A Year Later, Shockey Is Fitting In

METAIRIE, La. — It took one year, two injuries and zero touchdowns for tight end Jeremy Shockey to feel comfortable here.

In 2008, after the Giants traded him to New Orleans, Shockey suffered from a sports hernia and an ankle injury and a touchdown drought. He still caught 50 passes in 12 games, but he was not the player that Sean Payton, the offensive coordinator for the Giants in Shockey’s rookie season in 2002, had traded for.

“This game’s hard enough,” Shockey said Wednesday in the Saints’ locker room. “If you’re not healthy, it makes it superhard. Being hurt last year, it wasn’t a good feeling. But in the same sense, I got to step back.”

Then Shockey pointed at the group of reporters surrounding him. He picked one in particular, zeroed in, looked him in the eye.

“That’s the way the game is,” Shockey said, laughing by that point. “If everyone was healthy the whole time, you’d probably be playing.”

Same old Shockey. Only last season’s injuries ended up helping him transition from the Giants to the Saints. Shockey was hurt the majority of training camp last season, leaving little time to build trust or rapport with Saints quarterback Drew Brees.

Asked to assess their relationship Wednesday, Brees said, “It has come a long way.”

Shockey has already scored twice this season, while catching 14 passes for 128 yards in an offense in which the undefeated Saints spread the ball around. On Sunday, against a banged-up Jets secondary, Shockey should figure prominently in the game plan.

It was Payton who wanted Shockey in New Orleans. And it is Payton who is most pleased with his tight end’s progress.

“He’s healthy now,” Payton said. “I’d rather have a player that’s passionate about what he’s doing. He comes here in the morning, and it’s all football. Bring me a bunch of those guys.”

With the Giants, Shockey used to play the Jets each preseason, some years with a regular-season game mixed in. But these are not the Jets that he remembers. These Jets have a new coach (Rex Ryan), a new quarterback (Mark Sanchez), and they practice in New Jersey instead of New York.

Shockey said his injuries had not changed his go-for-broke, physical playing style. He praised Saints fans, who met the team at the Saints’ facility at 1 a.m. last week after they returned from their win at Buffalo.

The real intriguing Shockey matchup comes two weeks from Sunday, though. That is when, after a bye week, Shockey and the Saints host the Giants here.

“All of them,” Shockey said, when asked which of his former teammates he most looked forward to seeing. “I’ll shake all their hands and wish them good luck.”



(nytimes.com)