In the end, the world champions scored another victory.
In a year that has seen them dominate the league in a fashion not seen in years and poised to repeat, they decided to take a stand against the one player that seemed hell bent on derailing their train.
Yesterday morning, the Giants summoned Burress to their personal court of Giants Stadium.
They talked to Burress for a while. They asked him about his health and expressed their emotion over what their star receiver had gone through.
There would be no due process here and no cross examination.
The jury did not consist of random John Doe’s. It was made up of the team co-owners, the general manager and the head coach.
Finally, they delivered their verdict.
They told Burress to go away.
Far, far away.
The team suspended him for four games placed him on the non-football injury list, in essence, ending his season.
Goodbye. So long. Sayonara.
The best team in the world decided that the best idiot in the world was no longer going to be worthy of putting on their uniform.
Not this season. Quite possibly never again.
Good riddance.
It appears the Giants had finally reached their boiling point with Burress; a man of such great talent and impeccable, God-given skills on a football field, who was also the same as a dope off of it.
They lived with the missed meetings, practices and mandatory treatments. The holdouts, antics and other assorted childish behavior were tolerated because on the football field, he could help them win.
The Giants gave him plenty of chances, including giving him an incentive based 35 million dollar, five-year contract with what would seem to have been very simple instructions:
“Play well, stay out of trouble, and you will get paid”
Perhaps he may have missed the fine print in the contract that made references that poor conduct would result in a loss of money. Maybe it was in that small type that is barely readable unless you have an magnifying glass. On Friday night, when he pulled the trigger of that illegal gun, he lost so much more. It was made worse when he brought defensive leader Antonio Pierce into the case by playing the role of caretaker. From taking Burress to the hospital, followed up with taking possession the gun to where he may now be brought on obstruction of justice charges.
If there was any greater case of “Conduct Detrimental to the team”, this was it.
He had his one final shot. It was time for the team to strike back.
The Giants may have given some small consideration to bringing him back for the playoffs after a four game suspension. It was something I suggested earlier in the week. Surely they thought it over and may have taken it to a vote because they knew that sending him home for the season would have an impact on the field because of what he brings.
Likely, the debate lasted no more than a few seconds before they agreed to bid him adieu.
There was no other choice.
The Giants are in the business of winning, but even they have some moral standards. This is not the Dallas Cowboys or Cincinnati Bengals where the inmates and criminals run loose all over the team. They have been the model franchise in this sport since 1925. A rough spot or two may have happened along the way, but they have rarely compromised their core principles that were set by the late Wellington Mara and are still in place today.
Keeping him would put them in the same breath of those other teams with malcontents and criminals masquerading around as football players. Good character and citizenship would have been damned.
Of course, there is also that little public relations circus that would have enused had they allowed him to return. Allow him to reappear the week before a playoff game would have been asking for a media firestone that no team would want to endure.
Would it have been easier to win it all again with him?Sure.
Can they win it all without him?
We’ll find out.
Since October, I’ve said that the Giants would not repeat as champions without Burress. With a minimum of five games left to play, it will be time to put this theory to the test. I sure as hell would want to be proven wrong.
Will the receivers find the same holes in the defense? Will the running lanes getting clogged up with defenders as they choose to cheat more against the run?
No one knows the true answer to any of these questions.
But the world champions have made the choice that they would rather potentially lose and keep their dignity than winning dirty with a player who obviously had no respect for himself, his teammates, his coaches or anyone else.
Maybe it really was “Plaxico being Plaxico.”
Now he goes away, trying to pick up the pieces of whatever will remain of his football life as he tries to find some miracle way to avoid jail time. He now becomes out of sight and out of mind to all of us.
While the Giants remain front and center, with their vision pointing one way, with Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa looking right back at them and the potential of greatness and history looming if they can get there and win it.
They will have to do without their former star.
On the consummate team that thrives on adversity, challenges and still fights for acceptance and respect, they wouldn’t want it any other way.
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