The Scores Report - The National Sports Blog » Jeremy Shockey

Jeremy Shockey chooses Panthers over Dolphins

Anthony Stalter — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 21:20:17 +0000

When he was hired in January, new Panthers coach Ron Rivera said that he would target a “do-it-all” tight end this offseason.

He can now call off the search.

Rivera found his tight end in former Saint Jeremy Shockey, who has decided to sign a one-year deal with the Panthers instead of the Dolphins, who were also interested in his services.

“Looks like I’m signing with Carolina,” Shockey wrote via his Twitter page.

Whether he wound up with the Panthers or Dolphins, Shockey presumably was going to have an opportunity to make plays next year. Carolina offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski has a history of utilizing tight ends, as does new Miami OC Brian Daboll (almost to a fault in Daboll’s case). But in the end, it’s not surprising that Shockey chose the Panthers seeing as how Chudzinksi was his former tight end coach at the University of Miami nearly a decade ago.

It’ll be interesting to see if Shockey winds up catching passes next season from Jimmy Clausen or if the Panthers will select a quarterback with the top overall pick in April’s draft.

NFL combine notes: Orton, Henne, Shockey and crazy ‘ol Al Davis

Anthony Stalter — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 20:35:56 +0000

Here are a couple of interesting tidbits from team press conferences Thursday at the NFL scouting combine.

Fox names Orton his starter “right now.”
New Broncos head coach Jon Fox told reporters that Kyle Orton and not Tim Tebow is his starting quarterback as of right now. Fox said that he’s interested to see how Tebow looks but noted, “As far as I’m concerned, (Orton) is under contract and he’s the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos.” It’s not surprising that Fox would side with the more seasoned quarterback, seeing as how he refused to give up on Jake Delhomme in Carolina until the bitter end.

Titans don’t plan on meeting with Shockey
New Titans head coach Mike Munchak said that the team has no plans to speak with free agent Jeremy Shockey about coming to Tennessee. As I wrote the day the Saints released him, I see Shockey winding up in Miami to play under new OC Brian Daboll (who loves to use his tight ends, almost to a fault sometimes).

Henne is still the Dolphins’ starter
Speaking of Miami, GM Jeff Ireland referred to Chad Henne as his starter during his press conference on Thursday. It looks like Henne is the clear-cut favorite to enter the 2011 season as the Dolphins’ starting quarterback, although don’t rule out Miami taking a flier on someone like TCU’s Andy Dalton or Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi in the middle rounds.

Revisiting the Jeremy Shockey trade; could he wind up in Miami?

Anthony Stalter — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:18:25 +0000

The Saints dumped tight end Jeremy Shockey on Tuesday and while some are surprised by the move, it’s hard to fault New Orleans given the circumstances.

Shockey was scheduled to make $4.5 million next season, is injury prone and was less effective than fellow tight end Jimmy Graham in Sean Payton’s offense last year. At 30, it’s clear that Shockey’s best days are behind him and his nine seasons in the league have taken a toll on his body.

As often the case when a player is cut, his release got me thinking about the trade the Saints made in 2008 to acquire him from the Giants. On paper, New Orleans definitely got the better end of the deal. Shockey racked up 139 receptions, 1,460 yards and six touchdowns for the Saints over the last three seasons. He also helped them beat the Colts in Super Bowl XLIV by catching a touchdown pass in the second half.

The second round pick that the Giants acquired in the deal was used on linebacker Clint Sintim, who only has 33 tackles in two seasons and regularly can’t find the field. The fifth round selection that New York also received in the trade netted quarterback Rhett Bomar, who is now on Minnesota’s roster.

But just because Sintim hasn’t panned out (yet) doesn’t mean the Giants didn’t find value in trading Shockey. It’s well known that he was a constant distraction for Eli Manning, who went on to have a career-year (statistically, at least) in 2009 when Shockey was in New Orleans. It has also been noted that Manning played better the year the Giants won the Super Bowl because Shockey suffered a season-ending injury in December.

Thus, trading Shockey offered New York addition by subtraction.

