Erzengel
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I was a bit surprised, now I guess Tuck will have to lead that Defense.
The Giants released middle linebacker Antonio Pierce on Thursday, jettisoning a player who helped them win a Super Bowl three seasons ago but who came to symbolize the defense’s downfall last season.
Pierce, who signed as a free agent in 2005 from the Washington Redskins, was the heart of a defense that helped the team win Super Bowl XLII, but his production diminished in 2008 and 2009. His 2009 season ended when he was placed on injured reserve on Nov. 30 with a bulging disk in his neck. He had a year remaining on his contract.
“A. P. came right in and took the bull by the horns from Day 1 and was very instrumental in helping the New York Giants win a lot of games and accomplishing a lot of our goals during his time here,” Giants General Manager Jerry Reese said in a statement. “He has been an outstanding Giant, and we wish him nothing but the best for his family and future.”
Pierce was the team’s defensive captain and led the team in tackles in three of his five seasons with the Giants.
“He demonstrated great leadership,” Coach Tom Coughlin said in a statement. “He has been an outstanding football player. Think of the screen play against Green Bay in the N.F.C. championship game and the tremendous play that he made. Had he not made that play, who knows where that ball would have gone.”
Pierce said in a statement released by the Giants that he had only good feelings about his time with the team and that his role as a leader was important to him.
“I wanted to be a guy who always led by example, a guy you could count on every day,” Pierce said. “You never had to worry if A. P. was going to be at practice or if he was going to show up for the game. I was going to be there.”
Pierce, 31, was embroiled for a time in the legal case of Plaxico Burress. Pierce was with Burress at the Latin Quarter nightclub in Manhattan late in the 2008 season when Burress’s loaded handgun discharged, striking him in the leg. Pierce testified before a grand jury that indicted Burress because he drove Burress to a hospital after the shooting and took Burress’s gun back to New Jersey later that night. The grand jury decided against indicting Pierce. Burress is serving a two-year prison term.
Pierce returned to the Giants, but although he remained a locker room leader, his play never reached his previous level. Last season, the Giants were 13th in the league in total defense. They gave up 38 or more points in three of their last four games — with Pierce on injured reserve — and finished the season vowing to improve and get younger on defense. The team’s defensive coordinator, Bill Sheridan, was dismissed.
