Saints Training Camp Day 13 Notes and Observations

Chris Olave had some great moments, as well the defensive line and several others during Day 13 of Saints training camp.

METAIRIE -- We're one day closer to the Saints playing a preseason game, as we have one final practice on Friday to look forward to. The team practiced indoors on Thursday, which was originally supposed to be an open practice to the public. However, the severe heat caused the team to cancel several days ago. Here's some of the happenings from Day 13.

TRAINING CAMP RECAPS: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | What We've Learned | Day 12

Saints Training Camp Notes and Observations from Day 13

ATTENDANCE

Tre’Quan Smith (groin), Rashid Shaheed (groin), Tyrann Mathieu, Demario Davis (calf), Andrus Peat (quad), Jesse James (groin), Lucas Krull (tailbone) and Cam Jordan were among those not spotted today. Dennis Allen said Kirk Merritt left practice with hamstring tightness, it was the same thing that was bothering him the other day. Lonnie Johnson Jr. banged knees during a play and had cramping, but Allen said it was nothing significant.

STARTING LOOKS AND MORE

Offensively, the Saints rolled out a familiar offensive line of Trevor Penning, James Hurst, Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, and Storm Norton. The second rotation had Lewis Kidd, Nick Saldiveri, Max Garcia, Calvin Throckmorton, and Landon Young.

For the defense, they rolled out a line of Tanoh Kpassagnon, Khalen Saunders, Nathan Shepherd, and Carl Granderson. Nephi Sewell and Pete Werner were at linebacker for their nickel package, with Bradley Roby in the slot. Marshon Lattimore and Paulson Adebo were on the outside, with Jordan Howden in Tyrann Mathieu's position with Marcus Maye.  

1-ON-1 DETAIL

Here's how things went in 1-on-1's today, with Chris Olave stealing the show in a lot of these reps. He's been tremendous. All three quarterbacks threw passes during this drill. Here's the details.

20-yard-line

• Lynn Bowden Jr. vs. Paulson Adebo (Winston) - Incomplete, flats sideline right.
• Bryan Edwards vs. Anthony Johnson (Winston) - Complete, backshoulder left side. Nice adjustment and catch by Edwards, who had a pretty good day. Johnson would have likely been called for a flag due to contact.
• Keke Coutee vs. Alontae Taylor (Winston) - Complete, fade right. Winston threw a nice dime in there, and it was a good catch by Coutee.
• Keith Kirkwood vs. Ugo Amadi (Haener) - Complete, fade left. Great catch by Kirkwood on the rep.
• James Washington vs. Isaac Yiadom (Haener) - Incomplete, backshoulder right.
• A.T. Perry vs. Adrian Frye (Haener) - Complete, slant left to right.
• Kawaan Baker vs. Troy Pride (Haener) - Complete, inside middle short.
• Michael Thomas vs. Bradley Roby (Carr) - Complete, inside left to the right.
• Jontre Kirklin vs. Paulson Adebo (Carr) - Complete, inside short.
• Shaq Davis vs. Troy Pride (Carr) - Incomplete, fade route left. Ball was a little overthrown.
• Chris Olave vs. Alontae Taylor - Complete, fade route right. Coverage was good by Olave, but it was a perfect throw by Carr and an outstanding catch by Olave.
• Bryan Edwards vs. Marcus Maye - No throw, Maye did a good job of jamming Edwards at the line.

15-yard-line

• Lynn Bowden Jr. vs. Isaac Yiadom (Carr) - Complete, inside left to right.
• Keith Kirkwood vs. Anthony Johnson (Carr) - Complete, inside left to right. Nice stutter step move by Kirkwood at the line to get free.
• Keke Coutee vs. Paulson Adebo (Carr) - Complete, back shoulder right end zone. Nice coverage on the play, but Coutee ended up getting it.
• Michael Thomas vs. Marshon Lattimore (Carr) - Complete, inside middle. Lattimore was anticipating Thomas to go on the outside, so it was a major juke that left him wide open over the middle.
• James Washington vs. Alontae Taylor (Winston) - Incomplete, fade right. No chance for that connection to work, ball wasn't there.
• A.T. Perry vs. Marcus Maye (Winston) - Complete, comeback left side. Great hands fight at the line between Perry and Maye, and Perry ran a good route near the sideline to get the completion. Maye did his best to keep him from getting into the end zone.

10-yard-line

• Chris Olave vs. Isaac Yiadom (Carr) - Complete, fade right touchdown. It looked way too easy. Olave had a great day.
• Shaq Davis vs. Adrian Frye (Carr) - Incomplete, back middle end zone on crosser. It was a nice recovery by Frye, who originally got beat on the route.
• Keith Kirkwood vs. Troy Pride (Winston) - Complete, nice route by Kirkwood on the play.
• Bryan Edwards vs. Johnathan Abram (Carr) - Complete, inside crosser.

