New York Giants release Plaxico Burress

This afternoon the New York Giants announced that they released WR Plaxico Burress. Any Steelers' fans wish they could have him back? Or would you rather do without? Here's the latest Associated Press report.

Giants: What are the Chances...?

Yet another extremely difficult game to project a winner; this game seems like a toss-up. From the Steelers’ perspective the two keys to the game are: Protecting Ben Roethlisberger and keeping Plaxico Burress in check. It wouldn’t surprise me if Pittsburgh’s pass protection falters much as it did against Philadelphia, if not quite to the same degree. Steelers fans also know that a motivated Plax is a dangerous Plax, and this will be a statement game for Burress, who’s probably still jacked up about Michigan State beating Michigan in Ann Arbor yesterday.

Thus far, the Steelers haven’t had trouble plugging in substitutes for players lost to injury, but one wonders if this is the week the losses catch up to them. In particular, I’m concerned about the loss of CB Bryant McFadden and WR Santonio Holmes, and if DE Aaron Smith doesn’t suit up that could also have significant implications in terms of stopping the Giants’ powerful running attack.

My heart says Big Ben will find a way to win this game (as he finds a way almost every week), but my head says the Giants’ pass rush (and the Steelers’ injuries/inactives) will enable Big Blue to prevail. I’m giving the Steelers a 48 percent chance of winning.

That said, it's time to address the Eli or Ben argument. The idea that Eli Manning has surpassed Roethlisberger as a QB is borderline silly. Yes, Eli played better than Ben in their respective Super Bowls (Ben was only 23, however), and Manning is almost certainly a more dangerous two-minute/hurry up QB, but other than that Roethlisberger is a significantly better player. In terms of numbers, Big Ben is in the top five all-time in terms of key stats like winning percentage and passer rating (virtually identical to Tom Brady). I'd be curious to see where Ben would stand if one takes the motorcycle accident/appendectomy/concussion season out of the equation. He might very well be #1 in NFL history in every important QB indicator.

The funny thing is that Big Ben has improved noticeably since his Super Bowl season. What is most impressive now is how he has managed to thrive, in spite of playing behind one of the three or four worst pass protecting offensive lines in the league. If Eli Manning got the "protection" — and I use that word loosely — that Ben has been getting, Giants fans would have booed Eli out of New York by now.

Steelers 38, Bengals 10

What is there to say? Another week, another crushing Hines Ward block on a defensive player (this one breaking the jaw of Bengals' rookie linebacker Keith Rivers, most likely ending his season), and another Steelers' victory over the Bengals.

With the predicted victory, The Steelyard is now 4-2 on the season and 30-9 all-time. Next week: At home vs. Plaxico Burress and the Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

Talking trash: The, uh, forthcoming Plaxico Burress book

“Giant: The Road to the Super Bowl” (in bookstores July 1) is the literary equivalent of listening to Plaxico Burress speak — for 200-plus pages. In other words, Burress has nothing to say, and what he does try to say, is like, half-baked and incoherent. I feel sorry for all the English, writing and communications professors at Michigan State University (where Burress went to college), who must have shuddered when they heard that Plaxico Burress received a book deal. I feel sorry for aspiring authors everywhere, who now have to live with the fact that Plaxico — of all people! — has a book and they don’t. Most importantly, I feel for the children, all the young, impressionable minds who will have the misfortune of being exposed to this material. It’s an entire book filled with sentences like this one: “My first time taking the SAT was like 630 or 620 or something.”

Anyway, the only chapters of any real interest to Pittsburgh fans are four and five (“School Daze: Getting a Rep” and “Starting in Steeltown”), both of which reinforce my feeling that the Steelers should never have selected Burress with the eighth pick of the 2000 draft. While it’s not necessarily news to the Pittsburgh faithful, Plax does confirm that he failed to show up for his private pre-draft workout with Bill Cowher: “I was supposed to meet with [the Steelers] at two in the afternoon. But I slept through it. I got a call from Coach Cowher that afternoon and he said, ‘We missed you, what happened? I flew all the way [to Michigan] to see you work out.’ I said, ‘Coach, my bad, I’m just dead tired.’” That alone should have been enough for the Steelers to go in another direction, as it foretold his future in Pittsburgh (“I would be late to meetings all the time”; “When I lived in Pittsburgh … it was a party all the time”). He also openly discusses his “six homeboys from Virginia Beach,” the posse he supported during his first few years in Pittsburgh: (“I’ve seen them guys pull guns and shoot at people,” he says. “I’ve seen them beat guys with bats and things like that….”) With all these distractions, it’s no wonder Plax failed to live up to expectations while he played for the Steelers.

"Giant" by Plaxico Burress

Former Steelers' wide receiver Plaxico Burress wants the New York Giants to give him a new contract. In the meantime, he'll have to settle for the release of his new book "Giant: The Road to the Super Bowl" (Harper Collins), written with, er, by sportswriter Jason Cole. While The Steelyard hasn't yet had a chance to check out the book, one wonders what on earth the tall, mumbling one could possibly have to say about ... anything? Stay tuned. We'll try to obtain a review copy and provide a sneak peek.

