Plaxico Burress might be in a familiar setting, but the offense is brand new.
So the newest-old Steelers wide receiver knows he has to dive into offensive coordinator Todd Haley’s playbook if he’s going to make any kind of splash with Antonio Brown and Jerricho Cotchery injured.
“I’ve seen some fast, talented guys through the years, but they couldn’t grasp the mental part of the game that would allow their physical ability to show,” Burress said Wednesday, via Alan Robinson of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “If you don’t know what you’re doing out there, you can’t play. It doesn’t matter how good you are.
“So I picked up the playbook and start asking ‘Where do I need to be, what do I need to do?’”
Burress’ first phone call upon his return was to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, but it would be Charlie Batch throwing him the ball this weekend.
“There’s no doubt he can come in and do that [contribute immediately],” Batch said. “He’s not a rookie. He’s played and won in this league and the speed of the game is not going to be new to him. It’s just a matter of when you say the play and break the huddle, can he get lined up and go out there and play without thinking about it? We all know he’s capable of doing that.”
Burress caught eight touchdowns for the Jets last year, so it’s not as if it has been years since he produced. But coming in cold this week, without a training camp or much practice, and with a third-string quarterback makes it hard to imagine how much of an impact he can have.