FanHouse Shaun OHara

Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews. " We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

In 2007, the New York Giants found a way to peak at the right time. After barely making the playoffs, Eli Manning led his charges on an amazing ride, one that included three straight road wins and an upset of the previously unbeaten Patriots in the Super Bowl. 2008 wasn't so great for the Giants. A nightclub shooting took out their best receiver, crippled the passing game, and left the team vulnerable for the Philadelphia Eagles, who ended their season in the NFC Divisional Playoff.

More bad news for die-hard NFL fans: The players are being told to save a quarter of their salaries from the next two seasons in anticipation of not making any money in 2011. That's right, the NFL Players Association is openly preparing for a football-less Fall in 2011.

Now, it's pretty easy to say the players should be saving their money anyway. After all, most players are retired before their mid-30s and should have at least half their life remaining. Sure, you can find work in your mid-30s and make a sound living, but if you consider how much money these players make, they really shouldn't ever have to work again. Furthermore, this plan is not necessarily a sure thing the players will be locked out; it could simply be a case of the association reminding its members to be careful.

The AFC and NFC Pro Bowlers were announced a short while ago, and why make some pointless comment you are sure not to laugh at when we can just give you the rosters instead? Here goes.

Think back to the 2007 Patriots season. Spygate, win after dominant win, and even a little chatter from the media about Bill Belichick running up the score on some less-fortunate teams. How did that team handle the multitude of questions from the media? Well, by never really returning the punches swung at them.

Now look at this 2008 New York Giants team. A Super Bowl ring, a 4-0 start and now being dogged by a member of the 1-3 Cleveland Browns. The Giants have decided that the best response to the talk of "knocking (Brandon Jacobs) head off" and "There ain't nothing physical about (their offensive line)" is to follow the Pats' professionalism and just let their game walk the walk.

"Not me anymore," said Jacobs, no longer taking the verbal bait, instead accepting cues from center Shaun O'Hara.

"The best statement you can make is walking off the field a winner," said O'Hara. "I can honestly say I never won a game because of bulletin board material or lost a game because of bulletin board material. You have to play the game. It makes for great TV and great drama for those not involved, but in the end it's all just hype."

The last time we heard from Plaxico Burress he was bucking for a promotion, but he figured to have a new deal by training camp. That was June 19. Eighteen days later and the Giants wideout sounds more certain than ever that he won't need hold out to prove a point.

"I'm getting good feedback," Burress told The Post about a new deal. "I think it's going to get done. I'm not concerned about it. I don't want to go anywhere, I'm happy here in New York, I just want to make sure I'm here for a long time." Asked his certainty about signing a new contract before camp, Burress said "No question."

Shaun O'Hara must be beside himself.

I think most people feel Burress has outplayed the six-year, $25 million deal he signed three years ago. I'm sure none of that matters to the organization, although it sounds like the two sides are at least working towards ... something.

That said, even if Burress has to get by on a deal that averages $6 million per, and he does sit out camp, it's hardly a big deal: He spent most of last season nursing a sore ankle, regularly missing practice, only to show up on Sunday and play well.

The optimistic Giants fan can look at this as a way to keep Burress fresh late into the season. How the front office placates Jeremy Shockey is the bigger issue, I think. Tiki Barber disagrees -- he says everything will work itself out once the season starts.

Hat tip: Mr. Alper on PFT

Leave it to Tiki Barber to be the voice of reason when it comes to the New York Giants. The former Pro Bowl running back-turned-NBC NFL studio analyst makes pretty much the same argument philosopher Lawrence Taylor made when discussing Jason Taylor's football future: when the games start, all the offseason silliness won't matter.

So far this spring, Jeremy Shockey (random fits of anger), Plaxico Burress (wants a new deal), Shaun O'Hara (wants Burress to not be so selfish about wanting a new deal), Ahmad Bradshaw (currently in the can), and Jared Lorenzen (chubby, unemployed) have all made news for non-football-related reasons. Not to worry, though:

"This is the business of the sport," Barber told The Post. "Once football starts it's [all about] football." ...

