Boss Has Made Big Strides To Ease Loss of Shockey

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Giants coach Tom Coughlin would sooner post his Super Bowl game plan on the Internet than risk giving a rookie a big head by gushing over his play.

But the way Coughlin talked about rookie tight end Kevin Boss at yesterday's Super Bowl media day, it was clear that Coughlin loves the hard-nosed style Boss brings to the team and considers Boss a major part of the Giants' success.

"He's done very well," Coughlin said of Boss, a 2007 fifth-round draft pick who became the Giants' starting tight end when Jeremy Shockey broke his leg in a loss to the Washington Redskins on December 16. "He's a young guy who's responded very well, he's made plays along the way, and he's gotten better as a blocker.

But Boss, who a year ago had completed a college career at Western Oregon and was just hoping some team would give him a chance to play professional football, seems baffled that he's now a key player on the sport's biggest stage. When told that Patriots coach Bill Belichick had mentioned Boss when talking about the Patriots' defensive game plan, Boss was awed not merely that Belichick — one of the game's top defensive strategists — was concerned about stopping him, but that Belichick even knew who he was.

Not many people knew who Boss was a few months ago, but everyone who has watched the Giants' playoff run knows about him. The Giants' offense has had some of its best games since Boss replaced the four-time Pro Bowler Shockey in the lineup, and the Giants are 4–1 in that time, with the only loss coming in the regular-season finale to the Patriots. Boss made his presence felt immediately when Shockey went down, catching a 19-yard touchdown pass just a few minutes after Shockey got hurt against the Redskins. Two weeks later he had a four-catch, 50-yard day against the Patriots. In the Giants' divisional playoff victory against the Dallas Cowboys, the 19-yard pass Boss caught on third down late in the second quarter was a play Coughlin singled out as having given the team momentum heading into the second half. Boss has been exactly the kind of receiving threat the Giants needed from the tight end position after Shockey went down.

But Boss was quick to dismiss any thought that his replacing Shockey was the reason for the Giants' recent offensive success, and he looked shocked when he was asked if he might even be an improvement over Shockey.

"I kind of think it's a little silly," Boss said. "I don't even come close to considering myself as in his category. It was an unfortunate situation for our team to lose a great player like Jeremy. Jeremy has proven himself in this game. But I felt like I could step in and help the team."

Boss has helped the team, and when the other Giants discussed Boss's impact on the offense yesterday, one word came up more than any other: blocking. Shockey is a fine blocker, but Boss is a bit bigger than Shockey and seems to enjoy blocking more than Shockey does. Any play in which Shockey is blocking is a play when he would rather be running a pass route. Boss is more than happy to stay in and go one-on-one with a defensive end or linebacker.

Giants running back Brandon Jacobs said yesterday that he knows he's going to need a big day blocking from Boss if he's going to have a big day running in the Super Bowl. And he said Boss has filled that role so well that, from a running back's perspective, he hasn't noticed much of a difference to the offense since Shockey got hurt.

"I wouldn't really say the offense changed," Jacobs said. "Kevin stepped up and knew what he had to do, and he's blocking well."

Shockey wasn't with his teammates at University of Phoenix Stadium yesterday, and Boss said he has had very little contact with the player he replaced. For most of his career Shockey has been one of Big Blue's highest-profile players, but he is now just a footnote to this Super Bowl season. Still, several of Shockey's teammates, including defensive end Michael Strahan, wide receiver Plaxico Burress, and quarterback Eli Manning, spoke about his importance to the team yesterday. Manning, in particular, indicated that although he likes the way Boss is playing, the offense would be more versatile if Shockey were still around.

"We definitely miss Jeremy," Manning said. "He was a key player in our offense (and) our offense has changed without Jeremy. We were able to put him in motion more, move him around, and do more things. Everybody else has had to step up a little bit with Jeremy out."

It may be true that all the offensive players have stepped up in Shockey's absence, but none more so than Boss. A rookie who turned 24 this month but looks younger, with the face of a kid atop a 6-foot-6-inch, 253-pound body, Boss looked a bit out of place amid all the NFL stars yesterday. But on the field he's been a perfect fit for the Giants.

Mr. Smith is a writer for the Web site AOLFanHouse.com.