T-Rock's Take on the Giants

Just got back from the locker room and Tom Coughlin's press conference.

Here's part of what Coughlin had to say about Burress' suspension.

"I think we are all saddened by it. But we want to make sure the message is loud and clear. We have had success here because of the team concept. And the team concept means basically that everyone is accountable and responsible and that we don’t let other guys down. And that is what we are trying to do. We are trying to acknowledge one of our guys had a violation of a team rule and we want to bring him back on very good terms. We try to do this the right way."

Coughlin wouldn't say who would take Burress' spot in the lineup, but Domenik Hixon was out there lining up opposite of Amani Toomer during the portion of practice that was open to the media. Eli Manning kind of alluded to Hixon getting the nod when he was asked if he was mad at Burress.

"My job is to get ready for Seattle," Manning said. "I don't have any bad feelings. When he gets back, we will come back and we will get going again. But for Seattle, we will have a new guy. We will have Hixon playing 'X' and obviously he has proved that he can make plays and can do a good job for us."

We dialed up Burress' agent, Drew Rosenhaus, on the phone for a conference call and Rosenhaus would not go into the reason why Burress failed to properly communicate with the team. He was asked why Burress was not around Monday. Tuesday was a regularly scheduled off day.

"It’s a private matter and it has to do with Plax and his family," Rosenhaus said. "He had some responsibility that he needed to take care of as it relates to his family. The most unfortunate thing here is there was a lack of communication. In talking to Plax, he feels bad about that obviously and it’s something that we can’t do anything about now."

Rosenhaus went on to say that he's contacted the NFLPA to file a grievance because he thinks the penalty is excessive and wants Burress reinstated ASAP.

"We have to respect their decision, but we don’t agree with it. And as a result we have spoken to the NFL Players Association and Richard Bertlesen, the executive director and we’ve consulted with them and asked if we can request an immediate hearing to get Plaxico reinstated. Although we do acknowledge that there was an infraction here and a violation of team rules, it’s not something that we think is tantamount for Plaxico being suspended from the team for these two weeks, especially the ball game."

This bears watching.