Why are NFL wide receivers so psycho?
Posted: Thursday, September 25, 2008 6:17 AM
What is it with wide receivers? Are they born with a circuit missing in their brains? You know, the one that tells most people that the sun and the stars and the planets don’t revolve around them?
If you find out, don’t tell me. Send the information along to Tom Coughlin and the New York Giants. They’re the ones who need to know why Plaxico Burress, who has nothing to complain about, is acting like a jerk again.
He skipped a team meeting on Monday after playing a key role in the Giants’ overtime victory over the Bengals. His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said Wednesday that Moss Burress had a family emergency and apparently forgot how to operate his cell phone. The team says he didn’t show up, didn’t call in, didn’t answer calls. So the Giants gave him two weeks off without pay, a suspension that includes the team’s bye week.
This is the guy Pittsburgh got rid of because he was too much of a headache. He’s the guy who couldn’t make it to off-season workouts with the Giants, the guy who whined and cried and held his breath and stomped his feet until he got a new contract before this season began that included an $11 million signing bonus.
He won a ring with the Giants back in February. He’s got his money. He’s a key part of the team. And still he can’t call in when he’s going to miss a meeting.
Rosenhaus – he’s Terrell Owens’ agent, too – is predictably whining that the punishment is too great for the crime. But Coughlin almost lost his job by being tough and he won the Super Bowl by being even tougher. He’s not going to lose any sleep over Moss Burress and his whiny agent.
Maybe he should, though. The history of prima donna wide-outs is that they get worse before they get better. Randy Moss lost interest in Minnesota and Oakland before regaining purpose in New England. But now that Tom Brady is down, there are whispers that he’s losing interest again in Matt Cassel and the Patriots.
Nobody in the NFL causes the problems that great wide receivers do.
T.O.’s problems in San Francisco and Philly are well documented. He’s been a happy camper in Dallas, but only because Tony Romo throws to him a lot and Jerry Jones kisses his backside and the Cowboys are winning. Let any of those elements fade away, and we’ll hear from T.O. again.
Then there’s Ocho Cinco in Cincinnati, the man who never saw a mirror he didn’t have to stop in front of to marvel at how wonderful he is. While I’m at it, I may as well throw a tight end into the mix – Jeremy Shockey. There’s another walking time bomb the Giants got rid of because he was more trouble than h was worth.
I’ve got no idea why receivers are the worst ego cases in the game. You’d think quarterbacks would be. They’re the guys who get the ball to the head cases. But quarterbacks are for the most part models of humility.
The Giants are stuck with Burress. What he needs to understand is that he’s stuck with them, too. He also needs to know that Coughlin is not a man who’s going to cut him a break just because he forgot to make a phone call.
Burress thinks he’s indispensible, but he’s not. Nobody is in football. Yes, he’s a big-play guy and he was a hero in the Super Bowl. But he’s also a member of a team, and in football, the team comes first, not the individual.
Rosenhaus seems to think everything will work out. If I were a Giants fan, I wouldn’t be so sure.
