Aug 29th 2008 11:40AM by Tom Mantzouranis (author feed)
Filed under: Saints, NFC South
Four preseason games have come and gone and, despite repeating that Jeremy Shockey is sufficiently healthy from the broken fibula that caused the Giants’ Super Bowl run, he has yet to play. Leading up to the last two games, Sean Payton vowed Shockey would play. He was a late scratch in each contest. Including last night’s 14-10 loss to the Dolphins.
The difference between the team’s proclamations and actions are a bit puzzling. I doubt Payton was trying to play cat-and-mouse with the Saints’ opponents, given that these games are meaningless, so why say anything at all? The league doesn’t require injury information in the preseason, so Payton could have simply deferred questioning with a “game-time decision.”
So it’s one of two things, I think. Either Shockey is fine, Payton knew he was going to rest him for the entire preseason, and is really playing that cat-and-mouse game with the division-rival and season-opening-opponent Buccaneers. Or Payton has convinced himself that Shockey was (or would be) good enough to play in these games, and reality has mandated otherwise, indicating Shockey’s injury is more troublesome than indicated.
I think it’s the former. After a trouncing by the Colts in Week 1 last year set in motion a series of negative events, Payton knows how important a quick start to the season is, and a win over the division champions would be a quick confidence boost to get 2008 off on the right foot. Keeping the new playmaker under wraps keeps the Bucs off-guard, and proves that Payton has confidence in his tight end. And if it’s really the latter? Oy.