"I don't think [Burress' contract demands] matter ... As we saw last year with Michael [Strahan, who skipped training camp], people thought it was going to be a big issue and it turned out not to be. I don't think, come Sundays in the fall, it matters too much to players."

Can't disagree with any of that. And Tiki, who questioned Eli Manning's leadership skillz almost a year ago, even had some nice things to say about the handsomest dude in the Manning family:

"He's always been [a leader] who it didn't matter what people thought of him, it only mattered how he could grow," Barber said. "When I was there you could see him growing. People will still doubt him at some point during the year, but he can know in his mind and his heart, 'I've done it already, so I can do it again.' "

See, we can all get along.

Good news: not only does Plaxico Burress plan to be at Giants training camp, he actually thinks he'll do more than watch. Okay, he didn't make any promises about actually practicing (the "work one day a week" philosophy was pretty successful last season), but he does think that he and the organization can come to terms on a contract extension.

"Honestly, I think my situation is going to be rectified before training camp," Burress told WIP host Ike Reese, according to NJ.com. "I'm not going to worry about it, but I did state that I was unhappy with my current situation with my contract. It'll be worked out."

Shaun O'Hara's response: I'm still going to kick his ass when I see him again. O'Hara didn't really say that, although he wasn't all that jazzed about Burress sitting out mandatory minicamp last week to protest his current contract.

Burress, who signed with the Giants prior to the 2005 season, feels he's now worth more than the six-year, $25 million deal his inked three years ago. When Javon Walker is pulling down six years, $55 million, he might have a point.

The New York Post writes that general manager Jerry Reese, when not getting yelled at by Jeremy Shockey, asked Burress if he wanted to stay in New York.

"I don't want to go anywhere. I made that very evident," Burress said. "If I wanted to go somewhere else or if I didn't want to be there, I would have let that be known, too.

Translation: "I like New York ... and I'll love it if you give me a new deal. Oh, and, yeah, let's win another championship!"

Yesterday Plaxico Burress announced his intentions to show up for practice but not participate until he gets a new deal. In 2005, he signed a six-year, $25 million deal, and three years later, I think it's fair to say he's outplayed it. Whether that means the Giants are interested in renegotiating is altogether different.

While the to two sides work out their differences, Burress' teammate, center Shaun O'Hara, offered his thoughts on the situation:

O'Hara criticized receiver Plaxico Burress on Thursday for refusing to practice until he gets a new contract and reminded teammates that the Giants won their third Super Bowl by sticking together as a team when things got tough last season.

"Either you are with us or you are against us," O'Hara said between practices. "And I think the players are doing a good job of focusing in on their daily tasks and their jobs, and as long as we all continue to do that, this team will succeed."

I can't disagree with the sentiment, but the last time a public figure gave the "either you are with us or you are against us" speech, everything went to hell. Whatever, Burress doesn't like how the Giants do business, and that has everything to do with the stance he's taking:

Although Baltimore Ravens kicker Matt Stover appears to be in the minority when he says it's time to start looking for a successor to NFL Players Association Executive Director Gene Upshaw, he's definitely not the only one.

Stover backed off comments he had made about Upshaw in an e-mail message to fellow union leaders, but now Giants center Shaun O'Hara, his team's representative in the players' union, is also questioning Upshaw's leadership. From Pro Football Talk:

"I've been defending him for years, and he's not helping us," O'Hara said, according to Paul Schwartz of the New York Post.

"I personally don't have a problem with Gene Upshaw and his ability to negotiate CBAs and this next upcoming extension," O'Hara said. "His knowledge and his 25 years of service can be nothing but a benefit for us so I would hate to lose his services and his knowledge when the time comes for us to work on this new deal. I think there are some players who are disappointed with the way he's reacted to them and with some of the comments he's made. Whether we can put those personal problems aside and focus on what's really important, that's yet to be determined."

Upshaw is not likely to leave this year, but there appears to be growing disapproval among the union membership. And the union members are, after all, his bosses. Upshaw can't feel great about his job security right now.