Background and career
Plaxico Antonio Burress (born August 12, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Michigan State Spartans, and was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers with the eighth overall pick in the 2000 NFL draft. He also played for the New York Giants and the New York Jets, and he caught the game-winning touchdown in Super Bowl XLII as the Giants beat the then-undefeated New England Patriots.
Plaxico Burress was born to Vicki Burress in Norfolk, Virginia. He was named after his uncle, has two brothers, and has been married to Tiffany Glenn since July 2005. They have one son, Elijah and a daughter, Giovanna, born November 2009. Burress graduated from Green Run High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia in 1996 and spent a post-graduate year at Fork Union Military Academy in Fork Union, Virginia. He lives in Totowa, New Jersey. His son was rated a four-star receiver by 24/7 Sports and ESPN, and he plays at Notre Dame.
Burress played two seasons for Michigan State, recording consecutive 1000 yard receiving seasons in 1998 and 1999. In 1998, he caught 65 passes for 1,013 yards and eight touchdowns. The following season, he recorded 66 receptions for 1,142 yards and 12 touchdowns and earned first-team All-Bing ten honors.In 1999, Burress set a then-school record with 255 receiving yards on ten catches against Michigan. He ended his college career with 13 receptions for 185 yards and three touchdowns against Florida in the 2000 Citrus Bowl.
After being selected in the first round with the eighth overall pick in the 2000 NFL draft, Burress went on to play five years with the Pittsburgh Steelers, amassing 261 receptions for 4,164 yards, 22 touchdowns, and six fumbles over the span of 71 games. Burress was featured on the MTV show True Life, documenting his rookie season. His rookie season saw him on the wrong end of one of the NFL's most infamous gaffes. In a game the Steelers eventually won 24–13, Burress caught a 19-yard reception, with his momentum causing him to fall to his knees. The rookie Burress then spiked the ball, believing the play was dead (since that is the rule in the NCAA but not the NFL) but, since he was not touched while he was on the ground, the ball was still live—allowing the Jaguars' Danny Clark to recover the fumble and run 44 yards with it. He first broke the 1,000-yard mark in his second season, gaining 1,008 yards on 66 receptions. Burress's best season with the Steelers came in 2002, when he set his career highs for receptions (78) and yards (1,325), to go along with seven touchdowns. Burress's 1,008-yard season in 2001, combined with Hines Ward's 1,003 receiving yards, gave the Steelers their first pair of 1,000-yard receivers. The two would combine to accomplish the same feat in 2002. In 2002, Burress appeared in all 16 regular season games and caught a career high 78 passes. On November 10, 2002, Burress took advantage of an extra 15 minutes of play to set a Steelers' franchise record with 253 receiving yards in a 34–34 tie against the Atlanta Falcons. He caught nine passes and scored two touchdowns in the game, and nearly won it but was stopped at the 1-yard line as time expired. Also in 2002, Burress played in his first career playoff game, accumulating six receptions for 100 yards and a touchdown. He finished the season with another career high 1,325 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. He finished 2003 catching 60 passes for 860 yards and four touchdowns as the Steelers went 6-10 and missed the playoffs. In 2004, Burress caught 35 passes on 60 targets for 698 yards and 5 touchdowns through the regular season. He got his first career playoff win when the Steelers defeated the New York Jets in the AFC Divisional playoff game 20-17. During the game, he caught two passes on seven targets for 28 yards. He scored a touchdown in his first and only AFC Championship appearance on a seven yard pass from Ben Roethlisberger as the Steelers ended their season losing to eventual Super Bowl champions the New England Patriots.
On January 23, 2005, after the playoff defeat to the Patriots, Burress announced his intentions to leave the Steelers. On March 17, he signed a six-year, $25 million contract with the New York Giants. In his first season with the Giants, Burress caught 76 passes for 1,214 yards, helping the team earn an 11–5 record and first place in the NFC East as well as the NFC's fourth seed. However, they were shut out 23–0 by the Carolina Panthers in the opening round of the 2005–06 NFL playoffs. In the 2006 season, Burress got his highest career total of ten touchdowns but fell short of the 1,000-yard mark, appearing in only 15 games and struggling with a groin injury for much of the year. The Giants lost six of their last eight games and fell in the NFC Wild Card playoffs to the NFC East champion Philadelphia Eagles 23–20. Burress had a touchdown catch on the opening drive and finished the game with five receptions for 89 yards and two touchdowns. In 2007, Burress was the Giants' top receiver with 70 receptions for 1,025 yards, despite not practicing all season because of his ailing ankle. He also set a franchise playoff record in the NFC title game in Green Bay with 11 receptions for 154 yards as the Giants advanced to Super Bowl XLII. In Super Bowl XLII, Burress caught the game-winning touchdown pass that made the score 17–14 in the Giants' favor over the undefeated (18–0) New England Patriots. He gained a measure of "Super Bowl legend" by predicting the Patriots would lose by the score 23–17. Before their May minicamp, Burress and his teammates were invited by then-President George W. Bush to the White House on April 30, 2008, to honor their victory in Super Bowl XLII. Just before the start of the Giants' mandatory May minicamp, Burress had said that he would not participate in the camp because he was upset with his contract. He attended the camp to avoid paying a fine but refused to practice with the team. Although he was slated to receive $3.25 million for 2008, Burress felt underpaid compared to other star receivers. After indicating that he might hold out training camp as well, he joined, but practiced very little, claiming his ankle was injured. In September 2008, Burress did not show up for work on a Monday and could not be reached by phone for two days. On September 24, 2008, the team announced that Burress would be suspended for the game on October 5 for a violation of team rules. This was not the first time that Burress had been temporarily suspended by an NFL team—in May 2004, he was suspended by the Pittsburgh Steelers for failing to show up for a Monday team practice. On October 24, the NFL fined Burress a total of $45,000 for the following conduct:
$20,000 for postgame comments regarding officiating—specifically, inappropriate comments on officiating. $20,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct—specifically, verbal abuse of the head linesman. $5,000 for throwing the ball in the stands.
