ALBANY - Mike Pope was already bummed because he had to spend almost his entire flight back from Florida watching the ticker at the bottom of the TV screen on the seat in front of him taunt him about the Redskins' acquisition of Jason Taylor. Then the turbulence really started because about 20 minutes away from landing in Newark, the breaking news scroll changed and told him that Jeremy Shockey - the player he had mentored on and off the field - had been traded to the Saints.

“I thought I was on the wrong flight,” the Giants' tight ends coach said with a rueful chuckle. “Once we came out of the clouds my cell phone was like it had Christmas lights on it.”

A day before players report to training camp, and a day after Shockey passed his physical in New Orleans to complete the swap, the buzz isn't about defending titles or getting back on the field or even the starting quarterback whose name wasn't even mentioned in the news conferences held by Tom Coughlin and offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride. No, despite Coughlin's assertions that this would be a camp focused on team and not individuals, the conversation continually swung to the individual no longer on the team.

Is there something to be said for the apparent disconnect between Shockey's behavior and the selfless philosophy being preached?

“I'm sure at some point in time that was part of the consideration,” Coughlin said.

As for how the Giants will cope with Shockey's loss, both Gilbride and Pope seemed to give a collective shrug of the shoulders.

“The best thing I can do is make an analogy between this year with Jeremy and the loss of Tiki (Barber) last year,” Gilbride said. “I wasn't sure how we were going to replace him, I was looking forward to finding out what the answers would be, who would step up and fill the void, and the same thing certainly exists this year. I don't know how we're going to fill it.”

Gilbride added that there would certainly be some changes in the way the Giants play offense.

“What do we do? Do we move it? Do we play less two tights? Do we have certain restrictions in certain players?” he asked. “I really don't know the answer but I'm excited about seeing our young guys. We'll all kind of see together as camp is unfolding.”

As for Shockey, Pope was very candid about his pupil's mindset during this offseason.

“A player, in some cases, can be at a place too long,” Pope said. “How would the scenario have been different if we didn't go to Green Bay and do as well as we did or if we didn't play well in Tampa? Even in the Super Bowl game, there were tons of chances in that game for the game to go either way. The scenario just worked out. Out of the many thousands of possibilities, this is the way it worked out and he didn't feel a part of any of that.”