Plaxico Burress Report Card: How Did Jets WR Perform vs. Giants?

The New York Jets made a big splash when they signed veteran wide receiver Plaxico Burress earlier this offseason. And playing in his first game in nearly three years last week against the Cincinnati Bengals, Burress was pretty darn good.

In case you missed it, Burress hauled in three catches for 66 yards and a score, showing great chemistry with Mark Sanchez—not a bad way for the veteran to kick off his 2011 campaign.

But on Monday night against the New York Giants, things didn't go quite as well for Burress. In fact, it's fair to say that both he and the Jets played a game that they are going to want to put behind them as quickly as possible.

After catching three passes in his debut against the Bengals, Burress did not catch a single pass against the Giants. That would be bad enough, but the box score shows that Sanchez targeted him four times.

So, what happened?

Well, for one, Burress didn't do a very good job of getting open. He just couldn’t get any separation, and thus didn’t give Sanchez any good windows. Because the Giants are perfectly healthy in their secondary, that's a pretty big red flag.

Additionally, Burress and Sanchez looked totally out of sync from the very start. That Sanchez was under consistent pressure is a big reason why, but the chemistry between him and Burress seemed to all but disappear. It was a step back, to say the least.

That's really all there was to it. Pretty simple, but the results speak for themselves. 

Grade: D+

Is this a concern for the Jets moving forward? I don't think so. Burress and the rest of the Jets' first-team offense may have looked really good against the Bengals, but we never should have taken that to be definitive proof that they were going to be good during the regular season too. The Jets will be good on offense, but the Greatest Show on Turf they are not.

As for Burress, I still think he's going to produce this season. But after his performance on Monday night, I think we brush aside the notion that he is going to have a comeback season for the books.