Burress has been go-to-guy despite ankle injury

BY ERIK BOLAND | erik.boland@newsday.com

January 31, 2008

Plaxico Burress stood alone at his locker after the Giants' Sunday night victory over the Eagles Sept. 30, looking almost forlornly at his swollen right ankle.

"I just know that I'll be so much more crisp out there," said Burress, who caught a 9-yard touchdown pass in the 16-3 win. "I'm not as explosive, but I'm trying to find a way to make it work."

Against football conventional wisdom, Burress did.

He injured the ankle in the Giants' season opener at Dallas Sept. 9, then aggravated the injury against the Packers in Week 2 when cornerback Al Harris stepped on his foot.

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Burress got his revenge on Harris in the NFC Championship Game, setting Giants postseason records with 11 receptions for 151 yards, all on an ankle Burress back in early October said he would have to accept "isn't going to get better" this season.

Surprisingly, it has, with Burress pronouncing the ankle "97 percent" Monday. That will make Super Bowl Sunday the healthiest Burress has been this season, one that is likely to forever put to rest the Plaxiglass moniker he received in Pittsburgh.

In 2004, his final season with the Steelers, Burress missed five of the last six games with a hamstring injury, calling into question his commitment to playing in pain.

This season provided an emphatic response, with Burress, now in his eighth season, catching 70 passes for 1,025 yards and 12 touchdowns, all team highs.

"Plaxico, two weeks ago in Green Bay, had an unbelievable game," Eli Manning said of the 6-5, 232-pound receiver. "He is very talented. We feel that if you play one-on-one with him, it is a great matchup for us."

Burress' ability to perform on Sundays after missing entire weeks of practice awed his teammates, particularly rookie receiver Steve Smith.

"That's so tough," said Smith, who missed most of the regular season first with a fractured scapula, then with a hamstring injury. "There's been a few games this season where maybe the timing looked a little bit off, [but] the number-one corner faces him every week and he's not practicing. It's tough getting that timing down with Eli, but he does, and has done a tremendous job."

But Burress still looks at 2007, to a degree, as a season that could have been better.

"I had some games where I wasn't really able to go out and do things I am capable of doing - like jumping up in the air or getting off the line of scrimmage or breaking out of my routes like I normally could," Burress said. "I got frustrated at times, but I just stayed faithful within myself and went out and competed the best I could."

Coach Tom Coughlin said Burress maximized his time away from the field to pick up nuances about the position that have helped as the ankle improved.

"Since the time of the injury, there have been weeks where he hasn't been able to practice at all and he has still been focused," Coughlin said. "He has studied. He has known his assignments. He has watched other people play his position, learned from that and played well, played very well."

Coughlin was aware of the negative reputation Burress brought to the Giants when he signed before the 2005 season, and there have been some minor run-ins between the two. Burress skipped a team meeting after the playoff loss to the Panthers two seasons ago and incurred a fine - reported to be $8,000 - in September 2006 for missing another meeting (Burress said it was to accompany his wife during an ultrasound screening for their baby). Coughlin, however, said last week he never questioned Burress' commitment.

"Everyone has their moments," Coughlin said, "but he has always been that way [coachable],and this year - under the circumstances that he played, practiced, missed practice, studied, been in meetings - under all of those circumstances, he has been very good," Coughlin said. "He is very good in his position meetings really since the day he has gotten here."

Most important for the Giants' offense in 2007, Burress has been that way on the field, too.

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