Aug 24th 2008 7:41PM by Tom Mantzouranis (author feed)
Filed under: Saints, NFC South
Saints fans were finally going to get their first glimpse of Jeremy Shockey in black-and-gold game action. Sean Payton even went as far as to say everyone would like what they saw of Shockey. What we wound up seeing was more of the usual — Shockey on the sidelines in street clothes — as Payton decided to keep him out after all.
But the coach insists that Shockey hasn’t suffered any setbacks, simply that it was a last-minute decision change and simply a precautionary measure. And he insists that Shockey will get some time in the team’s final preseason game on Thursday. If Shockey misses Thursday, or clearly looks rusty, it wouldn’t surprise me to have Payton give the season-opening spot to Mark Campbell, and work Shockey in over the first couple of games.
What was a welcome sight on the field, however, was the reemergence of the defense, which rebounded after a disaster against the Texans. Even though the Bengals were missing Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh, the Saints did a great job of shutting down the Bengals’ attack. Most pleasing is that Mike McKenzie, making his first appearance of the preseason, played great and dissuaded worries about his recovery from a torn ACL.
If the team is to seriously push for a playoff spot this year, they’ll need Shockey to eventually show up, and the defense to keep it up.
