Projo Pats Blog

There were a lot of interesting stories from this past weekend's NFL playoff games, but the most remarkable one involved a person who was nowhere to be seen on your TV screen. It's the story of how one man's stupidity brought down the best team in the NFL. I'm looking at you, Plaxico Burress. When Giants fans (most of them, anyway) went to bed on Nov. 28, the defending Super Bowl champs were 10-1, the only loss being a head-scratcher on Monday Night Football against the Cleveland Browns. The Giants were averaging 30 points per game, and had just won five straight games against the Steelers, the Cowboys, the Eagles, the Ravens and the Cardinals.

Then, early in the morning on Nov. 29, Burress accidentally shot himself in the thigh at a Manhattan nightclub, an incident that resulted in criminal charges and Burress' being lost for the rest of the season. The Giants won their next game, against the sinking Redskins, but went on to lose four of their final five. In their six games after the Burress shooting, New York scored 18 points per game. The running game that had been so dominant early in the season became less so down the stretch (the loss of Brandon Jacobs for period of time had something to do with that, but so did the lack of a big-time receiving threat to keep teams honest), and Eli Manning was not the same quarterback:

Manning before Plax was shot: 209-337, 2319 yards, 18 TD, 7 INT, 91.6 QB rating
Manning after Plax was shot: 95-171, 1088 yards, 3 TD, 5 INT, 68.6 QB rating

No matter how much Giants players may have tried to deny it yesterday, Plaxico Burress was the biggest cause for the collapse of their season. Particularly since their exit came against the Philadelphia Eagles, a team that Burress has killed throughout his career. Yesterday, Giants receivers had a combined six catches for 80 yards. While Manning was not very accurate with his throws, the fact remains that no one made plays.

So Plax, this one is on you. No one can prove that the Giants would have beaten the Eagles yesterday with you on the field, but your absence certainly made Philadelphia's job a lot easier.

COME BACK, PLEASE! The Giants appear to have learned a lesson from the Burress debacle. But if you thought that the lesson would be to distance themselves from players who can't stay out of trouble, you'd be wrong. Instead, based on general manager Jerry Reese's postgame comments, the front office feels that they need to forgive past transgressions and get Burress back on the field in 2009.

THIS ISN'T THE '90s ANYMORE: The Arizona Cardinals' victory on Saturday night means that only four NFC teams have not qualified for a conference championship game in this decade. One of them is the Detroit Lions, and the other three are among the proudest franchises in the NFL: the 49ers, the Redskins and the Cowboys.

COME HERE OFTEN? Philadelphia, meanwhile, becomes the second team in the NFL (the Patriots are the other) to qualify for five conference championship games this decade -- a remarkable feat considering that the Eagles made just one conference championship appearance before the Andy Reid-Donovan McNabb era. And somehow McNabb still isn't the most popular quarterback in Eagles history.

END OF A SORRY LEGACY: Arizona's victory also means that only two current NFL franchises have never played for a conference championship: The Houston Texans and the current edition of the Cleveland Browns (i.e., not the team that eventually moved to Baltimore). The Houston and Cleveland franchises are only seven and 10 years old, respectively.

A SEASON FOR DEFENSE: The Steelers, the Ravens and the Eagles ranked one, two and three in the NFL in total defense this regular season.

BRONCOS CHOOSE OFFENSE: The success of defensive-oriented teams wasn't enough to keep the Denver Broncos from hiring Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels rather than a defensive-minded head coach -- this despite the fact that the Broncos were 29th in team defense this season and second in total offense. Broncos fan Ben Hundley looks at the move as a mile-high blunder, especially since the Broncos passed over Leslie Frazier, the coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings' vaunted defense (Bleacher Report).

LEFT BEHIND: Should the Patriots decide to look in-house for McDaniels' replacement, they will find only one coach with offensive coordinator experience: tight ends coach Pete Mangurian, the former director of the Atlanta Falcons offense (Boston Herald).

PIOLI TO FOLLOW? The Boston Globe's Mike Reiss reports today that Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli is a clear favorite to be Kansas City's next general manager, and that Pioli's interest in the Chiefs job has grown.

THANKS, PITTSBURGH: Reiss also notes that the Steelers' victory over San Diego was a blessing for the Patriots, who own the Chargers' second-round draft choice. Had the Chargers continued their improbable late-season run all the way to the Super Bowl, that pick would have been significantly less valuable.

COWBOYS PLAY ON: Dallas linebacker Anthony Spencer was arrested over the weekend in Indianapolis on charges of public intoxication and disorderly conduct (Dallas Morning News). According to the police, Spencer and a friend offered money for a bar to stay open past closing time, then threw punches at the bouncers who tried to make them leave.

ANOTHER HARRISON ACCUSER: A second witness has told Philadelphia authorities that Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison had a gun in his hand during an altercation that resulted in a shooting outside of Harrison's car wash, ESPN the Magazine is reporting. But the witness's account was not enough for Philadelphia D.A. Lynne Abraham to charge Harrison in the shooting, despite her assertion that she is "pretty comfortable I know who fired the gun."

FAREWELL, OLD FRIEND: Jeff Schudel of Ohio's News-Herald newspaper says that one of Eric Mangini's priorities as Browns head coach should be encouraging Willie McGinest to retire.

 Tags  Football Today Plaxico Burress

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