From the Omaha chapter of the Steelers Nation came this e-mail Monday morning:

"Unless he gets carried off the field on a stretcher, my prediction is that Plex will have the game of his life, and that the Steelers will rue the day that they could not circumvent the issues of free agency to keep him."

The legend of Plaxico Burress, who returns Sunday to Heinz Field with the New York Giants to play the Steelers, lives.

Fans can't forget him. Some view him as the player the Steelers foolishly let get away; others see his departure as good riddance.

Burress was the Steelers' No. 1 draft choice in 2000. He was a tall, fleet, athletic receiver, who was the near-perfect deep threat complement to Hines Ward, the quintessential possession receiver, who was drafted two years earlier.

In 2001 and 2002, Ward and Burress had 1,000-yard seasons. In 2002, Burress set a Steelers record with 252 receiving yards against the Atlanta Falcons. It was a tandem that in another day might have played together long enough to rival John Stallworth and Lynn Swann in Steelers lore. But in this era of free agency, it simply isn't prudent salary-cap management to make major investments in two receivers.

The Steelers chose Ward, who, perhaps, had a lower ceiling than Burress but who brought far less baggage to the deal. Ward is the solid citizen and team leader. He sets a style of play for others to follow. No one could say that about Burress, who developed a much-deserved bad-boy image while with the Steelers. He was frequently in trouble, sometimes with the law, sometimes with coach Bill Cowher. It never was anything especially serious, but it too often was something. Most famously, Burress missed a mini-camp because it fell on Mother's Day weekend.

He was a good guy and everyone liked him. But he had the capacity to be a knucklehead of the first order.

Burress signed with the Giants in 2005 and both he and Ward and the Steelers and the Giants have lived happily ever after. Both teams won Super Bowls -- the Steelers in 2006, the Giants in 2008. Both receivers continue to be exceptional. Ward is building a Hall of Fame career and Burress could be doing the same.

Which is why some people, like the fan in Omaha, think the Steelers should have found a way to keep both. Others understand the salary-cap ramifications of signing both but insist Ward is the one who should have been let go.

It would be nice to have both, but on a team that features the run, it makes little sense to put so much salary into the wide receiver position. If only one could be kept, beyond doubt, Ward is the one.

For starters, the Steelers have done exceptionally well without Burress.

They won the Super Bowl the year after he left, a fact that should have closed down this argument but did not. They followed that with a disappointing 8-8 season in Cowher's final year and have been 10-6 and 5-1 in Mike Tomlin's first two seasons.

It's possible the Steelers might have done better with Burress, but they didn't do better when he was here. And there's no telling which players they might have not been able to keep if they had kept Burress and how that would have impacted their success.

Beyond that, they have replaced Burress. Santonio Holmes was drafted in the first round in 2006 with the express purpose of becoming the team's deep threat. He has done that. He caught 49 passes as a rookie, 52 last year -- when he led the NFL in yards per catch -- and 22 this season. He has not matched Burress' numbers, but Holmes has taken on a secondary role to Ward. When Burress was here, he and Ward shared equal billing.

But the biggest reason to have kept Ward are the character issues Burress brings with him.

Burress was suspended for one game last month for missing a practice and not responding to phone calls. His excuse for missing practice was that he had to take his son to school. Millions of fathers get their sons to school without missing work. Burress couldn't do it.

In the aftermath of that suspension, it was learned Burress had been fined dozens of times for breaking team rules. Since fines were not getting his attention, the Giants felt a suspension might.

Apparently, it didn't.

After Burress was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the second quarter of the Giants game Sunday with the San Francisco 49ers, coach Tom Coughlin, according to several New York newspapers, said, "What are you doing?"

The response from Burress was, "Whatever the [bleep] I want."

Can anyone imagine Hines Ward carrying on in such a manner?

The Steelers made the right choice, the only choice.