METAIRIE, La. ? In the month before the Giants traded Jeremy Shockey to the New Orleans Saints in the summer of 2008, the outspoken tight end made a promise.
"If the team trades me, I promise you?I will make them pay when they trade me," Shockey told the pack of children reporters who worked for Newsday's Newskids unit. "If?I ever get a chance to play against a team that did trade me, it's not going to be a pretty sight."
As luck would have it, Shockey gets his chance this Sunday when the 5-0 Giants travel to New Orleans to play the 4-0 Saints in a noon game at the Superdome.
But there's something he wants to make abundantly clear.
"It's not about me, alright? So no more questions," Shockey said. "It's about two teams going against each other. I want to make that clear. There's already been some references about vendettas and stuff like that. It's about two teams. It's two great teams playing against each other."
Surrounded by both local and national media in the locker room, however, Shockey wasn't able to escape such questions. Not even a pulled fire alarm urging everyone to leave the Saints' Airline Drive facility could stop the questions.
Asked if he circled the Oct. 18 game against New York, Shockey quickly jumped in, saying once again the game isn't about him versus the Giants, but about the two teams.
Pushed more, he said, "I'm not trying to compare the two at all. Here he goes again. It's not about the individual person or people. It's about two teams."
Much was made at the end of the 2007 season and early in 2008 about Shockey's relationship with the Giants. He broke his leg in 2007 and wasn't on the Giants' Super Bowl roster.
He reportedly wasn't allowed to fly with the team to Phoenix, where the game was played, nor was he given the opportunity to stand on the sideline with the team.
Nevertheless, Giants Head Coach Tom Coughlin recalled Shockey's tenure as one of success but the trade was one of a business matter.
"I thought he was an all around player and a very good one," Coughlin said. "I think it was a matter that the decision was made of value for value and the opportunity that was there."
Pressed to talk more about Shockey, however, and Coughlin clammed up.
"Does anybody have anything else they'd like to talk about?" Coughlin asked.
Back in the Saints locker room, Shockey wouldn't budge on speaking about his former team.
It's something Reggie Bush understood.
"Honestly, I have not heard him say one thing about the Giants," Bush said. "But you've got to think deep down inside there's something brewing there. That's natural. It's part of the competitive nature. If it were me, I probably wouldn't tell y'all anything either but deep down inside I'd be burning to beat the Giants."
Sunday, Shockey will his chance to "burn" the Giants. He might get more of an opportunity than he even thinks he will.
Shockey enters the national game of interest with the most catches on the Saints' roster with 18. He has opened up the Saints offense by giving quarterback Drew Brees another option down the field.
The Giants, meanwhile, have given up big games to tight ends. Washington's Chris Cooley had a touchdown and seven catches. Dallas' Jason Witten had five catches and a score. Kansas City's Sean Ryan had five catches and a score.
Then again, as Shockey said, this isn't about him.
"It's definitely going to be different, but I'm not the only guy that's ever gotten ready to play against his old team," Shockey said. "I'm going to handle it as if it were any other team."
To add a comment, please register or login.