Post-Plax playoff loss to Philly ‘haunts’ Snee

had a no-tolerance policy on guns. The law in his city was a minimum 3¹/₂-year prison sentence for conviction on possession of a weapon. A high-profile case like this was not going to deter Bloomberg.

“Our children are getting killed with guns in the street,’’ Bloomberg said at the time. “Our police are getting killed. I think it would be an outrage if we didn’t prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, particularly people who live in the public domain.’’

Burress was eventually sentenced to two years in prison and ended up serving 21 months at Oneida Correctional Facility in upstate New York. The next time he stepped foot on a football field was in 2011, with the Jets. He was never the same player.

“I lost two years of playing the game I love when I was in my prime,’’ Burress wrote in a letter to the 2017 draft class published on The Players’ Tribune website. “I lost millions of dollars. I lost valuable time with my wife and children. I even missed the birth of my daughter, who was born while I was in prison.’’

After a routine 23-7 victory over the Redskins, at 11-1 the Giants had their best record in franchise history after 12 games. Factoring in the 2007 postseason run, they had won 15 of 16 games. But they were not the same team without Burress. They lost three of their final four regularseason games.

“We still were a good team, but when we struggled to run the football or teams found ways to stuff us a little bit we really lost that go-to guy in the passing game,’’ O’Hara said. “That kind of made us onedimensional at times.’’

This was glaring in the moribund 23-11 home playoff loss to the hated Eagles, a team that did not have a cornerback capable of covering Burress. Without that threat, Pro Bowl safety Brian Dawkins was freed up to play in the box, nullifying the Giants’ running game.

Toomer says “absolutely’’ when asked if the Giants win the Super Bowl with a healthy Burress. Then he quickly recants, saying he sensed a different vibe that season from the previous year. He points to the Giants pulling their starters in the regular-season finale, a 20-19 loss at Minnesota.

“I think going into the playoffs on a loss like that was totally different than going to play us after a hard-fought loss against the Patriots the year before,’’ Toomer said. “[A]side from Plaxico shooting himself, I think we dropped the ball in a sense ... and kind of let up.’’

The Steelers beat the Cardinals in the Super Bowl following that season. The 2008 Giants beat them both, on the road.

“Two teams we kicked the snot out of during the regular season,’’ O’Hara said. “If we had beat Philly, the Cardinals would have had to come up and play us at MetLife, that would have been a disaster for that offense and Kurt Warner. If we had gotten past Philly, I have no doubt we would have beaten Arizona. And we would have beaten Pittsburgh.’’

How often does this come up in gettogethers with former teammates?

“Depends,’’ O’Hara said, “on how much liquor is in the room.’’

This new life — home, and under quarantine — does unusual things to people.

It was in this constricting environment Chris Snee not long ago sent his former Giants teammate Kevin Boothe a text message. “I’m watching it,’’ Snee wrote. This was around 10:30 one evening and Boothe was aghast.

“Why would you do that to yourself?’’ Boothe shot back.

Snee’s response: “Well, I’ve never done it, I got to do it and now I’m more irritated.’’

Snee told The Post he “had not gotten the courage’’ to review the events of Jan. 11, 2009, until recently, when amid his home lockdown with his family he re- viewed the entire 2008 season, game by game, a sort of catharsis 12 years in the making.

As the Pro Bowl left guard, Snee saw the Giants start 11-1 but lose their mojo after Plaxico Burress accidently shot himself in the leg. Without their top playmaking wide receiver, the Giants lost three of their last four regular-season games then got beat, at home, 23-11 by the Eagles in an NFC playoff game.

The Giants outgained the Eagles in yards (307-276) but never scored a touchdown in that game and turned the ball over three times.

“That game as it flowed, we moved the ball early on, we just didn’t have that green-zone/red-zone threat,’’ Snee said. “We had so many drives stall, which I didn’t realize, because I never went back to watch it, so I was more irritated after I watched that game.’’

Had Burress not been removed, literally from a self-inflicted wound that led to his incarceration, Snee has no doubt how history would have played out.

“We were on all cylinders,’’ Snee said. “Eli [Manning] was playing fantastic, we could run on anybody. To have somebody like Plaxico to go downfield, we weren’t getting beat. We weren’t.

“It still haunts me. You only get so many years to play this game and you want to win as much as possible. Listen, if we were a bad team and that happens, it happens. We were a damn good football team. I just didn’t see anyone beating us.’’