6-yard-line

• Jontre Kirklin vs. Lonnie Johnson Jr. (Winston) - Complete, short left.
• Michael Thomas vs. Marshon Lattimore - Incomplete, middle end zone.
• Chris Olave vs. Paulson Adebo (Carr) - Complete, fade right touchdown.

RED ZONE 7-ON-7

Starting defensive personnel: Bradley Roby, Zack Baun, Pete Werner, Jordan Howden, Marcus Maye, D'Marco Jackson, Paulson Adebo

Derek Carr (4/6)

• 20-yard-line: Complete, Jamaal Williams flats left (Zack Baun, Marshon Lattimore)
• 16-yard-line: Complete, A.T. Perry curl middle short (Pete Werner)
• 10-yard-line: Incomplete, intended for Michael Thomas mid crossing route (D'Marco Jackson). Jackson had a PBU on the play.
• 6-yard-line: Complete, Alvin Kamara middle on angle route for a touchdown (Johnathan Abram, D'Marco Jackson)
• 2-yard-line: Incomplete, intended for Lynn Bowden Jr. (Bradley Roby). Good coverage by Roby on the play, as Carr rolled left to try to hook up in the end zone.
• 20-yard-line: Complete, James Washington crossing route left to right (Ugo Amadi).

Jameis Winston (3/5)

• 16-yard-line: Incomplete, intended for A.T. Perry on a post middle route (Ugo Amadi). Credit Amadi for a PBU.
• 8-yard-line: Complete, Foster Moreau curl left for a touchdown (Zack Baun, Nephi Sewell).
• 6-yard-line: Incomplete, intended for Michael Thomas on a slant in end zone (Alontae Taylor). Taylor had a PBU.
• 4-yard-line: Complete, Bryan Edwards fade left for a touchdown (Isaac Yiadom). Great catch by Edwards on the play.
• 20-yard-line: Complete, Kawaan Baker curl right on checkdown (Ryan Connelly).

Jake Haener (2/4)

• 12-yard-line: Complete, Ellis Merriweather flats right short (Smoke Monday).
• 7-yard-line: Complete, Kendre Miller right sideline for a touchdown (Anfernee Orji).
• 6-yard-line: Incomplete, intended for Lynn Bowden Jr. off the right end zone sideline (Adrian Frye). The pass was off target.
• 4-yard-line: Incomplete, Shaq Davis and Ellis Merriweather were in the area with Alontae Taylor and Ugo Amadi around. The pass was also off target.

TEAM SERIES

TEAM SERIES NO. 1: Like we've seen in recent days, the majority of these were running plays. We did have a completion during Carr's series. Bryan Bresee made a nice play on the first Alvin Kamara run left to force a tackle for loss. He busted through the line with relative ease to blow up the play. The second play was a run attempt left after a halfback flip to the left with Jamaal Williams, which Carl Granderson forced a tackle for loss. 

Kamara got the next carry inside, getting a nice hit from Nathan Shepherd in the process on the short gain. Kendre Miller got a toss play on the next rep to the left with Trevor Penning out in front, but Bradley Roby made a nice play in run support. Taysom Hill then came in for a snap, and actually ended up throwing a nice pass down the seam to Foster Moreau for an intermediate gain. Zack Baun and Lonnie Johnson Jr. were in coverage. The final play of the series saw Carr toss left to Jamaal Williams, with D'Marco Jackson getting the run stop.

Jameis Winston's first rep saw him hand off to Kendre Miller inside, with Malcolm Roach stuffing the play to force a tackle for loss. They then tried a stretch play to the outside left with Kirk Merritt that went for a short gain. Adam Prentice got a rush attempt on the fullback dive that caught the defense off guard and led to a nice gain. Miller got the next run outside on the right side and found some space. Ty Summers got him by the face mask some, which would have given the offense extra yards. The next play was a fumble due to the snap exchange that Jake Bargas landed on, and the final play for Winston was a fade left attempt to James Washington with Troy Pride in Coverage. It was overthrown, however.

TEAM SERIES NO. 2: The second team series focused on a regular down and distance situation working against the defense. Each quarterback got six plays.

Jamaal Williams got Carr's series started right a nice inside run for a good gain in which he got to the second level untouched. Carr's first pass attempt was a high one for Chris Olave working against Bradley Roby on a crossing route. He tried to one-hand the catch and got a hand on it, but was unable to wrangle it in. Carr came back on the next play to hit Juwan Johnson on a drag route right that he turned upfield for extra yardage with Johnathan Abram in coverage. Williams got another handoff to the left for a short gain, with Pete Werner getting the run stop. Alvin Kamara then got a carry to the right short another short gain. The final play was a decent hookup between Miichael Thomas and Marcus Maye near the right sideline.