Where he’ll resurface is anyone’s guess but if I were to make a prediction I would say Miami. He played for “The U” in college and while Anthony Fasano is a solid option as both a blocker and receiver, new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll loves to work the middle of the field with his tight ends (almost to a fault).

Of course, the Patriots proved last year that teams can be highly effective with two tight ends, so Shockey could wind up anywhere.

Shockey recovering after suffering a seizure

Anthony Stalter — Fri, 28 May 2010 13:00:51 +0000

Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey is recovering at the hospital after suffering what is being called a seizure on Thursday. According to the New Orleans Times Picayune, Shockey was working out in the team’s weight room when he suffered “seizure-like” symptoms and had to be rushed to the emergency room.

(Darren) Sharper, who was was present at the time, said it was scary to watch. He said it was clearly more than cramping and Shockey was struggling for about a minute while trainers helped him. He was up and walking on his power soon after, Sharper said, and later Shockey said he just felt a little light-headed.

It is not clear how long Shockey will be hospitalized. The Saints have not provided any information on Shockey’s status.

The tight end had this to say via Twitter: I am ok, thanks to everyone who has shown their concern don’t worry about me I will be fine.. WHO DAT

I’m not suggesting that the two symptoms are related, but Tony Gonzalez suffered a bout of facial paralysis known as Bell’s Palsy in early 2007 when he was a member of the Chiefs. That too was brought on when he was lifting weights at his house, so the correlation between the two incidents is interesting. (Again though, I’m not saying that Shockey suffered from the same thing.)

Glad to hear Shockey is okay and hopefully he has nothing to worry about long-term.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Super Bowl XLIV Preview: 5 Factors the Colts must overcome

Anthony Stalter — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:30:15 +0000

As part of the ongoing coverage leading up to Super Bowl XLIV, here are five factors the Colts must overcome to beat the Saints.

1. The potential loss of Freeney.
Come kickoff on Sunday, there will be no bigger hurdle for the Colts to overcome than if defensive end Dwight Freeney can’t play, or is limited due to an ankle injury. He’s undoubtedly Indy’s best defender and is a game-changer in every sense of the word. If he can’t play, the Saints don’t have to worry about keeping extra blockers in to protect Drew Brees and can focus most of their attention on slowing down Robert Mathis. Pressure is the key to disrupting any offense and the same can be said for the Saints’ high-powered attack. As it stands now, Freeney wants to play and should dress. But considering he’s a speed rusher and has a tear in his ankle, how effective does anyone think he’ll actually be? Barring the ankle being completely healed, the Colts have a serious problem on their hand.

2. Slowing down Brees.
For all that is said about Drew Brees, he still doesn’t get enough credit for being able to read a defense and deliver timely, accurate passes. What makes him unique is that he has accuracy on all three levels, in that he can complete the short to intermediate route with as much ease as he can the deep pass. Another thing Brees does well is scanning the field and throwing away from the coverage. Over the last half of the season, nine quarterbacks threw for two or more touchdowns against the Colts, who gave up big plays in the AFC Championship Game to the usually offensively challenged Jets. Brees has a plethora of weapons to use at his disposal and Indy doesn’t have the personnel to go toe-to-toe with all the Saints’ receivers. The best way to slow down Brees is to pressure him, but as was noted above, that could be a problem for the Colts if Freeney is limited.

3. Protecting Manning from the Saints’ pressure.
One of the many great things about Peyton Manning is that he acts as his own protection because he gets the ball out of his hand so quickly. There’s a reason why he rarely winds up on his backside and that’s because he’s excellent at recognizing the defense, adjusting to the coverage and delivering the ball in a timely manner. That said, no team has battered the quarterback as much as the Saints have this postseason. They hit Kurt Warner and Brett Favre a combined 11 times, with most of their pressure coming right up the middle, which is the kind that quarterbacks hate most. If the Saints can pressure Manning up the middle, get in his face, disrupt his rhythm and make him frustrated, then New Orleans can dictate the flow of the game. Of course, that’s easier said than done.

