Forget Tom Coughlin, the disciplinarian head coach. Or no-nonsense general manager Jerry Reese. And co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch. Even NFL commissioner Roger Goodell isn't Burress' biggest problem right now.

Nope. It's the chief executive of the city in which Burress committed the act that might very well end his Football career.

Bloomberg is justifiably steamed about the stunt Burress pulled early Saturday morning at a nightclub in Bloomberg's backyard. And if Hizzoner has anything to say about it, Burress will not have to worry about when his next game will be. He'll have to worry about who his cellmate is going to be.

Bloomberg ripped Burress for carrying a handgun when the wide receiver went to the Latin Quarter on Lexington Avenue and accidentally shot himself after being detained by security at the club. What the mayor said should resonate not only with NFL fans but with the citizens of one of the world's most influential cities.

"Our children are getting killed with guns in the streets," he said. "Our police officers are getting killed with guns in the hands of criminals, and because of that, we got the State Legislature to pass a law that if you carry a loaded handgun, you get automatically 3? years in the slammer."

And no one, not even a famous athlete, ought to skate, Bloomberg said.

"I don't think that anybody should be exempt from that, and 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, make their living because of their visibility; they are the role models for our kids," he said.

Can't say we disagree. If Burress is found to have broken the law by carrying an unlicensed handgun into the bar, then having it go off - even if accidentally - then why let him off easy?

So he can help the Giants defend their Super Bowl title because he's a supremely gifted receiver? Please. This is real life we're talking about, not a Football game.

If Burress broke the law, then let the judicial system handle it as if John Q. Public were in the same situation. If an ordinary citizen can't catch a break, why should a professional athlete be treated differently?

Answer: He shouldn't.

Bloomberg also properly criticized officials at New York Presbyterian Hospital for their shoddy - and potentially illegal - handling of the situation. Officials there did not call the police to notify them of Burress' gun-related injury, as city law requires.

The mayor later ripped the team for not immediately calling the authorities about the shooting, although I think he went a little overboard on that one. The Giants did, in fact, follow protocol for reporting the incident.

"We are working closely with the police and NFL security," Giants spokesman Pat Hanlon said. "In the early hours of Saturday morning, as we started to get a sense of what we were dealing with, we did, in fact, notify NFL security, which then contacted the police."

Burress, of course, was the real target of Bloomberg's ire, and the mayor will no doubt keep a close watch on how the case proceeds.

The Giants, meanwhile, know they have a huge public relations problem on their hands, which is why they've got to act quickly and decisively to make sure Burress' situation doesn't mushroom into a distraction that impacts them on the field.

I say the best action is to deactivate him for the remainder of the season and thus free the locker room of his presence.

They've already shown they can win without him; the Giants have won all three games in which Burress was either inactive or played sparingly because of a hamstring injury.

His repeated screwups over the last several months - including a suspension for missing a team meeting, fines approaching $200,000, cursing out Coughlin on the sideline and now the most serious offense of all - are ample proof that he no longer fits in with the defending Super Bowl champions.

Enough already.