Winston hit Bryan Edwards on a drag route left to start with Isaac Yiadom trailing. Kendre Miller got an inside run on the next play for a short gain, as Zack Baun and Malcolm Roach got the stop. He then tried to connect with Lynn Bowden Jr. working against Ugo Amadi, and it almost ended up with a pick for Jonathan Abram. On the rep, Lewis Kidd had a nice pass block against Isaiah Foskey. Miller got another carry outside to the left that Foskey stopped. Winston then came back to Bowden Jr. near the right sideline on the rollout for a nice hookup deep working against Ugo Amadi. The final play was an inside run to the left with Ellis Merriweather that saw him get to the second level.

Jake Haener's series started with a short hookup to James Washington on a curl route with Troy Pride in coverage. He had Shaq Davis on a crosser for the next play with Pride in coverage, but the ball was thrown behind him slightly. He then tried Washington on a throw to the deep right working against Adrian Frye, but was picked off by Smoke Monday. In all fairness, Frye was handsy and would have drawn a holding call. Ellis Merriweather got two shorts runs on the next plays, one to the middle inside and the other to the left side. It's worth pointing out that Trevor Penning was still playing left tackle here. The final play was blown dead after Haener rolled right. There was good coverage in the secondary, and he still tried a pass to A.T. Perry near the sideline that was covered well by Pride.

TEAM SERIES NO. 3: Each quarterback got a chance to work from the 25-yard-line, with each play going up in yardage up to the 4-yard-line. Here's what unfolded.

Derek Carr (1/3)

• 25-yard-line: Incomplete, pass was tipped at the line by Khalen Saunders, intended for A.T. Perry with Pete Werner in coverage. Perry did have a shot at catching it on the curl.
• 25-yard-line: Complete, Juwan Johnson inside moving left to right for short gain (Pete Werner).
• 16-yard-line: Incomplete, back shoulder hookup in the end zone to Juwan Johnson (Jordan Howden). It was a perfect throw, but Johnson couldn't get it.
• 10-yard-line: Alvin Kamara run right for a short gain (Pete Werner).
• 4-yard-line: Alvin Kamara run left touchdown. Nice blocks by Trevor Penning and James Hurt, with a nice stutter step from Kamara to start the run.

Jameis Winston (1/3)

• 25-yard-line: Jamaal Williams inside left for a short gain.
• 18-yard-line: Incomplete, end zone shot up the seam for Taysom Hill (D'Marco Jackson). Ball was a bit overthrown, and Hill tried to make a one-handed attempt to get the pass.
• 14-yard-line: Incomplete, throwaway after Carl Granderson had the pressure.
• 8-yard-line: Complete, Foster Moreau tight end screen right for a short gain. Bresee's first push was something good to see.
• 4-yard-line: Jameis Winston keeper inside for a touchdown.

Jake Haener (2/4)

• 25-yard-line: Complete, Foster Moreau left sideline for a touchdown (Ty Summers). This might have been the play of the day. It was certainly the craziest. Summers had a shot at the ball and tried to make the pick, as it was underthrown, but somehow it popped up in the air to Moreau and he got the score.
• 20-yard-line: Kendre Miller outside left for a short gain.
• 14-yard-line: Interception, Haener was flushed from the pocket and tried to throw to Kendre Miller inside out of desperation. It popped up from Miller into the hands of Jerron Cage for every defensive lineman's dream.
• 8-yard-line: Incomplete, deep right end zone for Keke Coutee (Adrian Frye). This was a weird play, as there was miscommunication and a botched attempt a play fake that didn't have a running back there.
• 4-yard-line: Complete, touchdown right end zone to Keke Coutee (Adrian Frye). Haener came back to end practice on a high note after scrambling right to find Coutee in the end zone, who was held on the play.

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

• Ryan Ramczyk said he'll be on the same plan as last year for his knee. He said that it felt great with the management, and it will be the same type of routine this season.
• One omission from yesterday that I need to correct. I left off three Wil Lutz field goals from Day 5, so his camp total is actually 44/47. No kicks for anyone today, but we'll point out that Blake Grupe is 33/36.
• It was good seeing Jermon Bushrod at practice. He looks terrific, slimmed down and also very fit. He made it a point to shake hands with the media and chat for a minute in between drills while walking alongside Jahri Evans.
• The kickoff team worked on squib kicks in addition to kickoffs with Blake Grupe. We'll hopefully get a better idea of how the kickers will be utilized in the preseason from Dennis Allen on Friday.
• We talked about Chris Olave a little earlier, but he is making some insane one-handed catches in drills. Buy his stock, like yesterday.
• Friday's practice will be in the Superdome, which will give players a chance to get acclimated with the new turf, layout, and many other things.