“The NFLPA is still reviewing the actions taken by the New York Giants relating to Plaxico Burress but we intend to file a grievance challenging those actions as we believe that Burress’ rights have been violated under the CBA.”

"Everyone has read about Plaxico being put oin reserve/non-football injured and also being suspended for conduct detrimental to the team. When I spoke to our team Saturday morning and when I spoke to them this morning, there were two words I used. One was disappointment. Two was sadness. I think that sums it all up.

"I had a conversation with Plaxico. He was very humble. He was remorseful. Obviously it doesn’t change anything. But you have to understand that he is part of our team and our concern is with he and his family’s well-being and the ability of him to get through this circumstance and also to be healthy once again. I think our team shares that same thought and by saying that, I will answer n o questions about details or what happened or anything of that nature because believe it or not we have a football game this weekend, a very important game, which is against a very good Philadelphia Eagles team in the division …

"I am pleased with our team, with our mental toughness, with our ability to focus, with our ability to go ahead and approach the task at hand despite the circumstances that were laid in front of them Saturday morning."

Also, Antonio Pierce is here today and is practicing.

DT Leger Douzable was signed to the active roster off the practice squad. OL Mike Fladell and WR Micah Rucker have been signed to the practice squad. And OT Na'Shan Goddard was signed from the Giants' practice squad.

As for the pre-practice injury report, it includes:

Ahmad Bradshaw, neck
Jonathan Goff, hamstring
Shaun O'Hara, knee
Fred Robbins, shoulder
Corey Webster, back

Just moments earlier the Giants had informed him that they were placing him on the non-football injury list -- effectively ending his season -- and suspending him for the season's final four games for conduct detrimental to the team. He was also hit with an undisclosed fine for repeated violations of team rules.

Burress suffered a gunshot wound to his right leg in an accidental shooting early Saturday morning that resulted in him spending the night in a hospital and facing two felony charges of criminal possession of a weapon, for which he was arraigned on Monday.

Burress arrived at Giants Stadium at 9:20 Tuesday morning, pulling his van into a lot adjacent to the stadium and walking into the building without a noticeable limp. As an injured player -- he was suffering from a sore hamstring before the shooting -- he was required to show up for treatment. He spent most of the morning being examined by Giants trainers and doctors, and even took a trip to Manhattan for an MRI, before returning to Giants Stadium in the afternoon to learn his fate.

"The decision we made today regarding Plaxico's roster status was based on the examination of Plaxico by our team physician," general manager Jerry Reese said. "Dr. Rodeo believes Plaxico would be out at least four to six weeks with the gunshot wound. I had two conversations with Plaxico today, and it was obvious that he understood the magnitude of this situation. He knows that we are here to support him and help him get healthy."

The decisions end his 2008 season but leave open his future with the Giants. He could be facing a prison sentence in connection with the charges he heard on Monday. The NFL could also suspend him for his behavior.

Burress, who was there without his lawyer or his agent, also met with CEO and President John Mara and coach Tom Coughlin.

"As we have said since Saturday morning, our concern is for Plaxico's health and well-being," Mara said. "This is an important time for him to take care of his body and heal up and also deal with the very serious legal consequences and other issues in his life. When I spoke with Plaxico he expressed great remorse for letting down his teammates."

"When you lose a player of Plaxico's ability, it is incumbent that everybody step up and fill the void," Coughlin said. "In the last two seasons, this team has done an outstanding job of that. We made it clear to Plax today that we are here to support him in any way possible."

The Giants expect to fill Burress' roster spot on Wednesday. They'll likely promote wide receiver Taye Biddle from the practice squad, as they did when they suspended Burress for missing a team meeting earlier this season.

At 3:19 p.m., Plaxico Burress left Giants Stadium - five hours and 59 minutes after arriving - from the opposite end zone exit from which he arrived this morning.

Burress did not speak to reporters on the way in or on the way out.

Now it's up to the Giants to figure out what to do. The options likely do not include inviting Mr. Burress to start at wide receiver against the Eagles Sunday.

Pizzas are on the way, courtesy of Coughlin.

Coughlin was asked if it was a difficult decision to let Pierce play on Sunday given his involvement in the incident.

"We had discussions with Antonio on Saturday morning. And I felt after our conversation there really wasn’t a reason not to allow him to play."

That makes it sound as if there was some doubt that Pierce would play. Not sure if the conversation Coughlin mentions simply told him that Pierce would be focused on football or if it was about the details of the case.

Coughlin was then asked if he has any concerns going forward about Pierce and the possibility of charges filed against him.

"I don’t know what the answer to that would be. Again, I’m not in the position to say anything about that. I don’t know anything unless you know something. I’m not aware of anything."

As for Bradshaw being at the club -- and his history that includes spending a month in jail this summer for probation violation and a possible return to jail next summer to complete that sentence -- Coughlin simply said this:

"I’m disappointed, certainly."

