Plaxico redux

Law-and-order proponent NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg went out of his way to make a statement about prosecuting Plaxico Burress to the fullest extent of the law. I understand he wants to get guns off the streets and the accident could have hurt an innocent bystander instead of only Plaxico himself. I am not minimizing the crime, but let's keep some perspective - Burress is not a thug or a hardened criminal who carries the gun to commit a crime or menace other people. I'm not saying he should be freed - he committed a crime and there is not much ambiguity in the law about it. I am just saying that Bloomberg's strong law and order attitude is a little misplaced and somewhat inconsistently applied. Bloomberg's disdain for the public figures who see themselves as above the law and his desire to make an example of them, seemed to be absent when NYS Governor Eliot Spitzer was supporting prostitution, transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes and laundering money in the process. He was lining the pockets of organized crime by giving money to hookers which makes what he did damaging to society rather than just a victimless crime. How come his honor the Mayor wasn't screaming for Spitzer's hide?

I agree that Plax should be prosecuted and treated exactly according to the law. But from the broader perspective - it's really sad. This one act, one mistake, one moment of poor judgment in which nobody got hurt but Plaxico himself, will ruin his life. His contract with the Giants will be canceled. If he is sent to prison for two years beginning in the 2009 season, he will probably not be eligible to return until the 2011 season at the earliest, at which time he will be 34 years old. It's very doubtful that any team is going to sign a 34 year old WR, who's been out of football for two years to a big NFL contract. Returning in 2011 is probably a best case scenario. It could be worse: the trial could drag on for a while and not be concluded until the end of 2009, in which case, Burress might not see the field until 2012. He deserves to be punished because he broke the law. Guns are dangerous, so I understand that the laws have to be unambiguous and the punishments severe. I am just saying that in this case, I'm not sure the punishment of ruining a man's life fits the crime.

On the football side of it and how it might affect the Giants, as high as I am on the rest of WR corps, it's hard to say that the Giants are just as good without Burress. We can say that Burress has not been very productive this year. Everyone says that it's because he is being routinely double-teamed on every play, but I don't buy that. He was getting double teamed last year also and still was productive. In the playoffs, he was very good in the Tampa Bay game, was very quiet in the Cowboys game (Toomer was the star WR in that game), he was other-worldly in the Packers game and he was practically invisible in the Superbowl. OK - maybe it's stupid to call him invisible, when he was the guy that caught the winning TD in the Superbowl with less than a minute to go. What I meant was - Burress only caught two passes in that game - the first and last passes thrown by Eli and he caught nothing in between. Giants surely would not have won a Superbowl last year without him, but their WR corps is so much deeper and more talented this year. In fact, I think that's the reason Burress numbers are down this year. Last year when he was getting double teamed, Eli still had to try to force the ball in to him at times since he was the only deep threat. It hurt Eli's numbers in completion percentage and INTs but it kept Burress in the game. This year, with so much more depth and quality at the WR position, the need for Eli to force it to Burress dissipated and spreading the ball around to other targets has contributed to making the offense much more productive. My proof for this hypothesis is a look back at last year's offense and how much more potent it became when Steve Smith came back onto the field. Suddenly, with another target available for Eli to throw to, Giants had a much more capable passing game.

My assertion that the WR corps is much more talented and deeper than last year is easy to demonstrate. Last year, the depth chart at WR during the playoffs was: Burress, Toomer, Smith and Tyree. David Tyree was on the team as a ST player and filled in as an emergency WR. When some injuries hit, he was elevated to the 4th slot. This year the depth chart is: Burress, Toomer, Smith, Moss, Hixon, Manningham. If Tyree had to make the team as WR, he would be in trouble. Smith has grown since last year; Hixon is a star waiting to get his chance; Moss looks like he's ready to contribute and Manningham has physical skills that Tyree never had. Eli has grown into the type of qb that prospers when he can spread the field, make his reads, use his brains and get things done by going to many targets.

That's the glass half-full view: that with the depth at WR and with the emergence of Hixon as a real deep threat, Giants will be fine. But the more realistic view is that Burress did give them one thing that will be difficult to replace. His height created match up problems and he could catch a ball even if he was well covered on a play because of his size and strong hands. This will especially be a problem on the goal line. Giants offense will probably not be hurt between the 20's, but inside the 20, on the goal line, the big target and the threat of that corner fade route being removed might hurt the offense. I think the Giants need to be a little more creative with their offense at the goal line and perhaps start using Boss as a big target to compensate for the loss of Burress. Eagles have a very, very good goal line defense, so the Giants will surely be tested in that area this week. It may not be great this week - this may be the Giants laboratory experiment week for goal line offense. I have been very impressed with Gilbride and Eli's ability to fix things and improve the offense, so I'm hopeful that they will come up with something.

In a slightly more trivial way, Burress helped the running game a little bit by drawing the safety to him which provides slightly better running lanes. He was also a great blocker downfield for runners.

Giants offense will be a little below what it was with Burress, but the best offense in the league will not fall apart.