4. The potential mismatch vs. Shockey.
If Jeremy Shockey is completely healthy, then he provides a matchup problem that the Colts will have to figure out a way to neutralize. Antonie Bethea and Melvin Bullitt have become valuable pieces for the Colts because of their versatility and strengths against the run. But Bullitt can be stiff in his hips at times and doesn’t always get into a good back pedal at the start, which leads to him overusing his speed to make up ground. Bethea struggles in man coverage, will lose receivers while biting on pump fakes and sometimes looks for the knockout hit instead of wrapping up. These are all things that the Saints can use to their advantage if Shockey is healthy, because he presents matchup problems in one-on-one coverage and can rack up yards after contact. At times this season, the middle of the field has been a weakness for the Colts that opponents can attack. Indianapolis must adjust if Shockey is 100%.

5. Complacency.
This shouldn’t be a problem for a team led by Peyton Manning, but it’s worth noting anyway. The Colts have been here before, and have won. The Saints have not, so there might be a tendency brewing among Indy’s players that they’ll be more prepared for this game than New Orleans will be. However, the advantages for the Colts stop at kickoff on Sunday, because once that time starts winding off the clock it’s all about 60 minutes of football. All the media hype and hoopla fly out the window and any advantage Indy had from their previous Super Bowl is squashed. The Colts can’t get complacent – they still have to execute for four quarters against an outstanding football team in order to achieve greatness.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Super Bowl XLIV Preview: If healthy, Shockey could play key role for Saints

Anthony Stalter — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:00:48 +0000

In safeties Antonie Bethea and Melvin Bullitt, the Colts have two players in their defensive backfield that are steady, underrated and are strong against the run.

But the takeaway from the above sentence is “strong against the run.” That doesn’t mean that Bethea and Bullitt are key factors in pass coverage and in fact, they’re not. They’re adequate against the pass at best, which is why some teams have had success attacking the seams of the Colts’ defense with their tight ends.

The Saints have a playmaker at tight end in Jeremy Shockey, a player that, when healthy, is a mismatch in coverage because of his size, speed and pass-catching ability. He would definitely be a mismatch in coverage against Bethea and Bullitt, especially considering that the two safeties also have to defend the run and the rest of the weapons that New Orleans has in its arsenal.

But the problem is that Shockey can never stay healthy and at least for the moment, he isn’t healthy now. Over the past month, he’s battled toe and knee injuries and hasn’t been 100%. In fact, head coach Sean Payton said that Shockey was on a limited snap count in last Sunday’s NFC Championship Game and that’s why the tight end caught just one pass for nine yards.

If Shockey can get healthy over the next two weeks, he could be the kind of X-factor that the Saints will need to beat the Colts. David Thomas is a fine replacement at tight end of Shockey is limited again, but he’s not the type of game-changer that Shockey is when he’s playing at full strength. If he’s at 100%, Drew Brees might have success attacking the middle of Indy’s defense with Shockey being the main weapon in the Saints’ passing game.

But if he resembles the one-legged man again like he did last week, then the Colts will catch a break and will likely turn their attention to stopping Marques Colston, Devery Henderson, Robert Meachem and the rest of New Orleans’ outside pass threats.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Saints’ injury report lengthy

Anthony Stalter — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:25:55 +0000

After going through their first real practice on Thursday in preparation for the Colts and Super Bowl XLIV, they released a pretty lengthy injury report with several key names on it.

Starters Jeremy Shockey (knee), Darren Sharper (knee), Jonathan Vilma (knee) and Will Smith (groin) were all on Thursday’s injury report, as well as cornerbacks Randall Gay and Malcolm Jenkins, running back Lynell Hamilton, kick returner Courtney Roby and offensive lineman Zach Streif.

Head coach Sean Payton indicated that Shockey received good news from his visit with the acclaimed Dr. James Andrews earlier this week and that there hasn’t been a setback with the tight end’s knee. Shockey said on Thursday that he’s prepared to play with pain and that he’ll do everything he can, “even if that requires hurting myself.”

The injuries to Sharper, Vilma, Smith and the rest of the Saints appear to be minor and as of right now, there is no threat to them missing the Super Bowl. At least, Payton and the rest of New Orleans better hope so.

Photo from fOTOGLIF