Jets’ Burress Practices Despite Back Injury
Added on Aug 24, 2011 by Jack Thurman in
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The New York Jets’ recently acquired wide receiver Plaxico Burress is reportedly nursing a sprained ankle and sore back–but practiced anyway on Wednesday. Based on eyewitness reports, he showed little sign of injury as he got involved on offense and even did some work on special teams.
His head coach, Rex Ryan, had emphasized that Burress might be limited in the Jets’ preseason game against the New York Jets earlier in the day. Despite this, Burress minimized the significance of his ailments:
“It’s part of football. And getting banged up and bruised, you got to expect this to happen. It’s not like walking to the 7-Eleven and buying a Slurpee. It’s a little more physical than that.”
Ryan stressed that Burress would most likely play against the Giants–his former team quipping:
“If he can’t play we’ll definitely let someone else tell him that.”
Ryan also noted that his injuries wouldn’t be serious enough to keep him out of a regular season game:
“If we’re playing a real game, he’s going to play.”
Quarterback Mark Sanchez isn’t concerned about Burress’ status. Asked if he was worried about the injury situation he quickly dismissed the question:
“No. He’s fine.”
Burress suffered the ankle sprain earlier in training camp and although it did limit him in practice it hasn’t kept him out of game action. He caught a touchdown pass in the Jets’ last game. With Burress unlikely to see much playing time in the final week of the NFL preseason the expectation is that he’ll be back to 100% by the time the regular season starts.
Burress was released from prison earlier this year after serving a trumped up weapons charge incurred when he accidentally shot himself in the thigh with his own gun. Obviously the fact that Burress played with the Giants until the shooting incident in 2008 adds an even greater degree of acrimony to an already intense rivalry. NFL betting odds have the Jets installed as a -2′ point favorite with the total set at 36′. The Jets will begin their regular season on Sunday, September 11th when they host the Dallas Cowboys in a nationally televised prime time game from the Meadowlands. In that contest the Jets are -4′ point favorites over the Cowboys with the total set at 41.
