New York Jets wide receiver Plaxico Burress fired shots at more thanhimself in an explosive interview to be published next week, the NewYork Post reported Friday.
In an interview in the October issue of Men’s Journal, Burressblasted Giants coach Tom Coughlin and quarterback Eli Manning as wellas the team’s management, fans who celebrated his incarceration and NewYork City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
His biggest target was Coughlin, the coach he butted heads with forfour years with the Giants. When Burress shot himself accidentally inthe leg in November 2008, he said Coughlin showed no concern.
“After my situation happened, I turned on the TV, and the firstwords out his mouth was ‘sad and disappointing’,” Burress said. “I’mlike, forget support — how about some concern? I did just have a bulletin my leg. And then I sat in his office, and he pushed back his chairand goes, ‘I’m glad you didn’t kill anybody!’ Man, we’re paid too muchto be treated like kids. He doesn’t realize that we’re grown men andactually have kids of our own.”
The 34 year old said Coughlin’s style rubs players the wrong way.
“He’s not a real positive coach,” Burress said. “You look around theleague, the Raheem Morrises and Rex Ryans — when their player makes amistake, they take ‘em to the side and say, ‘We’ll get ‘em next time.’But Coughlin’s on the sideline going crazy, man. I can’t remember onetime when he tried to talk a player through not having a day he washaving.”
The interview, which hits newsstands on Sept. 16, was done shortlyafter Burress was released from prison in June after serving nearly twoyears on weapons charges. Since then, he met with Coughlin and othermembers of the Giants during a visit to their offices in July when hewas a free agent. Burress signed a one-year, $3.017 million deal withthe Jets days later.
Judging from his remarks to Men’s Journal, it seems like any reunionbetween Burress and the Giants was never really going to happen. Hesaid he was saddened by the way Manning treated him when he was inprison.
“I was always his biggest supporter, even days he wasn’t on, ’causeI could sense he didn’t have thick skin,” Burress said. “Then I wentaway, and I thought he would come see me, but nothing, not a letter, intwo years. I don’t want to say it was a slap in the face, but I thoughtour relationship was better than that.”
Burress said he was treated like an “ax murderer” in prison,confined to a 23-hour lockdown. In prison, he said he received cruelletters.
“I was a human pincushion; they were like, ‘Yeah, we finally gotyou, mother[bleeper!]‘” he said. “On the cover of the New York Post, itsaid ‘GIANT IDIOT’ and I’m thinking, ‘Damn, I went and gave ‘em whatthey wanted. I’m just another gun-toting, famous black athlete’.”
Burress openly hit out at the fans who took pleasure in his confinement.
“What are you doing now?” he said. “You still mad at your job? Youstill angry about your life? ‘Cause I’m back living my life andenjoying my family while you’re still doing the same thing.”
Burress also spoke about his feelings toward Bloomberg after themayor publicly called for him to be harshly punished after theincident. “The way Bloomberg treated me was totally wrong, stackedthose charges so high I had to go to jail,” he said.
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