By A. Sherrod Blakely
CSNNE.com Celtics Insider
Follow @sherrodbcsnFOXBORO -- Who would you rather have, Chad Ochocinco or Plaxico Burress?
The New England Patriots chose the former, but not before at least giving some thought to bringing in Burress who now plays for the New York Jets.
"We did look at Burress in the offseason," Patriots head coach Bill Belichick acknowledged on his weekly teleconference on Tuesday.
While it's normal procedure for the Pats to pay attention to all free agents, Burress' situation certainly gave many teams reason to consider looking elsewhere.
The 6-foot-5 wideout was released from prison in June after having served nearly two years in jail for violating New York State gun laws.
In November of 2008, Burress, then with the New York Giants, was at a nightclub where he had a gun tucked into his sweatpants. The gun slipped from his waistband and shot him in the thigh.
He was sentenced about a year later.
New England Patriots
While Burress is still shaking some of the rust off from such a lengthy time away from the game, there's no question he is still a player the Patriots have to be concerned about heading into Sunday afternoon's matchup with the Jets.
"He hasn't played in a while, until this year," Belichick said. "There's plenty to go off of this year."
Belichick added, "kind of what we normally see from him; strong, physical guy. Can go up and get the ball. Even if he's covered, he's probably not covered. He's capable of going up and taking the ball away from the defender."
This season, Burress has 10 catches for 160 yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Ochocinco has seven catches for 113 yards and no touchdowns.
When asked how seriously did they look into acquiring Burress, Belichick responded, "I don't know."
He added, "We look at everybody, but we don't get everybody. Things come together somehow. We'll work with what we got, and they'll work with what they got and see how it goes on Sunday."
A. Sherrod Blakely can be reached at sblakely@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Sherrod on Twitter at http:twitter.comsherrodbcsn