Former Giants Players Claim They Would Have Won Super Bowl XLIII if Plaxico Burress Hadn't Shot Himself

Every single year, there's a dominant professional sports team that falls well short of expectations and leaves fans shaking their heads in disappointment. We'd be hard-pressed to forget about the 2008 New York Giants, who looked to be on the verge of winning back-to-back titles after thir thrilling, shocking win over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

Giants fans know all too well why the team didn't win that season, and there's now a repeated affirmation from members of that team about just how much promise was wasted. Names like Justin Tuck, Shaun O'Hara, and Brandon Jacobs believed they would've won the big one yet again... if only star wide receiver Plaxico Burress hadn't accidentally shot himself in the leg at a nightclub.

“I thought if Plaxico didn’t shoot himself, we were the best team in the NFL that year,” Tuck said, via the New York Post.

Heading into Week 13 against the Washington Redskins, the Giants were 10-1 and were arguably the best team in the league, but Burress wasn't there. The night before their game, the 6-5 wideout accidentally shot himself in the leg after his illegal handgun fired off in his pocket inside a nightclub.

That very moment was the last time we ever saw Burress in a Giants uniform, as he spent 21 months in a corrections facility for attempted criminal possession of a weapon.

The Giants were never the same, as Burress demanded extensive attention from defenses. His vertical threat allowed New York's running game of Jacobs, Derrick Ward, and Ahmad Bradshaw to flourish, and helped other receivers find openings in the defense. The 12-4 Giants clinched the top seed in the NFC, but were utterly embarrassed in the Divisional Round, as they lost 23-11 to the rival Philadelphia Eagles in a game that haunts the G-Men to this very day.

Fans can at least take solace in the fact that even Giants players felt they were robbed of another ring.