His role in the football game bordered on insignificant -- three passes caught for 15 yards. Most players with such numbers wouldn't even get a look from the media. But there was Plaxico Burress, resplendent in his expensive three-piece gray pinstripe suit, his gray shoes, his blue shirt and tie and his diamond earring, facing a sea of reporters. There were tape recorders under his nose and next to his mouth, there was a boom microphone over his head and there were multiple television cameras aimed at him.

Such was the media's interest in Burress -- even though he did almost nothing on the field -- that the assembled reporters never budged from their spots near his locker even when it was announced that Eli Manning, the winning quarterback in the New York Giants' 21-14 victory against the Steelers, was available in another location.

That's the way it is with Plax. He never has much to say, but he always has people wanting to ask him questions.

His public perception is not necessarily a correct one. He has a bad-boy image, both in his time with the Steelers from 2000-04 and since with the Giants, and deservedly so. He's forever doing something goofy, something that would rile the public and paint himself as the personification of the spoiled athlete.

But to know him was to look past that part of him because he almost never meant anyone -- except himself -- any harm. He is a good teammate and in dealing with the media always is a stand-up guy.

So there he was, standing up in front of his locker yesterday to talk not about what he did on the field but what he didn't do in the training room of the Giants complex in East Rutherford, N.J., a day earlier.

Burress was expected to get treatment for an injury at practice Saturday before the Giants left for Pittsburgh. He showed up at practice but failed to get treatment.

Coach Tom Coughlin, who suspended Burress earlier in the season for missing a practice, announced that Burress would not start against the Steelers. "He's got to be a member of the team and follow the rules and regulations," said Coughlin.

Burress watched on the sideline for the first 18 minutes. Twice during that time, the Giants advanced inside the Steelers' 10-yard line but could not score a touchdown. At 6-foot-5, Burress is an inviting target when the ball is close to the goal line.

He was asked if he could have made a difference in those situations.

"That's the one thing we'll never know," he said without a trace of a smile but at the same time conveying the opinion that, yeah, he probably could have made a difference.

Burress said he was cool with Coughlin's discipline even if he felt he hadn't done anything wrong.

"That's what [Coughlin] wanted," Burress said. "I didn't moan and gripe. That's what he said he was going to do, and I said OK.

"I practiced on Friday and was feeling fine. I got a treatment on Friday. I thought I was in the clear. I felt good. I guess I was supposed to get a treatment [Saturday]. I can only do things that I know I'm supposed to do. I was at work [practice]. I just wasn't in treatment."

He has been fined at least dozens of times by the Giants but doesn't seem to mind.

"I just take it with a grain of salt, brush it off and keep on going."

This was Burress' first game in Pittsburgh since signing a free-agent contract with the Giants in 2005. It gave him a chance to touch base with some of his former teammates.

"It was good seeing some of the guys that I hadn't seen in a while," he said. "It was good to catch up with them, to go out and sit back and laugh at some of the things we used to do a few years back. It was fun to see them. I wish them the best."

Concerning the win, which gave the Giants a 6-1 record, Burress said, "It was big, especially against the team which has maybe the best defense in football right now. I have a lot of respect for those guys.

"We all do. We all kind of knew it was going to be a slugfest, so to speak. We came out in the fourth quarter and we got the job done."

The Giants play the Dallas Cowboys, an NFC East rival, this week. Burress said he's looking forward to it. He might even play all four quarters.

But with Plax you never know.