Jets Plaxico Burress rips Coughlin, Mayor and NY fans

Brian Costello of the New York Post reports on an upcoming article featuring New York Jets WR Plaxico Burress and his opinions of New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, the fans of New York and Mayor Bloomberg.

Enjoy.

Burress takes direct aim at

Coughlin, Manning and fans

By BRIAN COSTELLO

Plaxico Burress fires shots at more than himself in an explosive interview to be published next week.

The Jets wide receiver blasts Giants coach Tom Coughlin and quarterback Eli Manning as well as the team’s management, fans who celebrated his incarceration and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the October issue of Men’s Journal, which hits newsstands on Sept. 16.

Burress’ biggest target is Coughlin, the coach he butted heads with for four years with the Giants. When Burress shot himself accidentally in the leg in November 2008, he said Coughlin showed no concern.

“After my situation happened, I turned on the TV, and the first words out his mouth was ‘sad and disappointing,’ ” Burress said. “I’m like, forget support — how about some concern? I did just have a bullet in my leg. And then I sat in his office, and he pushed back his chair and goes, ‘I’m glad you didn’t kill anybody!’ Man, we’re paid too much to be treated like kids. He doesn’t realize that we’re grown men and actually 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 the league, the Raheem Morrises and Rex Ryans — when their player makes a mistake, 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 one time when he tried to talk a player through not having a day he was having.”

The interview was done shortly after Burress was released from prison in June after serving nearly two years on weapons charges. Since then, he met with Coughlin and other members of the Giants during a visit to their offices in July when he was a free agent. Burress signed a one-year, $3.017 million with the Jets days later.

Judging from his remarks to Men’s Journal, it seems like any reunion between Burress and the Giants was never really going to happen. He said he was saddened by the way Manning treated him when he was in prison.

“I was always his biggest supporter, even days he wasn’t on, ’cause I could sense he didn’t have thick skin,” Burress said. “Then I went away, and I thought he would come see me, but nothing, not a letter, in two years. I don’t want to say it was a slap in the face, but I thought our relationship was better than that.”

Burress will always have a place in Giants history for his game-winning catch in Super Bowl XLII, but he does not have fond memories of how he was treated that season when he dealt with injuries that prevented him from practicing.

“It was hurtful that they didn’t have the courage [after the season] to admit they told me not to practice all year,” Burress said. “They let the media tear me apart, saying I was dogging practice, that I wasn’t a team player, all this [stuff]. The players thought I was pissing on ’em, and Coach Coughlin hated it because he was out of the loop: The orders came from upstairs. And meanwhile, he’s on the sideline cursing me out ’cause I got a ball punched out against Green Bay. I just stared at him like, ‘Are you out of your [bleeping] mind? I got a separated shoulder and can’t run!’ ”

Burress said he was treated like an “axe murderer” in prison, confined to a 23-hour lockdown. In prison, he said he received cruel letters.

“I was a human pincushion; they were like, ‘Yeah, we finally got you, mother[bleeper!]’ “ he said. “On the cover of the New York Post, it said ‘GIANT IDIOT’! and I’m thinking, ‘Damn, I went and gave ’em what they wanted. I’m just another gun-toting, famous black athlete.’ ”

Burress taunts the fans who took pleasure in his confinement.

“What are you doing now?” he said. “You still mad at your job? You still angry about your life? ’Cause I’m back living my life and enjoying my family while you’re still doing the same thing.”

Burress also spoke about his feelings toward Bloomberg after the mayor publicly called for him to be harshly punished after the incident.

“The way Bloomberg treated me was totally wrong, stacked those charges so high I had to go to jail,” Burress said.

They just don’t get it

Plaxico Burress sounds an awful lot like LeBron James did after the NBA Finals when he talks about fans getting joy out of his problems:

Plax on fans who “took pleasure” in his confinement:

“What are you doing now? You still mad at your job? You still angry about your life? ’Cause I’m back living my life and enjoying my family while you’re still doing the same thing.”

LeBron on fans who cheered when the Heat lost in the NBA finals:

“All the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. I’m going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that.”