The Pittsburgh Steelers have had many excellent wide receivers over the years and former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger teamed up with many of them to win countless numbers of games. One of those excellent receivers was Plaxico Burress.
Burress, who played college football for Michigan State, was selected by the Steelers in the first round, eighth overall, in the 2000 NFL Draft. He played with the Steelers for five seasons and racked up 261 receptions for 4,164 yards and 22 touchdowns. Burress, and his teammate Hines Ward, set records as Pittsburgh's first pair of 1,000-yard receivers.
Burress left the Steelers in 2005 for the New York Giants. He performed well and helped them beat the New England Patriots during Super Bowl XLII 17-14. He ended up sitting out of practices during training camp in 2008, believing he was not being paid commensurate with other outstanding receivers in the NFL.
While it never got to Antonio Brown's level of chaos, it did seem like controversy and drama were good friends with Burress. He was fined by the league for a violation of the team's rules and handed a suspension. That wasn't his first or only suspension either. The Steelers had also suspended him for skipping a Monday practice. Later he was fined for other forms of negative behavior including slapping a referee, unsportsmanlike conduct, and making derogatory comments during a postgame press conference.
Later that same year, Burress was in trouble again, this time over a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He shot himself in the thigh while at a club in New York City. The Giants suspended Burress for the last four games of the season. He was found guilty of two felony charges for the incident. He spent 20 months in prison in New York.
After his release, he signed a one-year contract with the New York Jets. In 2012, he returned to the Steelers after their two starting receivers were injured. It was the first time Burress had caught a ball from Roethlisberger since 2004. He wound up with a shoulder injury in 2013 and was placed on the injured reserve list. Now Burress is reliving some memories from his time in Pittsburgh.
Steelers' Burress Talks About How Ben Roethlisberger Helped Him Out
Burress recently appeared on The Carton Show, which is hosted by Craig Carton, and was asked about his time in the NFL. Carton asked if any of the quarterbacks he had worked with had ever offered to help him meet any goals he had for the season, like the number of catches or yards.
"I had a situation where we were playing in Buffalo, I think it was Week 14, we were 15-1 in '04. It was pouring down rain, and I went to Ben and was like, 'Look dawg, I need 5 catches and I get like $650,000,'" chuckles Burress.
In 2004, the Steelers had an incredible run. They were 15-1, losing only the Week 2 game to the Baltimore Ravens. As Burress recounts, Head Coach Bill Cowher had already warned the starters that he was going to sit them ahead of the playoffs since they had already locked up home-field advantage and a first-round bye.
"We were only playing two series, the coach had told us that. We would call a run play, and we would get to the line of scrimmage, and Ben would just look at me *raises eyebrows* and just throw the ball at me. So I caught like five balls for three yards. After I caught the fifth ball, we came to the sideline and Ben was like, 'You owe me.'"
The game in which Burress must be referring to is the Week 16 game against the Ravens. This was the last game in which all of the regular starters played. In the last game of the season, neither Roethlisberger nor Burress played.
Look, I can't remember what I had for lunch last week, let alone the specific numbers of something I did nearly 20 years ago. Even with a few of the details getting fuzzy, it is still a fantastic story and one that brings back amazing memories of an incredible season!
Do you remember the 2004 season? What did you think about the run the Steelers were on that year? Where do you stand on Burress as a Steelers "great?" Click to
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