Steelers sign QB Zabransky, WR Trannon

The front office is getting busy as the Steelers sign quarterback Jared Zabransky and wide receiver Matt Trannon to their offseason roster.

Zabransky, who wasn't selected in the 2007 NFL Draft, spent part of last season on the Texans' practice squad and was later released.

Zabransky was 33-5 as Boise State's starter from 2004-06, including an undefeated season in 2006. Zabransky is perhaps best known for his performance in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl in which he was named Most Valuable Player.

In other news, the Steelers also signed wide receiver Trannon, who hails from Plaxico Burress' alma mater, Michigan State. An impressive 6-6, 235-pounds (a big receiver, Ben!), Trannon spent time on several practice squads last season.

Jets-Steelers trade that never was/The "Heidi game"

In the 2000 NFL draft the New York Jets held four first-round draft choices, none as high as the Steelers' first-round pick that year (8th overall). The Jets coveted WR Plaxico Burress, and New York offered to give the Steelers two first-round picks (#12 and #18, I believe), in exchange for the 8th pick. Much to my chagrin, the Steelers rejected the trade and went on to select Burress. The Steelers would have been better off making the deal and selecting QB Chad Pennington along with a highly-rated defensive player. Taking a chance on Pennington would have been a worthwhile risk back in the Kordell Stewart era.

Anyway, since Jets fans may be taking a peek at this blog today, I'd like to remind them that today is the 39th anniversary of the infamous Heidi game. Click here for details.

PFW announces midseason All-Pro selections

Today Pro Football Weekly (PFW) announced its midseason All-Pro team. Not surprisingly, no Steelers were on the list. Interestingly, former Steelers’ WR Plaxico Burress (Giants) was one of the two wide receivers selected. Even more interesting is the fact that Cleveland’s rookie left tackle Joe Thomas was one of the two tackles chosen. Click here to view all the selections.

Meanwhile, the Steelers are still at #4 in PFW’s Power Rankings, and QB Ben Roethlisberger is holding steady at #6 on the magazine’s MVP meter (with RB Willie Parker falling one slot this week to #8). As usual, no Steelers’ rookies even warrant a mention on PFW’s Rookie Meter.

Advance word on forthcoming Rooney book

Last week The Steelyard received an advance reading copy of Dan Rooney’s forthcoming book, “My 75 Years With the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL” (Da Capo), scheduled to hit stores on November 5. Longtime Steelers’ fans probably won’t glean a whole lot of new information, although there are certainly some interesting bits about past drafts and personnel changes. For instance, concerning the Bill Cowher-Tom Donahoe spat, Rooney writes, “Bill didn’t want Donahoe in the coaches’ meetings because he thought Tom was a spy. Tom thought Bill was finished as an NFL head coach.” Pretty strong words from both sides, don’t you think?

But to me the most interesting item concerns the 2004 draft. Rooney writes that with Eli Manning and Philip Rivers off the board early in the first round “our people seem to have focused on Shawn Andrews, a big offensive tackle from Arkansas as our likely number-one pick…. But when out turn came, I couldn’t bear the thought of passing on another great quarterback prospect the way we had passed on Dan Marino in 1983, so I steered the conversation around to [Ben] Roethlisberger. After some more talk, we came to a consensus and picked Roethlisberger.”

All I can say is, Way to go, Dan! It would have been foolish to take a right tackle over Big Ben, especially since the Steelers were badly in need of a long-term solution at the QB position. I’ve always believed that when a team has a chance to select a potential franchise quarterback it has to seize the opportunity--particularly a team like the Steelers, which rarely has a chance to select in the top 10 of the draft. In my opinion, the Steelers have been too quick to pass on quarterbacks over the years. For instance, back in 2000 the Steelers had the opportunity to trade the 8th overall pick (used to take Plaxico Burress) for two of the Jets’ first-round picks (one of which could have been used on Chad Pennington). Selecting Pennington would have been a worthwhile risk back in the Kordell Stewart era.

"Plaxico"

Recently, The Steelyard received a copy of the new book “The G.M.: The Inside Story of a Dream Job and the Nightmares That Go With It,” by Tom Callahan (Crown), which chronicles the last year of Ernie Accorsi’s tenure as general manager of the New York Giants. Of course, the book is of minimal interest to Steelers’ fans, except for chapter 4 (“Plaxico”), which focuses on former Steelers’ wide receiver Plaxico Burress, described by Callahan as having “a sleepy manner and a penitentiary face.”

According to Accorsi, The Steelers “would have loved to have kept [Burress]” … but “Dan Rooney didn’t want to put all of the team’s money into receivers,” preferring to retain Hines Ward. Makes sense.

Meanwhile, Giants QB Eli Manning goes out of his way to defend Burress, saying, “Plax is smarter than what you think, or what he shows you.” Manning relates how he once borrowed Burress’ playbook and says, “When I opened it, I couldn’t believe my eyes. He had written all these little notes in the margins--in beautiful handwriting. ‘I’m the hot receiver here.’ ‘I go here.’ ‘I do this or that.’ ‘Somebody else does whatever.’ All in perfect penmanship….”

It’s funny how Manning compliments Burress’ penmanship, as if that compensates for the occasions when Burress takes plays off or disappears from the offense.