I let Plaxico Burress off way too easy earlier. A full-fledged "rant" is called for.
During the Steelers loss to the Patriots, Burress dropped a three yard pass in the endzone. He is 6-6, and was up against a 5-10 corner. He didn't have to jump, which is good because he has no jumping ability at all, all he had to do was hold onto the ball, but he couldn't.
Earlier in the game he failed to catch a 30 yard touchdown pass from Big Ben because he fell down in the endzone. The field conditions weren't bad, but he managed to fall down.
After the game, the free agent to be complained about how he was leaving Pittsburgh because "I just [wasn't] involved [in the game]." He had 3 catches for 37 yards and a meaningless touchdown at the end of the game.
If he had done his job with something close to acceptable professional standards, he would have finished the game with 5 receptions for 70 yards and 3 TDs. And much more importantly, his team would have had at least a small chance to beat the Patriots instead of being dominated. But he castigates unnamed others for his own poor performance.
And he'll get away with it, as always, as almost all the blame will be put on Big Ben and Bill Cowher for the loss, and very little will be placed on Burress and the Steelers poor defensive play.
Burress has always been overrated, dating back to his days at Michigan State. He had a so-so college career, yet was a first round draft pick. In the same draft (2000), the Steelers selected Danny Farmer in the fourth round.
Farmer ran a slightly faster 40 than Burress, and as an All-American volleyball player, could jump like a kangaroo, plus he had good height at 6-3 and had broken various career receiving records at UCLA. But Burress was immediately anointed a starter, while Farmer, when he wasn't being physically attacked by Chad Scott and other of his alleged "teammates," was waived at the end of training camp, the highest draft choice from the 2000 draft to be cut in the preseason.
Burress showed up for his rookie training camp, before he had even signed a contract, in a stretch limo and was decked out in full gangsta regalia. He adores the rap/gangsta lifestyle and has been periodically arrested while a member of the Steelers, once for going on a "wilding" spree with his brother and some friends in his home town of Virginia Beach, randomly attacking tourists and whoever else happened to cross their path. You probably never even heard of that one. Do you think if a white NFL player went on a racially motivated wilding spree that it would simply be glossed over?
Burress has had one good season out of five. He lacks concentration and good instincts. Much is made of his "leaping ability" but he has none whatsoever. What he has is a huge height advantage over defenders, which he rarely uses to his advantage.
He can barely speak understandable English. Shannon Sharpe sounds like a master of the language compared to "Plax." Yet the "colorful" Burress is always the Steelers player quoted in newspapers and interviewed for the evening news' sports segment.
Wait and see. Some NFL team will sign him to a huge contract, with a bonus in the area of $10 million. Several teams may even fight over Burress. Farmer, meanwhile, is probably working in a warehouse somewhere in SoCal. Do you think Danny Farmer would have caught that three yard pass in the endzone last night, or would he have dropped it like Burress did? And so it goes in the NFL.
Edited by: Don Wassall