"We are working closely with the police and NFL Security. In the early hours of Saturday morning, as we started to get a sense of what we were dealing with, we did, in fact, notify NFL Security, which then contacted the police."

Remember, as Bloomberg would tell us ... if you see something, say something!

“I have no idea about the health status," Coughlin said. "We’re dealing with all the issues right now.”

In other words, the health of his leg is no longer a deciding factor in whether or not Plaxico sees the field this week, this year, or ever again with the Giants.

A few other Coughlin soundbites:

"The New York Police Department and the NFL Security and the Commissioner’s Office are all conducting investigations and due to the nature of that obviously there’s not much that I’m going to say."

On how they’ll handle Burress' roster spot this week: “We’ve had some discussions. Those discussions will be ongoing. Basically we just put the Redskins game to rest and we’re going to be discussing those and other issues as we gain information here over the next couple of days.”

On if he expects Burress to be at practice on Wednesday: “We’re in the stages of trying to gather information and make decisions as to where we go from here. At this point in time I’m not prepared to say anything.”

And finally (in a raised voice): "I'm not saying anything more about the Burress situation. I've said what I've said and that’s it."

If you don't have volume control, he basically said that they'll miss Plaxico because he's a helluva player and that Pierce was at the wrong place at the wrong time, didn't know there was a gun until it went off, and Tuck thinks he won't miss any time on the field.

“I was shocked. At first everybody thought it was a car accident because he just told us ‘accident.’ But then when we heard that he accidentally shot himself in the leg we had a sigh of relief because he’s our teammate, he’s our brother. I heard he’s doing fine and he’s at home recuperating and hopefully we’ll get him back soon.” – Derrick Ward on how he found out

“That’s a situation that he’s gonna have to deal with. Granted he’s our teammate and we’re always going to be behind him no matter what. But we have to focus on the Eagles next week and that’s what we’re gonna do for the rest of the week.” – Ward on the distractions that loom this week

“I like him as a person, I like him as a player. I think he’s a good person. People don’t really understand how good of a person he really is. He has a big heart. He gives all the receivers gifts on Christmas, all the stuff you don’t really have to do. I think he’s a good guy.” – Amani Toomer on Burress

“We’ve been through so much and battled through a lot of storms. Even if things hadn’t gone as well as they did we wouldn’t have been blaming it on that. We knew we had to come out here and perform.” – Mathias Kiwanuka on the distraction

“I made a few jokes about the situation and he had a little humor about it and that was it. If he didn’t laugh, I knew he was going to be down, which he shouldn’t be down. It’s a mistake that happened, something that shouldn’t have happened and that’s that.” – Brandon Jacobs on his conversation with Burress

“It’s tough out there for us and a lot of people don’t know that. It’s tough out there in everyday life for us and we tolerate it. Some people are very, very bothered by it, and that’s why I stay home.” -- Jacobs on players needing to protect themselves

“There’s not enough time in the day for anger. He’s a teammate. There’s going to be enough people trying to bring him down, but we’re going to support him.” – Shaun O’Hara on if he’s angry at Burress

“It makes you focus more, it makes you really tune in because you understand that that’s what you need to do to put it out of your mind.” – O’Hara on playing through distractions

“To be honest we don’t think about it or talk about it when we’re at work. This team does a great job of focusing. Plaxico wasn’t playing in this game anyway, so in a way it was business as usual.” – O’Hara on the level of distraction

It was the shot heard (about) ‘round the world. Thanks to Barney Fife Plaxico Burress’ poor judgment, which led to another poor decision, which led to his Cheddar Bob moment, which might lead to him and Antonio Pierce facing legal charges, the team that was seemingly without distractions might have one. They’ve overcome injuries and some lukewarm controversies this season (mostly Burress-related), but this game will be a true test of the Giants’ focus and collective concentration. It’s already expected to be an emotionally charged contest with the Redskins honoring Sean Taylor before the game. And, though the stories parallel perpendicularly, you can expect the whole gunshot-to-the-leg thing to be played up. There’s that and the fact that Washington, at 7-4, needs this game to keep up with the Cowboys in the division.

Will Saturday’s episode affect the team? Can the Giants be the NFL version of Frank the Pug: get shot then have the wounded area reform, showing no evidence of injury? (That wasn't just an intentional pun, it was kind of a reach.)

The bright side for the Giants is the offense doesn’t rely too heavily on any one player. In the games that Eli Manning has played without Burress, he’s got a 131.8 QB rating with five touchdowns and no interceptions. His season highs in completion percentage were against the Seahawks (76%) and Cardinals (78.8%). Burress was thrown to twice against Arizona, one a completion for six yards (called back because of a penalty) and the other an incomplete deep ball.

