Giants wish opponent Plaxico well

On Saturday, Justin Tuck said the Giants needed to add Plaxico Burress and that it would be difficult to see him in a Jets uniform.

Sunday morning must have been a difficult one for him. A double-whammy.

"It's disappointing, but for Plaxico, it is a great opportunity for him to get back to playing football," Tuck said in an ESPN Radio interview. "Obviously, you want a guy like that on your football team, but you are also glad he is getting another shot, a second chance, to do what he wants to do. Give the Jets credit. For the Giants, for us, it is moving forward now."

Although there may have been some in the building who sighed with relief at the news that Burress had signed with the Jets and not the Giants, most comments were positive.

"His decision was to go elsewhere," Tom Coughlin said. "It sounded like a bigger guarantee. I don't know all the facts about that, but that's what happens in this business. His decision was made and we wish him and his family well."

Coughlin met with Burress on Friday evening and again called that a positive conversation. "That couldn't have been easy for him," Coughlin said of Burress' visit. Though Coughlin wouldn't use the word "offer," he made it clear that Burress left the team's facility aware of the financial parameters that could accompany his return. It is believed that most of what the Giants offered was in the form of incentives with a base salary around $1 million. The Jets guaranteed a one-year deal for a little more than $3 million.

The Giants certainly were not trying to lure Burress back because it would be a good human-interest story. They felt they needed a quality receiver, and based on the fact that they made at least a preliminary offer, they thought a soon-to-be 34-year-old who hasn't taken an NFL snap in almost three years would improve their unit.

"We have outstanding players here and we'll keep right on going and try to get better," Coughlin said. "I think you continue to look at whatever is out there. Our interest in Plaxico did not mean we were in search of a receiver because we didn't think we have receivers here who can play. We do. Obviously we do."

Well, they have some. Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham are the starters right now. Steve Smith is an unsigned free agent, and it's unclear what he'll be able to contribute in 2011 coming off knee surgery. Ramses Barden is on the PUP list, still recovering from an ankle injury suffered last season.

For the last three years, nearly every wide receiver on the Giants has had to answer questions about replacing Burress, even though most of them were never here on the team with him. Nicks and Barden came in the year after he was released and Manningham was a rookie the year Burress accidentally shot himself.

"It wouldn't be right if nobody said anything about him, so we are just going to take it how it is," Manningham said about the steady comparisons to Burress. "Me, Hakeem and Steve held it down while he wasn't here. I don't know. That is up to you all to figure that out, if we did good or not."

The player who most often draws comparisons to Burress is Barden, mostly because he is a 6-6, 227-pound target. The third-year pro said he knew he would be asked about the similarities when he arrived in New York, and he's still hearing them.

"I take it as a compliment to be compared to him in so many ways," Barden said. "In my mind, I want to be that and more."

Tuck said it is only slightly better that Burress landed with the Jets rather than, say, the Eagles. Tuck would have had to play against Burress twice a year if he had joined the Eagles, although now he'll have to watch his highlights and read about him every weekend. And the Giants do play the Jets this year on Christmas Eve.

"Unfortunately, Plaxico is not on our team and will be an opponent," Tuck said. "Whoever he plays for when we play him, we will be trying our best to stop him."

The signing with the Jets does at least close the door once and for all on the Giants' relationship with Burress. He's not coming back.

Then again, it is just a one-year contract with the Jets, right?