Saints Gab

According to neworleanssaints.com, Coach Sean Payton has said that Jeremy Shockey will not be playing in Thursday’s game against the Tennessee Titans, but the rookie, Jimmy Graham will see some action instead.

Graham, who hasn’t played since injuring his right ankle against the Patriots on August 12th, just returned to practice this past Monday. Coach Payton said of his return to the practice field,

“His first day back was decent. He’s a little rusty and still we have to be careful to not take a setback, but it was good to have him on the field.”

The 6′6, 260-pound tight end turned a lot of heads in training camp, some even referring to him as an unpolished gem. The Saints believe that they have found a very special player in Graham. They’ve really got to appreciate his versatility amongst other things. And his ability to contribute on special teams makes him just that much more valuable.

As a brand new member of the Miami Hurricanes in 2009, he played in thirteen games, mostly as a reserve tight end. Although he finished with only seventeen receptions for 213 yards, he scored on five of those catches. He also played a stint on special teams where he recorded a solo tackle and returned three short kickoffs 30 yards. As a blocker, he was credited with 30 knockdowns.

The Times-Picayune says that a sore knee sat TE Jeremy Shockey in practice today:

So far, the Saints have avoided serious injury during their first five practices. But Jeremy Shockey became the first player to miss a workout because of injury on Sunday when he was held out of drills because of soreness in his knee. Payton said tests revealed “nothing serious” to the joint but the team was just being cautious with the veteran tight end. “He had it looked at today and we’ll just get him some treatment,” Payton said. “We’ll get hm back as soon as possible.”

After the scare of tight end Jeremy Shockey collapsing just a week ago, it appears that he is all better, as reports say that he’ll be on the field for minicamp this weekend:

Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey will be participating in this weekend’s minicamp, according to General Manager Mickey Loomis. It’s not clear if Shockey will be limited at all after he suffered an apparent seizure in the team’s weight room following a practice last Thursday. Neither the Saints nor Shockey or his representatives have offered many details about his diagnosis or any future concerns. Shockey stayed overnight in the hospital for some tests and observation last Thursday night, but he was apparently in good condition and insisted via his twitter account that he’ll be fine.

Tight end Jeremy Shockey was taken by ambulance to a hospital Thursday afternoon after suffering what was later diagnosed as a seizure. “I am OK. Thanks to everyone who has shown their concern,” Shockey said in a message posted on his Twitter account. “Don’t worry about me. I will be fine.”

Saints safety Darren Sharper, who was seen at the hospital where Shockey was being treated, also was with Shockey in the Saints’ weight room when the seizure took place. “It was scary,” Sharper said. “We didn’t know what was going on.”

Sharper said trainers quickly attended to the star tight end, who seemed lucid again after about a minute and was able to walk on his own to an ambulance. “He said he just felt lightheaded,” Sharper recalled.

It was not immediately clear how long Shockey would be hospitalized. Last summer, before the 2009 training camp began, Shockey had to be hospitalized after passing out from dehydration at a party in Las Vegas.

Shockey had just completed three straight days of offseason training sessions at team headquarters before Thursday’s seizure occurred.

The Saints did not officially comment on Shockey’s condition, leaving unclear his prospects for getting back on the field when the Saints return to their suburban New Orleans headquarters for minicamp June 4-6.

Sunday’s game between the New Orleans Saints and Miami Dolphins was a game of two halves. The first half was one that the Saints would have just soon forgot existed as first downs seemed as elusive as a desert mirage; as a result, New Orleans found themselves down by 21 early in the second half. Then they woke up. They would score 36 second half points as they rallied to defeat the pesky Dolphins 46-34 at Land Shark Stadium.

Things were bumpy initially for New Orleans as by their fifth offensive play, they had committed three penalties. Miami would capitalize as running back Williams scored twice in the opening period from 4 and 68 yards – sandwiching a 46-yard field goal by Saints kicker John Carney – giving the Dolphins a 10-7 lead going into the second quarter.

The scoring for Miami would continue as a 32-yard FG by kicker Dan Carpenter followed by an 8-yard TD run by Ronnie Brown would pad their lead to 24-3; Saints quarterback Drew Brees would punch it in from a yard out, narrowing their deficit to 24-10 with 2 ticks left in the first half.

The third quarter found both teams exchanging scores as New Orleans safety Darren Sharper grabbed a Chad Henne interception and scored from 42 yards, narrowing Miami’s lead to 24-17; Carpenter would kick a 33-yard FG 8 minutes later, giving the Dolphins a 27-17 edge. Brees would connect with wide receiver Marques Colston on a 10-yard scoring pass, reducing their deficit to 3 with 1:09 left in the period. But Williams would score another rushing TD from 4 yards out, extending Miami’s lead to 34-24 going into the fourth quarter. That’s when the Saints would explode.

They would score 22 unanswered points in the final period as RB Reggie Bush dashed into the end zone from 10 yards out (very acrobatic, I might add); Brees would run in for a score at the 8:35 mark of the game, giving New Orleans their first lead of the game. Carney would boot a 20-yard chip shot then defense would get involved as cornerback Tracy Porter took a Henne intereception 54 yards for a score, sealing the win for the Saints.

