LANDOVER, Md. (AP) -New York Giants receiver Amani Toomer used to snicker and scoff when he’d notice pro athletes traipsing around town with personal bodyguards.
He isn’t laughing now. Not after hearing about various violent episodes involving NFL players, the latest being when teammate Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the thigh at a New York nightclub.
“I used to see guys walk into clubs with security, and I was like, ‘Who do they think they are?’ But now I’m like, ‘Wow. This is a big deal,”’ Toomer said Sunday after the Giants’ 23-7 victory over the Washington Redskins.
“There’s a lot of incidents that happen around the league – guys having fun and socializing and they get in places where people are envious and jealous of them. Something needs to be done, because it’s not going to get any better. It’s going to get worse.”
Any lingering doubt as to whether the NFL faces serious issues about guns and player safety was front and center this particular Sunday at this particular stadium.
On the very afternoon the Redskins held a pregame ceremony to mark the first anniversary of Pro Bowl safety Sean Taylor’s killing, their opponents, the Super Bowl champion Giants, were dealing with questions about what happened to star receiver Burress on Friday night.
“A lot of players, for whatever reason, feel the need to carry guns,” Giants president and CEO John Mara said. “It’s a choice that they make. … We’d like to think most of them are licensed. We’re not sure that’s always the case.”
League policy bans guns from team facilities – there are signs pointing that out in locker rooms across the country.
The NFL also tells players not to have guns – something which largely goes unheeded. At least two members of the Redskins purchased guns after Taylor was shot.
Several coaches, notably Tony Dungy of the Colts, constantly remind their players that they are targets.
Burress’ lawyer said Sunday he was advised that the player will be charged Monday in New York with criminal possession of a weapon. Lawyer Benjamin Brafman wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press that Burress will turn himself in Monday morning and “will enter a plea of not guilty later that same day.”
Burress was released from a hospital early Saturday, the Giants said.
“As far as we know, he’s going to be OK,” general manager Jerry Reese said.
spoke in the press box at FedEx Field, the Redskins inducted Taylor into their Ring of Fame at the stadium. Taylor was shot Nov. 26, 2007, at his Miami-area home during a bungled robbery; he died the next day.
That, the late-night attack on Jacksonville Jaguars offensive lineman Richard Collier this year, and other incidents have put player security in the minds of many around the league.
In late October, when asked to evaluate how things had gone eight games into his NFL head-coaching career, Washington’s Jim Zorn moved into a discussion of his players’ behavior.
“Our players are doing a great job off the field,” Zorn said then. “Now, I could get a phone call in 10 minutes, but they’re doing a great job disciplining themselves off the field, too, because there are so many distractions, there’s so many possibilities that can happen.”
NFL teams use varying measures to protect their players on game days and away from the stadiums.
The St. Louis Rams, for example, have a former police chief in charge of players’ off-field behavior. They use two security staff members at home games, one at each end of the players’ bench on the sideline. The team also uses additional personnel on game days hired by their stadium. For road games, the Rams use seven people to help with airport screening, hotel security and other matters.
The Ravens employ tight security at the hotel where they make players stay the night before a game, whether at home in Baltimore or on the road.
“No one can go on the players’ floor, and players can’t leave the floor after curfew. We have our security stationed there,” said Kevin Byrne, the Ravens’ senior VP of public and community relations.
During the week, players are on their own when they leave the facility because there’s too many of them to follow around.
“Some players use their own security when they go out because of who they are, but we don’t have security with players when they go out,” Byrne said.
Green Bay Packers spokesman Jeff Blumb said there are three people – two full-time and one part-time – who head up the organization’s security staff at Lambeau Field and work with players, but none of the staff specifically monitors off-field activities or “babysits” them.
The Oakland Raiders – whose receiver Javon Walker was seriously injured when beaten during a robbery in Las Vegas in June – have not increased their security staff of late. But the team has placed a bigger emphasis on talking to players about the type of situations to avoid and how to handle themselves.
The Raiders have two security people on every road trip, as well as defensive backs coach Willie Brown, who also is in charge of players’ off-field behavior.
No matter what security steps are taken by the league and individual teams, Toomer and other NFL players agreed that responsibility for their safety really resides with the athletes themselves.
“The NFL does a great job with security, telling us about the dangers and all that. But ultimately, when you’re not at the stadium, when you’re not in an NFL area, we’re just regular people – we go to the grocery store, we go to the car wash, we do things,” Giants running back Derrick Ward said. “So it’s a chance that anything can happen to anybody at any time. We just need to be aware of our surroundings and keep living. You can’t live in fear.”
Said Redskins left tackle Chris Samuels: “We’re grown men. We’ve got to be responsible. Simple as that.”
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AP Sports Writers R.B. Fallstrom in St. Louis, Joe Kay in Cincinnati, Colin Fly in Green Bay, Wis., and Janie McCauley in Oakland, and AP Football Writer Dave Goldberg in East Rutherford, N.J., contributed to this report.
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