Super Bowl hangover? Shockey, Burress start of Giant headaches
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- People who have been there will tell you it's harder to defend a Super Bowl title than it is to win one, and the New York Giants this week are demonstrating why.
When they held a mandatory minicamp Wednesday, there was no Jeremy Shockey or Plaxico Burress in the lineup.
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| The Giants got hot and won a Super Bowl after Jeremy Shockey was injured last season. (Getty Images) |
So it wouldn't have been a shock if he skipped this week's minicamp, too.
Only he didn't. He just didn't make it to the practice field. Instead, he was inside Giants Stadium, rehabbing a broken leg that shelved him late last season and prevents him from participating in practice.
Which is fine, except for one thing: Injured players attended the morning practice and watched from the sidelines. Only Shockey wasn't one of them.
"Was there a (medical) reason?" coach Tom Coughlin was asked.
"Not really," he said.
"Was he supposed to be out?"
"That's between Shockey and me," he said.
I think you can see where this is going. Coughlin wanted to talk about the guys on the field, and Shockey wasn't among them. Fair enough. But Coughlin did admit there's "no question" he considers Shockey an important part of the team and said that "at this point and time" he would be his starting tight end ... provided, of course, he's healthy.
Which he isn't.
So that clears up little, other than the Shockey story is liable to be played up to and through training camp -- with the Giants waiting to see where they and their tight end go next.
