ALBANY — The blow hard who once sounded a blowhorn to drown out media questions about the 80 points allowed by his team over two games has the Giants at his back. If it is hard to always appreciate Antonio Pierce’s self-appreciation, the Giants still see him as a great deflector and, ultimately, an exemplary teammate.
PIERCE HAS FEW REGRETS FOR TRYING TO HELP PLAXICO
“A guy here to serve, comes in with the right purpose, always thinking outside the box about the big picture,” coach Tom Coughlin said of Pierce yesterday. “Just being a good friend, that’s what it is.”
Certainly Pierce was the best friend Plaxico Burress ever could have had at the Latin Quarter, for the very reasons why the middle linebacker remains unapologetic for hiding the gun that had gone off in the wee hours, just 36 hours before a game.
“I thought I acted very reasonably, responsibly and instinctively,” said Pierce in his first comments since being cleared Monday by a grand jury. “I had a teammate in need and that was my concern, to get help. I am not sorry for how I acted that night, nor for how I responded. I am sorry for putting myself in position of having to respond.
“I am tired of seeing myself on the TV and hearing my name on the TV. It’s time to talk about the New York Giants and the 2009 season. Anything that happened in 2008 is really irrelevant at this point. I don’t have anything to say about that incident and that season.”
Here was 2008 in a nutshell: After Burress shot himself in the thigh, the defending champions ultimately shot themselves in the foot. The second of two Giants Stadium losses to the Eagles in six weeks ended a season that had started 11-1. And if the killer was the third-and-20 completion by Donovan McNabb in the third quarter of their playoff game, the Giants were never the same after Pierce was twice embarrassed by Michael Westbrook for touchdowns during the regular-season loss.
Pierce was not the Pro Bowl player he had been in 2006 or during the Super Bowl run, justifying the Giants’ decision not to include him in contract spoils collected by Brandon Jacobs, David Diehl, Justin Tuck, Shaun O’Hara and Corey Webster. Though two seasons remain on the six-year, $26 million deal with which the Giants signed him away from the Redskins in 2005, Pierce probably has just this year to prove that, at soon-to-be 31, his skills can keep up with his brain for the game.
There was a reason Pierce was not one of the 25 linebackers taken in the 2001 draft, just like there is a reason he has managed to survive all but three of them. In fact, it’s pretty much the same reason he takes maniacal delight in counting their departures from the NFL. Pierce stands 6-foot-1, Napoleonic by linebacker standards, and has the complex to match, working as hard to promote himself as he does to prepare himself, which is very hard indeed.
He would make a good coach someday, in the likely event he doesn’t make it as an all-time beloved Giant, with a spot inside New York’s velvet rope for life. Unless, of course, after last Nov. 29, he no longer wants inside.
“There are lessons I learned from this,” Pierce said. “I take them to my heart and take them seriously, obviously.”
We’ll see about that, as we learn whether he can still play at a level high enough to keep him a Giant. After backing him through this ordeal, his teammates mean more to him than ever. Now Pierce has to prove still worth their while.