Burress not green with envy over missed time due to his mistakes

Plaxico Burress is ready to line-up as a wide receiver for the New York Jets, especially when on Saturday they play his old team, the New York Giants. 'I've moved on,' he says.

Plaxico Burress, right, is starting to catch on with his new team, the New York Jets.
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FLORHAM PARK, New Jersey // Plaxico Burress walked into the New York Giants' training facility a few weeks ago and saw a familiar face.

There he was, in a larger-than-life picture hanging on a wall, making the catch that beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl in 2008. His Giants' career and NFL future was in doubt less than a year later.

"There's no anger toward anybody over there," said the wide receiver, now on the Jets' side of the New York-New Jersey area rivalry. "Everything that happened to me, I brought it upon myself."

Some fans and media said the Giants had a good chance of going back to the Super Bowl before Burress was jailed, after he accidentally shot himself in a nightclub, and was later released by the club. They finished 12-4, but lost to Philadelphia in the divisional round of the play-offs.

"We had a really good team, there's no doubt about it," he said. "We definitely had some special players. We had a good thing going. It's unfortunate that everything happened the way that it did. I've moved on."

No longer in blue, Burress is catching passes in green these days - but still wearing that familiar No 17 - and will play his former team Saturday night.

"There's not any extra added incentive or juice or whatever you want to call it," he said. "It's a pre-season game. I have a lot of work to do, personally, as far as me getting better and contributing to this football team." His former teammates know better.

"All of us are competitors," said Jason Tuck, the Giants' defensive end, "and I'm sure he is going to try to make a splash."

Elsewhere, the NFL has decided to experiment with an eighth on-field official during a dozen pre-season games. A deep judge, stationed in the middle of the field behind the secondary, also was used in eight exhibition games in 2010.

There is no timetable for making the position permanent.

The league has not added an on-field official since 1978, when the NFL was a run-orientated league, and there is some thought another official would help a crew's ability to call games. There are currently seven on the field and two handling replays in each crew.