NFL players union to file grievance over Burress's discipline

The National Football League Players Association said the New York Giants violated the NFL's collective bargaining agreement when the team suspended Plaxico Burress a day after he was charged with illegal gun possession.

Burress was suspended four games and placed on the Giants' non-football injury list, which means he can't play again this season, after allegedly shooting himself in the leg by accident. He won't receive any pay and was also fined an undisclosed amount for breaching team rules, the Giants said two days ago.

"We intend to file a grievance," the association said. "We believe that Burress's rights have been violated."

The 31-year-old Burress, who signed a five-year, $35 million contract extension in September, appeared in a New York court Dec. 1 charged with two counts of second-degree handgun possession after his weapon allegedly discharged in Manhattan's Latin Quarter nightclub on Nov. 29. Each count carries a minimum jail term of 3 1/2 years.

Burress, who was released on $100,000 bail and is scheduled to return to court March 31, scored a touchdown in February's Super Bowl on a 13-yard pass by Eli Manning with 35 seconds remaining to give the Giants a 17-14 victory over the New England Patriots.

He led the Giants with 70 catches for 1,025 yards last season, when he played most games with an ankle injury. This campaign, he has 35 catches for 454 yards and four touchdowns.

The defending Super Bowl champion Giants declined to comment on the union's plan to file a grievance.

The team said 30-year-old linebacker Antonio Pierce called Ronnie Barnes, the team's vice president of medical services, to ask where he should take the wounded player for treatment after the pair left the nightclub.

It was Barnes who suggested the New York Presbyterian Hospital, Giants spokesman Pat Hanlon said in an e-mail.

"Ronnie also wanted Plaxico to be near the Hospital for Special Surgery, which is located next door, in case his injury required any orthopedic work by our team physicians," Hanlon said.

After arriving at the hospital, Barnes discovered that Burress had been given an identification bracelet that bore an alias.

"Neither Ronnie nor the Giants had any involvement with Plaxico being admitted under a false name," Hanlon said.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin yesterday said it was time for the team, which was elevated to 11-1 with a win at the Redskins on Nov. 30, to move on and prepare for the game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 7.