Brees, despite the win, had his worst game of the season, going 22-of-38 for 298 with a passing TD but 3 INTs but also rushing for 2 scores; Henne didn’t do any better as he went 18-of-36 for 211 yards and a pair of INTs. Mike Bell led all Saints rushers with 80 yards on just 12 carries while Williams led the Dolphins’ rushing attack with 80 yards and 3 TDs; Ronnie Brown added 48 yards and a score.

Tight end Jeremy Shockey led all Saints receivers with 4 receptions for 105 yards while Colston caught 5 passes for 72 yards and a score; Devery Henderson caught 4 passes for 71 yards. Brian Hartline led the Miami receiving corps with 3 receptions for 94 yards while Greg Camarillo added 55 yards on 5 receptions. The Saints won the game with a price as defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis was forced to leave the game in the second quarter with a sprained right knee. New Orleans (6-0) looks to remain undefeated as they return home to host division rival Atlanta next Monday night while Miami (2-4) goes to New York next Sunday to face the Jets.

Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey says he’ll take part in the Saints final eight voluntary workouts and wants to turn the focus on him back to football. He spoke to reporters between practices at the teams mandatory minicamp.

He missed much of last season because of a hernia injury and failed to score a touchdown in the NFL’s top-rated offense. He did not attend the first four of the team’s voluntary offseason practices and was back in the news two weeks ago when he was treated at a hospital for dehydration after being found unconscious at a pool party at a Las Vegas resort.

He offered few specifics about the Vegas incident, but seemed to confirm that excessive consumption of alcohol mixed with the desert heat led to the dehydration. “If you’re halfway intelligent you can read what everybody wrote,” Shockey said. “You know what they say, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. That’s in the past. I’m looking forward to the future.

“I still haven’t been here a year so I can mature a long way and tune up my game,” he said. “The most important thing is to know Drew and know what we’re trying to get accomplished and knowing each other’s game. It’s still a new offense for me. I’m going to treat it as a rookie like anyone else in this locker room that just got here.”

Shockey was third on the team with 50 receptions, but didn’t have the kind of impact New Orleans envisioned even as Brees passed for the second-most yards ever in an NFL season.

“I think everyone knows I’m here to try to help this team win,” Shockey added. “I’m not here to sell jerseys or anything like that. I’ll have the time this year to show people I’m healthy and different from last year.”

This was not a good game for Saints fans as New Orleans still was able to get yards but not scores. Drew Brees had his worst game of the season by the numbers as he completed only about half his passes, throwing for 231 yards, one interception, and no touchdowns.

The Panthers gave a strong defensive effort that included a sack and two turnovers but caused probably more damage to the team‘s morale. The earlier losses for New Orleans were by a combined 10 points. For the first time this season, New Orleans was blown out.

The game did not look in the first half like it would be the pounding it was. Carolina got the ball first. Starting from their 28 yard line, the Panthers moved down the field but were forced to kick a 39-yard field goal when T Kendrick Clancy sacked QB Jake Delhomme on third down.

Carolina’s defense helped both by limiting the amount of time New Orleans was on the field and by creating a turnover when RB Jonathan Stewart ran 18 yards into the end zone. Carolina also hit a 48 yard field goal with 3 and a half minutes left in the half.

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Who would have thought that after three weeks the San Francisco 49′ers would have a better record than the New Orleans Saints? That is the case as the two teams do battle Sunday at the SuperDome in New Orleans. The Niners come in at 2-1, winners of two in a row after losing in the opener vs the Cardinals. The Saints have lost two straight on the road after an opening day win over the Bucs at home.

New Orleans came all the way back from 18 down in Denver Sunday, but were the victims of a bad no-call late, and then Martin Gramatica missed a potential go-ahead 43-yard field goal with 1:55 remaining that would have put the team ahead. The Broncos jumped on the Saints, and the team was able to fight back only to lose in the end, and it will be interesting to see if they can rally from that defeat.

San Fran enters the contest with a ton of confidence, more so on the offensive side of the ball. The last two weeks, both wins, the team put up 365 yards and 33 points and 370 points and 31 points in Sunday’s win over the Lions. The key seems to be the play-calling of coordinator Mike Martz, along with the play of QB J.T. O’Sullivan, who has been making good decisions and not turning the ball over.

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The short tenure of Joey Harrington as a QB for the New Orleans Saints is over. Harrington, who joined the team as their third QB just last week, was released on Wednesday. The team released Harrington to sign TE Sean Ryan, who caught nine total passes from 2006-07 with the New York Jets. Ryan was brought in to take the spot of Jeremy Shockey, who is out for the next 3-6 weeks. Ryan did play a game this year with Miami, but didn’t have a catch. Harrington last season for the Falcons threw for 2,215 yards, seven touchdowns and eight interceptions in 12 games, including 10 starts.

The Saints got some bad news today in their passing game, as tight end Jeremy Shockey is expected to miss between three and six weeks to surgery for a sport hernia. He has been somewhat silent in the passing game so far for New Orleans, as he has 16 catches for 151 yards in the team going 1-2.

It’s Shockey’s second big injury in two years, as last season he broke his left leg in December with the Giants and missed the teams postseason run that ended with an upset of the Pats in the Super Bowl. The Saints have already lost Marques Colston for a few weeks, that took place in week one in a win over Tampa Bay. He had surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb and is not expected back for another month.

Right now that will put the pressure on wides outs David Patten, Devery Henderson, Lance Moore, Robert Meachem and Terrance Copper. The teams other tight ends are Billy Miller and Mark Campbell.