First and foremost, the legal issues that Plaxico faces from gun charges in NY are the most important factor in any team signing him, the Bucs or anyone else for that matter.  I have read lately that his lawyers are trying to reach a plea deal with the district attorney’s office.  Let us also assume for this that Plaxico ends up with a probation and community service type of plea bargain and serves no actual jail time. 

Regardless of his eventual deal with the state/district attorney’s office, Plax is almost certain to face some punishment from Commisioner Roger Goodell.  Burress is most likely looking at somewhere in between 4 and 8 games.  Let’s say he ends up with an 8 game suspension, stays on good behavior and gets his suspension cut to 6 games.  

The availability of a player who had such an impact on a team winning the Super Bowl two years ago is something that every team would be looking at if Burress wasn’t such a head case.  He is though, and that is something that every team, including the Bucs would need to take into consideration if they were to sign him.  His production on the field though, can not be disputed.  In 3 full seasons with the NY Giants, him and Eli Manning connected for 29 touchdowns.  Everyone just assumed that Eli Manning had become a great quarterback during this time, but with Burress out last year, Manning looked average, and in my opinion, that’s is just what he is.  Burress ability to stretch the defense vertically on go routes, run routes to perfection, catch just about anything thrown his way and mostly his ability to be a huge redzone target was key to the so called “progression” of Eli Manning.  

If the Bucs plan is to let Luke McCown or Byron Leftwich handle the QB duties this year while rookie Josh Freeman learns the ropes, than signing Burress to me seems to be a no brainer.  The tandem of Antonio Bryant and Burress coupled with the arm strength of both McCown and Leftwich would make our offense downright scary.  Add in the deep running back corps, Kellen Winslow and our young impressive line, and the Bucs would have the chance to be a top tier offensive team.   I think everyone is overexaggerating the loss of the older players on our defense, because if I remember correctly, most of the pundits felt this was our downfall defensively last season.  We have old guys and we are too old, we get rid of them, and now most people think we have no defense.  Our secondary is one of the young bright secondaries in the league.  Barrett Ruud, Quincy Black/Angelo Crowell and Jermaine Phillips/Geno Hayes is a more than competent group of linebackers and if the defensive line can get some more pressure on the QB we have the chance to be as good as we have at any point during the last decade. People forget that until we lost to the Panthers in Week 14, the Bucs were the number 2 ranked defense in the league.  

On the other hand, if the plan is for Freeman to play, I think this would be a terrible signing by us.  I loved how Antonio Bryant behaved last year, but the combination of Bryant, Winslow and Burress is a frightening thought for me in regards to a rookie QB and his psyche.  Three guys who demand the ball and aren’t afraid to act out when they don’t get their way isn’t really the way you want to “raise” a quarterback in this league.  

It’s an interesting pickle for our team in all honesty, and one if it were to happen, will probably tell you the direction in which the front office and the new coaching staff feel this team is headed for the upcoming season.

A hilarious prayer from my second favorite Bucs blog, Bucstats.com!  If this doens’t make you laugh, you need to go sit on a long couch and talk out your problems. 

Lord, it’s us, the Buccaneer faithful. First, we’d like to give thanks for a 9-4 season so far. We’re not exactly sure why you saw fit to give DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart their own personal force fields Monday night, but we’re sure you had your reasons. It was probably something Ronde said, right?

And we’d also like to thank you for the Detroit Lions, who are three games away from lifting the burden of being the worst team in NFL history from the Buccaneers. Bestowing Matt Millen on Detroit was a stroke of divine genius that not only shows us your ultimate wisdom, but that even you love a good train wreck. But now, we need your help once more.

For some reason, you have decided to cripple Jeff Garcia’s feminine and bird-like legs yet again. Maybe you thought he was becoming too prideful of his legs. He was always jumping around in the pocket even when there was no pass rush, almost flaunting his gift of elusiveness in front of the world. So we get that he might have had to get taken down a peg. But now your almost-creepily-loyal disciple, Luke McCown, is in danger of taking the field in Atlanta, and we know you have plans for using him in the future. We appreciate the steps you have already taken to perpetuate balance in the game by injuring John Abraham’s thigh, and are grateful you didn’t let the fact that he is named after two of your favorite dudes sway you. But Abraham has been known to play through pain before and this is a very important game. So, please Lord, we humbly ask that you smite John Abraham’s thigh.

Really get in there and twist some shit around. Make those muscle fibers look like a plate of spaghetti. Or you could even have your servant Plaxico Burress pay him a fully-armed visit. In the interest of good sportsmanship and fairness, we think it’s the right thing to do. It’s not like we’re asking for a swarm of locusts to engulf and devour him. Please save that for Drew Rosenhaus. Amen.

It seems like Chris Hovan and Jovan Haye are doing everything in their power to be ready for this weekends game.  They both have been limited in practice this week as well. 

“My mentality is to get ready to play,” said Hovan. “We’re going to work at it this week, and whatever Coach Gruden feels, he feels.”

“We have to be fundamentally sound in our gaps, and given the opportunity we have to tackle,” said Hovan. “Those two backs in Carolina are great, and the guys in Atlanta are great. The onus is to wrap up and tackle. We missed way too many tackles on Monday night. It was very unlike Buc football. We know what we did wrong, but we’re not going to get down because this game in Atlanta is a big one.”