Overall, I think our defense is great. Should be very solid. The Giants have the best defensive line in the NFL, and have a lot of depth. We are pretty good at linebacker, but we could use some work. We have depth, but our starters aren't of such great quality. Pierce is extremely smart and can orchestrate the defense very well, but he is losing athleticism and is bad in coverage. Pierce only thrives when the play is in front of him. The Michael Boley signing was huge, because he is a solid player who's good in coverage. Also, we need another outside LB, because Clark and Wilkinson aren't that productive. Blackburn and Kehl are very good backups. DeOssie and Goff should be decent off the bench. So in essense, we need another MLB to eventually relieve Pierce and also an OLB. I would have loved to take a LB in the first round, but now I'm hoping to use our first second rounder to select one. At cornerback, we are pretty good. Ross are Webster are very good starters. Both are young and progressing. Dockery and Thomas are good off the bench and in the nickel. But we definitely need depth at CB, and we still need that physical "shutdown" corner. We have some very good safeties, but again, may need depth. Kenny Phillips was a draft steal last year, and should thrive at either FS or SS. Michael Johnson is pretty good, and should only get better. CC Brown was a good signing, and should do fine. Hopefully we can grab another safety in the Draft, possibly on day 2. ...So our defense is a huge strength, and should carry the Giants. We need a few defensive additions, but we're pretty sharp the way we are. But after Toomer and Burress leaving, WR now seems to be our primary need.
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Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:29 pm
Question now is, they are now lacking a deep ball threat, who will they get to replace Burress and fill his shoes? Will they do that through the draft? or tread deeper into free agency to find someone?
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Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:22 pm
All I know is that for the Giants it will be very very interesting. This has been a very interesting offseason. Have not seen this happen before.
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Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:07 pm
Japanese_Green_Tea Question now is, they are now lacking a deep ball threat, who will they get to replace Burress and fill his shoes? Will they do that through the draft? or tread deeper into free agency to find someone? If they were going to grab a free agent receiver, then it should be Toomer or Holt. Toomer has been great for the team during his career. Both Amani and Torry have something still left in the tank. But I think that the team wants to get younger. The Giants have a few receivers that can go deep, but they are small and not that physical. Hixon, Manningham, and Moss all have speed, but not the upper body strength to constantly be making deep plays. Smith and Tyree should be able to control the middle of the field pretty well. ...So the Giants need a big and physical receiver, that can make catches in traffic and the deep play. By trade, they could go for Boldin or Edwards. Anquan Boldin has great hands and is physical, but might not be a true #1 receiver, and he doesn't have such great speed. Braylon Edwards is big and fast, but he dropped a lot of balls last season. Both would cost a lot, though. Through the NFL Draft, they have a few options. They might want to trade up to grab Crabtree or Maclin, but that may be too risky. Guys that could be available in the #29 range are Hakeem Nicks and Kenny Britt, both of whom can make an immediate impact. Also, a guy like Ramses Barden can also be grabbed in the second or third round.
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Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 1:17 am
I think once his legal problems get more resolved, he'll be picked up quick. He's too talented not to.
He's not as big of a risk as a Pac Man Jones would be. Plax made a stupid mistake. Pac Man is just stupid
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Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 7:50 pm
Well they are going to need someone as good as Plaxico Burress, because he was one of Eli manning's biggest targets.
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Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:46 pm
Valas Hume I think once his legal problems get more resolved, he'll be picked up quick. He's too talented not to.
He's not as big of a risk as a Pac Man Jones would be. Plax made a stupid mistake. Pac Man is just stupid Yeah, Burress made one stupid mistake. A very stupid mistake. A mistake that lost him a lot of money, and a spot on a good team. His character issues have gotten worse over the last year, but not really to a point where his talent would probably be overtaken by it.
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Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 10:17 am
I dont know why but i think he might have a home with the 49ers
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