GIANT NOTES
Plaxico Burress said he wasn’t surprised at all that Tiki Barber is planning on retiring after this season. Just being around him and listening to him, Burress said, it became clear that’s where Barber was headed.
Will it be a distraction that the Giants’ career rushing leader is not going to be around in 2007?
“He’s been one of the most prolific backs in NFL history, if that’s something he chooses to do, hey, let’s all rally around each other and let that be a motivation for us, not a distraction,” Burress said. “It doesn’t distract me at all. We’re all professionals, we all know the job at hand. It doesn’t worry me that he’s not committed to us as a player on a Super Bowl team, because you can see the way he approaches the game, the way he practices, the way he is around the locker room, he wants to win football games. When he’s talking about not being here next year he’s talking about after the season. He’s going to be ready to play.”
Cornerback R.W. McQuarters had a different initial thought when he heard of Barber’s exit following this season: “I need to get me a jersey,” McQuarters said, “so he can sign it.”
Barber yesterday reiterated that his decision to leave should not have shaken the Giants or their fans.
“If you’ve ever listened to me, you know I’ve said it before,” Barber said.
As far as hurting the team with the timing of this commotion, five games into the season and days before the Giants face the arch-rival Cowboys in Dallas, Barber said, “This is personal. This has nothing to do with what we’re going to do for the next 11 weeks.”
Is his decision to retire 100 percent set in stone? “It’s week six of the NFL season, so I won’t say that,” Barber said.
Asked about Barber’s plans, Tom Coughlin said, “I just think this: Tiki is an excellent football player, an integral part of our team. He’s a guy who is extremely well-prepared. He’s a guy who has constantly talked to me this year about winning, about winning now. We’ll deal in the present and deal with those other things when in fact it’s time to.”
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S Gibril Wilson, who missed last week’s game in Atlanta after he had his right big toe nail ripped off during practice, was not on the field yesterday. He did run on the side. “Hopefully we’ll get the green light for him to go tomorrow, but we’ll see,” Coughlin said. . . . WR Amani Toomer did not practice because of a sore calf; he’s listed as probable.
