Jeremy Shockey is headed back to Miami, where the flamboyant tattooed bachelor with long blond hair is no stranger to the South Beach social scene.
Shockey, the New Orleans Saints' star tight end, doesn't sound like he's in any mood to party just yet. For the second time in three seasons, his team is in the Super Bowl, and this time he expects to play.
"We just have to be smart in every aspect (and avoid) guys going out, doing stupid stuff, getting in trouble," said Shockey, who made news last offseason by passing out, dehydrated, at a pool-side party in Las Vegas. "A lot of people put a lot of hours, time in, injuries and so on ... so I think everyone is mature enough in this locker room to know how much is at stake."
Although Shockey is still dealing with right-knee soreness that has limited him in New Orleans' two playoff games -- and kept him out of yesterday's practice -- the Saints hope to have him on the field. Including playoffs, New Orleans is 15-0 when Shockey plays, 0-3 when he doesn't.
Shockey, with four catches for 45 yards and a touchdown in two playoff games, sounds confident he will play Feb. 7 in the Super Bowl against the Colts -- and play better.
"The last two games you guys have seen me play, it wasn't really me," Shockey said yesterday. "I was out there on one leg. It felt like being on a pogo stick. This week I'll have two pogo sticks instead of one."
Earlier this week, Shockey flew to Birmingham, Ala., to get a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews, the noted orthopedic surgeon, on what Coach Sean Payton described as "more of a bruise."
Payton and Shockey said the examination left them encouraged.
"There's no holding the reins back," Shockey said. "I'll do everything I can, even it that requires hurting myself, to win the game because you got a lot of time to rehab and things of that nature to get right in the offseason."
Shockey, who starred in college at Miami and has made south Miami Beach his home, watched from a suite two seasons ago as his New York Giants won the Super Bowl.
Shockey, a four-time Pro Bowler, had missed the last month of the 2007 regular season and all of the Giants' playoff run with a broken left leg. He said later that he felt alienated from the organization during the playoffs. He didn't travel with the team to the Super Bowl, stay in the team hotel or watch from the sideline.
Shockey then worked out on his own instead of attending the Giants' voluntary workouts, hoping for a trade that eventually came when he was shipped to New Orleans days before training camp in 2008.
He still got a Giants championship ring, which he sent to his mother. He said he would do the same even if he won another ring with New Orleans.
"I don't wear rings," he said, smiling playfully as he held up his left hand. "I'm not married -- not married at all."
Shockey's first season in New Orleans didn't go as hoped. He pulled up lame in training camp with what later was diagnosed as a sports hernia. He missed four games, played injured in others and finished with 50 catches for 483 yards and no touchdowns.
For most of this season he was healthy, catching 48 passes for 569 yards and three touchdowns.
But he missed the last three games with a foot injury, then suffered a knee injury in New Orleans' playoff opener against Arizona. The injury occurred before he hobbled 17 yards to make a touchdown catch. Shockey was limited the next week against Minnesota and made one catch for 9 yards.
"I know how much he wants to be a part of this game," quarterback Drew Brees said. "I know he's going to be ready, and just having him out there, most great tight ends are big-time matchup problems for teams just because it's a safety (or) it's a linebacker having to cover them. We feel good about that."
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