Giants Need Burress: Jacobs
28/02/2009 03:44
Running back signs four-year deal, hopes troubled receiver settles issues
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - A day after signing a new $25-million contract, halfback Brandon Jacobs said the only thing the New York Giants need to make another run at a title is Plaxico Burress.
"We have to hope Plaxico Burress gets out of all the issues he has going on there legally," Jacobs said Thursday in a conference call. "If he can get out of that, we can bring him back and I think that is basically all we need, to be honest with you."
Burress' future very likely will be decided in a New York City court room in about a month. The 31-year-old, who caught the winning touchdown pass in the Super Bowl a year ago, faces felony charges of criminal possession of a weapon in the wake of a nightclub shooting in November in which he accidentally shot himself in the right thigh with a handgun.
A conviction could result in a prison sentence ranging from 3 1/2 to 15 years.
Jacobs, who was rewarded for putting together consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons, has exchanged text messages with Burress, and he is convinced that Burress expects to be back next season.
"If he can get out of this situation that he is in, everybody prays and hopes that he doesn't go to jail, and then the sky is the limit for him," Jacobs said. "He has cleaned up, no organization problems, no off the field problems, none of that would be happening with him again.
"I don't see any of that happening because he knows how close he came to losing everything he has," Jacobs added. "I think his mind is right now and he is ready to get back out there and perform like he had been doing."
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SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:
Let’s hope that Plaxico Burress can turn his life around, folks, because he really is a superstar as a NFL receiver, and really can be a difference-maker for the New York Giants, when he is right.