Newark Star Ledger: For weeks, no one wanted to say it. Not even
Tom Coughlin after Sunday's crushing playoff loss to the Eagles
ended the Giants' season in a manner they never expected. But GM
Jerry Reese was blunt after the game when asked if the Giants'
offense missed beleaguered WR Plaxico Burress. "Obviously, it's
hard to replace that," Reese said in a nearly-empty locker room.
"The guy has a presence out there and when you lose that, teams
play you differently. We made some adjustments, but today we had
opportunities. We just didn't make enough plays." The big
question, then, is whether the Giants' struggles without Burress
have nudged the team toward bringing him back, provided he doesn't
get sent to prison for illegal gun possession. Before Burress'
suspension, Eli Manning had completed 62% of his passes and had a
passer rating of 91.3. In the 5 games after Burress' season was
ended by the team's placing him on the non-football injury list,
Manning completed only 54% of his passes and had a dreadful rating
of 63.6. "If everything goes all right, yeah," Reese said when
asked if Burress could return next season. "Absolutely."
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