Spending nearly two years in prison tends to force a person to put his life in perspective.
Plaxico Burress missed the birth of his daughter and was unable to collect on the final $25 million of his Giants contract, so going through an entire game without catching one pass didn't provoke a trademark temper tantrum, which was part of his diva act with the Giants.
That's big news and for now that's good news for the Jets. Still, it demands watching simply because of Burress' history of becoming a distraction when he doesn't get the ball. But maybe this is really the new Plax with a new attitude.
So, just as he claimed that the only thing that mattered was the Jets winning Sunday's game, I asked him if perhaps his attitude might have been different before he lost his freedom for nearly two years.
"I'm not really focusing on the past," he said after the Jets' 32-3 victory over the Jaguars.
"Four months ago, I was so far away from playing football that I have nothing to complain about."
Mark Sanchez didn't even attempt a pass in Burress' direction until the first play of the fourth quarter. Still, Burress came off the field after every series, calmly placed his helmet on top of an equipment trunk next to the Jets' bench, and sat quietly.
He was not sulking. He did not yell at Sanchez. He didn't lobby for the ball.
PHOTOS: JETS DEFENSE ROCKS McCOWN, JAGUARS
Sanchez finally attempted one in his direction on first down from the Jaguars' 6-yard line, when he saw Burress wide open a couple of yards into the end zone. But Sanchez proceeded to sail it 10 feet over Burress' head, which is hard to do when the target is 6-foot-5.
"Man, he was open," Rex Ryan said.
Burress didn't wave his arms or stomp his feet and show up Sanchez ... like he had done with Eli Manning in his years with the Giants.
"I guess it kind of got away from him a little bit," Burress said. "Sometimes, it happens. I'm not complaining, throwing a fit or anything like that."
Will he explode if it keeps happening or are those days over?
This was only the fourth regular-season game of Burress' career that he went home with zero catches. It happened twice in his rookie year with the Steelers in 2000. It also happened in his final game with the Giants on Nov. 23, 2008, when he was on the field for only three plays and had to come out with a hamstring injury. It happened in the playoffs, too, when the Giants were miserable in a loss to the Panthers following the 2005 season, Burress' first with the Giants.
Ryan was so aware that Burress was getting shut out Sunday that he had Sanchez attempt a second pass to him in the end zone on third down after the QB air-mailed the first one. But Sanchez got pounded as he released the ball and banged his hand against a Jaguars helmet. The ball floated and fell incomplete.
"That was my fault," Ryan said. "I was trying to get Plax a catch."
Burress said he was doubled on all but two plays Sunday, a coverage the Jets did not anticipate. He was proud he received so much respect. He's always been able to beat double coverage, but the Jets have so many weapons, Sanchez didn't force him the ball. The result was that Dustin Keller had six catches for 101 yards and a touchdown, and Santonio Holmes had three catches for 42 yards and a TD.
Burress kept running his routes and
tried to make up for his lack of production with his blocking. "It's easy for me to stay motivated," he said. "Everything that I have been through, little things like that, it doesn't bother me. I got 14 more games to play with and a lot more in me to let loose. When that times comes, everybody will see it."
Last week in the first half, Burress had just one pass thrown in his direction, and it was incomplete. But in the second half, Sanchez went to him eight times, completing three, including a crucial 26-yard touchdown. The QB was well aware during the game yesterdy that Burress didn't have a catch.
"It's disappointing, but he's a pro," Sanchez said. "He was great about it."
Burress and cornerback Darrelle Revis each had two passes thrown in his direction Sunday. Burress didn't have a catch and Revis didn't have an interception. "I think the type of guys we have in here are winners," Revis said. "It doesn't matter who makes the plays, who gets the stats."
For now, Burress is fine with how things went Sunday.
"I didn't catch a ball but we scored 30 points," he said. "I got a smile on my face. I'm going home happy."
The most important thing he said Sunday after 21 months in the slammer: He was going home.
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/2011/09/19/2011-09-19_no_catches_no_issue_for_plax.html#ixzz1Yp3A9myX
