What If Plaxico Burress Didn’t Shoot Himself?
By Neal Lynch
With Plax, the 2010 season might’ve gone a different way, though. The Giants ended up 10-6, tied with the Eagles for first in the NFC East, but lost the division title on a tiebreaker that boiled down to the Miracle at the New Meadowlands.
Burress was a fairly reliable target to convert third downs and extend drives. If he’s on the field, maybe Manning goes to him to move the chains and kill more clock instead of punting four of the last five drives and using only 7 minutes of the clock in the process. True, much of the blame falls on the defense failing to stop Michael Vick and on Matt Dodge for punting directly to DeSean Jackson, but had the offense not taken their foot off the pedal, we might’ve seen another Giants division title and playoff berth.
Had the Giants made the postseason, they would’ve hosted the Green Bay Packers, the eventual Super Bowl champions. The Eagles lost to the Packers 21-16 at home, so it’s difficult to say with any certainty the Giants would’ve provided a different outcome.
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