Antonio Pierce Can Now Concentrate On 2009 New York Giants Football

On Monday, former Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress was indicted on felony gun charges.

I think it's safe to safe that Plaxico Burress' career is over if he goes to jail. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has been insistent on sending Burress to jail, so it's not looking good for Burress.

But as far as Antonio Pierce goes, he was not indicted on any charges. He testified the other day on behalf for Burress. Apparently, Pierce's testimony was good enough for a grand jury and a judge to determine that charges on Pierce won't be needed.

For Giants fans, that is great news; with training camp starting, Pierce can now get back to football.

The Burress incident in New York in late November was a major distraction to the Giants and Pierce. Late in the season, Pierce looked like a distracted player.

I would be too if legal figures were questioning me about a certain incident.

But now, that is over for Pierce.

Pierce can get back to being the captain and vocal leader of the Giants defense.

Some were saying Pierce was getting too old and too slow last season, but I think the Burress incident was what caused Pierce to not play up to his expectation of play.

At 30-years-old, Pierce is still a great linebacker who hits hard, reads offensive plays and gets a ton of tackles and some sacks when blitzes.

Bottom line, Pierce is too valuable to lose on defense for the Giants.

Now that his mind is clear and he's out of any legal trouble, his focus goes back to winning football games and getting the Giants to a fifth straight playoff appearance.

Pierce is going to look to silence a lot of critics this year that dragged his name in the mud in the off-season. Some called him dumb, some called him a criminal, and some just called him stupid. Don't think Pierce forgot those comments.

Because those will add onto his motivation to be a better player in '09.