83-Steelers-43
08-19-2006, 07:12 AM
Plaxico sacks Coughlin's style
BY ARTHUR STAPLE
Newsday Staff Correspondent
August 16, 2006
ALBANY -- Plaxico Burress came to the Giants last year and prepared himself physically for a great season. He had one of the best of his six NFL seasons and one of the best ever for a Giants receiver.
Mentally, he was a bit unprepared for Tom Coughlin, and the laid-back Burress and the intense Coughlin never meshed well. Burress was fined for lateness, benched for a quarter in San Diego, then took a powder for the exit meeting with his coach after the playoff loss to the Panthers.
The 6-5, 225-pound Burress knows now what to expect, so he's prepared himself physically and mentally for this season. He admitted to "breaking down a little" at the end of last season after starting with five touchdown catches in six games, so he tried to build stamina this offseason for the seasonlong grind of double-teams.
"Last year, I was already in shape for the season when I got here. By Week 12, Week 13, I was like, 'How come I don't have any energy?'" he said. "Now, I took three, 3 1/2 months off, let my legs get back up under me and tried to change a little bit."
As for the mental part, he still wishes things could be different between him and his head coach.
"I kind of think one of the problems we have around here is some of the coaches don't take the time to develop relationships with the players," Burress said in a one-on-one interview yesterday.
"That kind of throws us off because we don't know where they're coming from and they don't understand us. So when things go wrong, when you don't do what you intend to as a player and they jump on you, it causes the guys to second-guess themselves and doubt themselves.
"When you have a good relationship with your boss, when players have good relationships with the coaches, you want to give back more to them. It's a respect factor when you have a good relationship with somebody. You don't want to let them down."
Burress was quick to add that he does have that with wide-receivers coach Mike Sullivan. Their tight relationship, formed in the 17 months since Burress signed a five-year, $26-million deal after five seasons with the Steelers, has helped the receiver relax. And when he's relaxed, he's at his best.
"He pushes me on days when I don't feel like going hard, when I'm tired," Burress said. "He'll remind me of things I may have told him in the past and he knows me as a person. He knows when to get the best out of me when I don't feel good or when I'm tired. That's what all our coaches need to do is to develop relationships with all the players so they can get the best out of them."
It may seem odd that a player, even one who had the fifth-most receptions (76) for a Giant in a season and the second-most receiving yards (1,214), would want his coach to change for him, not the other way around. Coughlin's discipline-first system is designed to bend the will of players like Burress to the team-first mentality; Coughlin may give more leeway to someone such as Jeremy Shockey, who can call the coach a horse's patoot but still gives 100 percent on every play.
Burress' languid demeanor could drive a coach like Coughlin crazy.
"Just as with any player, you certainly want to gauge and see everything you can do when the ball is thrown," Coughlin said. "He's a good football player, he's serious about his work. He wants to be the best and we'd like him to be the best."
Said Shockey: "You judge him on how he plays and how he works, and he comes to work every day. He wants to win and he's willing to work hard. I don't know why everyone has negative thoughts about him."
Burress accepts that his style may be off-putting, and he is resigned to simply playing to win for his teammates and not for his coach.
"Shockey's the way he is, Coach is the way he is and I'm the way I am," Burress said. "I just go out and focus on my game, try to get better as a player, deal with [Coughlin] when I have to. As far as me playing football, being the best teammate I can, go out and perform on Sundays - that's where my focus is, on making my team better."
http://www.newsday.com/sports/printedition/ny-spgiants164853142aug16,0,7939186.story?coll=ny-sports-print
BY ARTHUR STAPLE
Newsday Staff Correspondent
August 16, 2006
ALBANY -- Plaxico Burress came to the Giants last year and prepared himself physically for a great season. He had one of the best of his six NFL seasons and one of the best ever for a Giants receiver.
Mentally, he was a bit unprepared for Tom Coughlin, and the laid-back Burress and the intense Coughlin never meshed well. Burress was fined for lateness, benched for a quarter in San Diego, then took a powder for the exit meeting with his coach after the playoff loss to the Panthers.
The 6-5, 225-pound Burress knows now what to expect, so he's prepared himself physically and mentally for this season. He admitted to "breaking down a little" at the end of last season after starting with five touchdown catches in six games, so he tried to build stamina this offseason for the seasonlong grind of double-teams.
"Last year, I was already in shape for the season when I got here. By Week 12, Week 13, I was like, 'How come I don't have any energy?'" he said. "Now, I took three, 3 1/2 months off, let my legs get back up under me and tried to change a little bit."
As for the mental part, he still wishes things could be different between him and his head coach.
"I kind of think one of the problems we have around here is some of the coaches don't take the time to develop relationships with the players," Burress said in a one-on-one interview yesterday.
"That kind of throws us off because we don't know where they're coming from and they don't understand us. So when things go wrong, when you don't do what you intend to as a player and they jump on you, it causes the guys to second-guess themselves and doubt themselves.
"When you have a good relationship with your boss, when players have good relationships with the coaches, you want to give back more to them. It's a respect factor when you have a good relationship with somebody. You don't want to let them down."
Burress was quick to add that he does have that with wide-receivers coach Mike Sullivan. Their tight relationship, formed in the 17 months since Burress signed a five-year, $26-million deal after five seasons with the Steelers, has helped the receiver relax. And when he's relaxed, he's at his best.
"He pushes me on days when I don't feel like going hard, when I'm tired," Burress said. "He'll remind me of things I may have told him in the past and he knows me as a person. He knows when to get the best out of me when I don't feel good or when I'm tired. That's what all our coaches need to do is to develop relationships with all the players so they can get the best out of them."
It may seem odd that a player, even one who had the fifth-most receptions (76) for a Giant in a season and the second-most receiving yards (1,214), would want his coach to change for him, not the other way around. Coughlin's discipline-first system is designed to bend the will of players like Burress to the team-first mentality; Coughlin may give more leeway to someone such as Jeremy Shockey, who can call the coach a horse's patoot but still gives 100 percent on every play.
Burress' languid demeanor could drive a coach like Coughlin crazy.
"Just as with any player, you certainly want to gauge and see everything you can do when the ball is thrown," Coughlin said. "He's a good football player, he's serious about his work. He wants to be the best and we'd like him to be the best."
Said Shockey: "You judge him on how he plays and how he works, and he comes to work every day. He wants to win and he's willing to work hard. I don't know why everyone has negative thoughts about him."
Burress accepts that his style may be off-putting, and he is resigned to simply playing to win for his teammates and not for his coach.
"Shockey's the way he is, Coach is the way he is and I'm the way I am," Burress said. "I just go out and focus on my game, try to get better as a player, deal with [Coughlin] when I have to. As far as me playing football, being the best teammate I can, go out and perform on Sundays - that's where my focus is, on making my team better."
http://www.newsday.com/sports/printedition/ny-spgiants164853142aug16,0,7939186.story?coll=ny-sports-print