NFL-Giants: NY Giants football news

Everyone will be counting on Domenik Hixon to come up big with Plax out. This article is very encouraging. His old coaches say he has what it takes. Let’s hope we see some of it today against the Eagles!

I’d rather be talking about the Eagles game, but when I saw Plax’s picture on the Yahoo front page along with this feature I just had to share.

Nothing too surprising here. The Eagles are beat up at OG and RB. The Giants will miss Webster if he can’t go.

The New York papers seem to be stuck on Burress for now. I’d rather think about the game Sunday so here’s what I found:

You have to love the Philadelphia Enquirer calling the Giants the best team in football and you have to love reading those comments.

This article talks about how the Eagles need to avoid distractions since every game is now a must-win for them.

This article has a few quotes from Eagle guys about how the Giants are still good without Burress. I laughed at this typo: “The 6-4, 28-pound Patrick…” I hope an offensive lineman is a little heavier than 28 pounds…

NFL.com also talks about the game but you have to scroll past the beginning since Plax stuff comes first.

Interesting stuff from Peter King:

2. I think you can make book on Plaxico Burress playing elsewhere in 2009, assuming he’s not in jail. (And that may not be the best assumption right now.) In fact, I expect the Giants to either de-activate him the rest of the season or place him on the non-football injury list for the rest of the year, effectively ending his career with the New York Giants. Amazing, amazing story.
Giants GM Jerry Reese negotiated a great contract to lock up Burress before the season, making it about as safe a deal as he could, with miniscule guarantees. The Giants can cut or trade Burress after the season and simply eliminate $23 million of the $27-million-in-new-money deal he signed with the Giants. In effect, as I said on NBC last night, when I examine the deal, I see the contract totally on the come. And the first big test of this contract will come on Dec. 10, when Burress is due $1 million from the original and only guaranteed money in the deal, the third installment of a $4.325-million signing bonus when he signed. Let me break down all of the non-guaranteed money in the Burress deal that makes it absolutely simple for the Giants to cut the cord with him after the season:
• Non-guaranteed base salaries: $11.5 million ($1 million in 2009, $3.5 million in 2010, $3.5 million in 2011, $3.5 million in 2012).
• Non-guaranteed one-time bonus to be paid early in the ’09 off-season: $2 million.
• Non-guaranteed roster bonuses: $3.5 million ($500,000 in ’09, $1 million in 2010, $1 million in 2011, $1 million in 2012).
• Non-guaranteed escalators, payable only on high performance: $5 million ($1.25 million in ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12.) He has not reached his escalators yet that would kick in for 2009.
• Non-guaranteed workout bonuses: $1.3 million ($325,000 in ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12).
Burress also has a clause in his contract that could come into play and cost him $400,000 this year. For every game he’s ineligible to play in because of non-injury reasons, he doesn’t earn a $100,000 per game roster bonus.
Awfully sad. “Trouble just follows him,” said Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber. No one over the weekend was arguing.

3. I think there’s one more thing regarding Burress, and it’s good news for Amani Toomer: The Giants are $20 million under the 2009 cap right now, and Toomer, whose contract is up at the end of this year, wants to return in 2009. This makes his chance much better to do so. The five Giant receivers under contract for next year (Steve Smith , Sinorice Moss, Mario Manningham, Domenik Hixon, David Tyree) are due a combined $3.6-million in 2009. Adding Toomer for $4 million under the cap, and one guy in the draft or free agency, and maybe subtracting Tyree, could well happen. The Giants have plenty of resources to go on without Burress. The big test, obviously, will be seeing if one of these names can turn into the big-play receiver the Giants will obviously have to play without.

I have mixed feelings here. I can’t forget about Plax’s heroics leading up to the Super Bowl or his game winning catch in the Super Bowl. But this was a pretty dumb move… If Plax goes and Toomer returns that would kind of make up for the loss. Not that they’re comparable players – but Toomer is awesome in his own way. But I would not be happy about seeing Plax on some other NFC East team.