Burress and the Giants

I heard about the shooting of Plaxico Burress when I woke up from my turkey induced Thanksgiving slumber on Friday morning (or afternoon, I really don't remember when or how I got up). I was immediately alarmed, because although Plax has been the one blemish in what has been an outstanding championship defense by the best team in football, no one wants something like that to happen to him. For whatever reason, a lot of NFL players have been gunned down over the last few years, to the point where ESPN Magazine did a front page feature about the protection that a lot of players have. It was depressing to think that one of the players for my favorite team would be just another victim.

Then I read that Plaxico shot himself. In the leg. Accidentally. I stopped feeling bad for him after that.

The best thing about the bizarre Burress shooting is that it indefinitely takes him out of the New York Giants. It's difficult for me to admit that, because he has been Eli Manning's favorite receiver over the last 3 seasons, he is the most talented receiver on the team, and because in my Madden '09 franchise he broke the record for most receiving yards in a season not once but twice. However, it's becoming increasingly clear that Eli plays better when his star players are off the field. He raised his game in last season's playoffs without Tiki Barber or Jeremy Shockey, and this season his three best games (against the Seahawks, the Cardinals, and the Redskins at Washington) have been when Burress has stayed off the field. Manning plays his best when he doesn't have to worry about pleasing a fellow superstar, he's at his best when he's distributing the ball to everyone, running the offense as he sees fit.

The worst thing about the Burress shooting is that Antonio Pierce was apparently involved, and may face legal trouble of his own. Pierce is the middle linebacker on the team, but he's really the quarterback of the defense. He's the one reading the offense, calling the audibles, making sure everyone is on the right page. If the Giants lost Pierce for any reason, that wouldn't be good at all.

But the thing about this year's Giants is that they seem to rally together no matter what happens. Nothing seems to phase them. After being dismissed as a fluke or a lucky victory in last year's Super Bowl, they've come together to become the best team in the league. They've become a team with no weaknesses, when one person is having a tough day like Brandon Jacobs yesterday, the rest of the team picks up the slack. Entering December, they've played in one bad game for exactly one year, week 5 against the Browns. Other than that, they've been the best Giants team ever and the best New York sports team I've seen since the 1998 Yankees. Even if they don't win the Super Bowl this year, they've been honorable defending champions. Everyone has played the game and carried themselves the right way.

Everyone except their best wide receiver.