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"Sooner or later, the National Football League is going to have to take a stance on athletes regarding conduct," Theismann, who led the Washington Redskins to victory in Super Bowl XVII, said Tuesday on a conference call promoting the New Jersey-Northeast All-Star High School Football Classic at Rutgers Stadium. "Somebody has to be told they're no longer allowed to play in the game because of their conduct.

"As long as the National Football League continues to bend and bend and bend, then you're going to continue to have issues that come up. There must be a line drawn in the sand somewhere where once you cross it, you're not allowed the privilege of playing professional football. If you can't conduct yourself in a manner that respects the uniform and the game, you don't deserve to be in the game."

Theismann was likely referring to previous black eyes for the NFL, including the Michael Vick and Pacman Jones situations.

Simms, the former Giants star and MVP of Super Bowl XXI, said he couldn't understand why Burress, a Giants wide receiver, would bring a loaded handgun into a New York nightclub. The gun went off and shot Burress in the thigh and he now faces a minimum of 3 1/2 years in prison on gun charges. His future with the Giants remains in limbo.

"He got caught and he's going to pay a heavy price for it," Simms said. "The Giants will do what they can for Plaxico Burress, but the more I watch it and look at it, I realize what an unbelievably tough situation he is in and I don't know how it's going to correct itself."

Simms said he couldn't relate to Burress' situation and feels Burress has not matured as a man.

"For me, I hate guns," Simms said. "I've never had a gun in my life. I grew up on a farm. I couldn't shoot an animal on a farm. There was no way I was going to be a farmer, that's for sure.

"No, I don't understand it. But athletes are constantly told about who you hang out with, how to act because you have to grow up and be a mature man at the age of 22. He's had plenty of time to grow up and mature and change and he hasn't done that. And that's the sad part of all this."

He added: "What upsets me is Plaxico Burress has had a long time to change, with money, with associations, with football teams, with players and he did not take advantage of it."

Theismann compared Burress' behavior to that of a celebrity who abuses drugs.

"You look at someone that's doing drugs and say, 'My God, you have all this money, you have all this opportunity,'" he said. "You look at these celebrities, these movie stars, these television stars, you look at them and say, 'How could you possibly do this with so much going for you?' because you and I and most people are rational people.

"What's happened is Plaxico is not operating in a rational world."

Still, Theismann said he hopes something good will come out of the Burress situation.

"I guarantee you there are a number of guys that have guns in this league," he said. "There are a number of guys in professional sports that carry guns.

"You would hope that this would maybe be some type of a lesson that could save a life, spare a life or save a career. Everybody becomes aware now of how foolish the whole thing appears, but maybe, just maybe, there are one or two other guys out there that are thinking about buying a gun, [who] might say, 'You know what, maybe I don't really need it.'"