For the year, Burress has been thrown to 66 times and he’s got 35 catches for 454 yards and four scores. He is/was in the midst of his least productive season since 2004. In contrast, Steve Smith has caught 71% of the balls thrown to him, Amani Toomer has caught 59%, and Domenik Hixon has caught 75% of his 28 chances. Obviously, none of them is as big a threat, draws as much attention from a secondary or is as imposing as the 6-5 Burress, but they have been more consistent than him and Manning does have a rapport with them. And, for this game, the Giants were going to be without the wideout anyway.

But the Redskins certainly aren’t a pushover. They’ve got the fourth-best pass defense, giving up just 182.7 yards per game and just 12 touchdowns through the air. Quarterbacks have combined for a 73.2 rating against them. And it’s not that they haven’t been tested. Teams are throwing, on average, 31.9 times per game against them. They’ve also got the seventh-ranked rush defense (89.3 yards, 3.9 per carry).

Their offense, with Clinton Portis leading the league in rushing (1,206) and Jason Campbell having grown into one of the most efficient game-managers in the league with a 64.1 completion percentage and just three interceptions in 340 attempts, likely won't look as inept as it did in the Giant's 16-7 win in the season opener.

1st Quarter
- Touchdown Giants. Toomer scores from 40 yards out on the Giants' first drive, 3:04 into the game. He beat Fred Smoot on a go route up the right sideline and Manning floated it beyond the coverage, giving Toomer a chance to run under the ball. The drive went 71 yards on seven plays. 7-0, Giants.
- Field goal Giants. Carney connects from 31 yards. The Giants, on a drive that went 67 yards on 11 plays, reached the Redskins' 3, but stalled (Manning was sacked by Anthony Montgomery on third down) and had to settle for a field goal. 10-0, Giants.

2nd Quarter
- Field goal Giants. Carney hits 38 yards at 12:06, capping the 6-play, 60-yard drive. 13-0, Giants.
- Touchdown Redskins. Devin Thomas scored on a 29-yard end-around. The Giants overpursued on the handoff to the back and a great block by Santana Moss sprung Thomas up the right sideline for the score at 8:40. The big play, besides that, was the interception by Corey Webster that was negated because of his "hands to the face" penalty. 13-7, Giants.

Halftime: 13-7
The Giants have moved the ball with relative ease, but have failed twice in the red zone. They took the lead on the first drive on Manning's 40-yard touchdown to Toomer, then got two John Carney fields goals after stalled drives in the red zone. The Redskins took advantage of the Giants' overaggressive defense and beat them around the corner on an end-around to Devin Thomas. Ten Giants defenders bit on the fake handoff and Thomas was able to beat the secondary to the end zone for a 29-yard run. Washington missed a field goal at the end of the half.

3rd Quarter
Touchdown Giants. Brandon Jacobs hurdled into the end zone (didn't Earth tell T-Rock after the Eagles game that he was going to stay earthbound?) from a yard out at 8:37. The big play on the drive was his 23-yard run. His first long run of the day (he's now got 12 carries for 40 yards). The drive went eight plays and netted 48 yards. 20-7, Giants.

4th Quarter
Field goal Giants. Carney hit from 39 yards at 6:31. The drive went 18 yards on six plays. 23-7, Giants.

Final: 23-7, Giants
With the win, the Giants improve to 11-1 and keep pace with the Titans for best record in the NFL. The Redskins fall to 7-5, a full four games out of first place in the NFC East.
Manning, who had his first 300-yard game since October 2007, went 21-for-34 with 305 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Jacobs carried 21 times for 71 yards and a touchdown. Ward had five catches for 75 yards and Toomer was the leading receiver with 5 catches for 85 yards and the game's first touchdown.

The attorney for Plaxico Burrress emerged from the Giants wide receiver’s Totowa, N.J., home Sunday morning and said Burress was cooperating with authorities and will surrender himself to New York police “when requested.”
Benjamin Brafman’s comments were the first words from the Burress camp since the Super Bowl star accidentally shot himself in the thigh at a Manhattan night club early Saturday morning. Burress has been holed up in his house since being released from a Manhattan hospital Saturday afternoon.
The Giants are in Washington on Sunday to play the Redskins in a 1 p.m. start.
Said Brafman said: “We are in contact with the New York City police department and the New York City District Attorney’s office, making arrangements for Mr. Burress to address these legal issues as early as tomorrow [Monday]. He will responsibly address these issues in short order.
“Yes, he's addressing this in a serious, professional manner. He's an adult. He recognizes that there are legal issues that he's going to have to deal with and we intend to do this as responsibly and expeditiously as possible.

WR Plaxico Burress
K Lawrence Tynes
CB Sam Madison
RB Ahmad Bradshaw
LB Jonathan Goff
OL Adam Koets
DE Jerome McDougle
DE Fred Robbins

McDougle was listed as probably on the injury report. Looks like we'll have another league investigation!