Saints Training Camp: Notes and Observations from Day 15

Tuesday saw the Saints and Packers join up for practices. Here's what went down in Green Bay.

GREEN BAY -- The Saints and Packers held their first of two joint practices on Tuesday, as the team's will play their second preseason game on Friday. The first team offenses and defenses were split up on opposite fields, and we focused more on the New Orleans defense Tuesday. Here's all of our notes and observations from practice.

TRAINING CAMP RECAPS: Day 14 | Day 13 | Day 12 | Day 11 | Day 10 | Day 9 | Day 8 | Day 7 | Day 6 | Day 5 | Day 4 | Day 3 | Day 2 | Day 1

ATTENDANCE: Nick Vannett and Pete Werner were the only two players missing from practice. Alontae Taylor, Zack Baun, and Jameis Winston were among several to return. We learned after practice that Baun was dealing with a hamstring injury, but practiced in full today. Winston was initially out in pads, but changed out of them and observed practice. However, it was a great snapshot for where he's at.

New players Jon Bostic (No. 47) and Niko Lalos (No. 60) were both out there. Landon Young and Dwayne Washington both left practice early, as well as Marcus Davenport. However, Davenport returned later without his pads to watch the rest of practice.

WALKTHROUGHS: Things were a little bit different today obviously, as the Saints had a period of just their team practicing before joining up with the Packers. Defensively New Orleans rolled out a nickel look with Cam Jordan, David Onyemata, Shy Tuttle, and Carl Granderson along the defensive line. Demario Davis and Eric Wilson were at linebacker, with Paulson Adebo and Marshon Lattimore at corner.

DEFENSE SETS TONE: Both the Packers and Saints defenses had the better practices on Tuesday. What was really good to see was Marshon Lattimore and Tyrann Mathieu participating in team drills. Ryan Nielsen was handling all play calls, something that we we will continue seeing through the game.

DEFENSIVE TEAM DRILL FOCUS: Marshon Lattimore only ended up getting targeted once out of all the reps the first team defense had. From charting in all periods, Aaron Rodgers finished 12-of-25, while Jordan Love went 12-of-23.

Lattimore's only target came during the first set of team drills, on a play where he broke up the pass but also was flagged for pass interference. Malcolm Roach had a nice pressure on the next play. Chase Hansen and Roach had a good run stops on separate plays on the ensuing series.

Cam Jordan had a good pressure on Rodgers on the next series that forced an incompletion from Rodgers. He followed that up by having a tackle for loss on a toss play. Tanoh Kpassagnon and Payton Turner had a good pressure on the next Love series that forced a throw into the dirt. Jon Bostic made his presence felt with a good run stop on the inside.

On the second set of team series, Kentavius Street created pressure to make Rodgers take off running. The Packers offense then got a false start, and then the next two passes were off-target and overthrown. Love's series saw him try a deep shot off the left sideline, and it was picked off by Bradley Roby. DaMarcus Fields later had a pass breakup on a Jordan Love slant pass to Samori Toure. 

Another series for Rodgers saw a good run stop and read from Chase Hansen on a toss play to Aaron Jones. Cam Jordan provided pressure on the ensuing play to force a Rodgers overthrow off the deep right sideline. Malcolm Roach and Kaden Elliss combined for a run stop and tackle for loss on the final play of Rodgers' series.

Love's next series had Kentavius Street providing pressure again and would have been credited with a coverage sack. Albert Huggins would get pressure on the final play of Love's work to force a throwaway, but there ended up being a flag in the secondary. 

The next portion of work focused on work inside the 10-yard-line, and this is where Rodgers and Love found their best success of the day. Both ended up finishing 2-of-3, with Rodgers throwing two touchdowns and Love having one. The Love passing touchdown had pressure from Niko Lalos, and the play went for longer than normal, but he was able to find Juwann Winfree for the touchdown.

The next period of work for the Saints defense involved down and distance work from the Packers 25-yard-line. The first series for Aaron Rodgers saw him finish 2-of-5, but one of those was for a big gain. Cam Jordan got a pass breakup on pass intended to the flats for A.J. Dillon. Rodgers would get a completion on the short side to Allen Lazard, which was followed up by a touchdown to Sammy Watkins. The play had flags on it to start, but play was continued on and we never got confirmation on the call. 

Eric Wilson had a tackle for loss on Aaron Jones on the next set of downs on an outside run, which was followed up by a Payton Turner sack on Rodgers. Rodgers tried deep again, this time for Romeo Doubs, but it was dropped. Another fresh set of downs saw Demario Davis blow up a toss play to Dillon, and there was holding on the offense during the play. Cam Jordan then took over with two sacks, and the pass that was thrown on the first rep was broken up by Paulson Adebo.

Jordan Love's series saw him go 3-of-4. Things started tough for the Packers offense, as they got a false start penalty to start. Malcolm Roach provided pressure on Love, who kept it and ran inside. Justin Evans flashed a few plays later, being in the backfield on a Tyler Goodson run inside, with Kaden Elliss making the tackle for loss. Payton Turner had a good stop stop just two plays later, with Bradley Roby having a pass breakup on the final play of that period of team drills.

Our last look saw each quarterback working in two-minute offense from the 25-yard-line. Aaron Rodgers finished 2-of-6, but one of those completions was a deep shot to Allen Lazard for a big gain to set them up on the other side of the field. New Orleans had the 'bend, don't break' defense on full display. The two completions happened on plays 4 and 5, and that was it. Malcolm Roach brought some good pressure to force an incompletion, while he and Eric Wilson got pressure just three plays later to force a throwaway. Paulson Adebo ended up breaking up a pass to Romeo Doubs on a third down play with 14 seconds left to force a Packers field goal.

PRETTY CLEAN: There was only one time the teams came together, and it was during gunner and jammer special teams work. Nothing ended up happening, but obviously the competition was on display. Tre'Quan Smith had a rep with Micah Abernathy and Shawn Davis that he took a little extra block from, but cooler heads prevailed from both sides.

There was a point where C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Jaire Alexander were jawing back and forth, which was pretty funny in itself. Can't exactly repeat what was said, but it involved No. 23. Alexander is certainly a great player, and the exchange was something to see. 

PAYTON TURNER SIGHTING: He had a great practice, turning in a sack with some runs stops and tackles for loss. There were some interesting reps of him going up against Caleb Jones, who is 6-foot-9. However, after not doing much against the Texans, it was a welcomed sight seeing Turner bounce back. 

CAM JORDAN: There's no signs of age for Jordan. He looks outstanding. He had plenty of disruptions in team drills, getting pressure, tackles for loss, and pass breakups. This level of Cam Jordan could easily break the franchise sack record in the first half of the year. 

STOCK UP: Malcolm Roach had a couple of good moments against the Texans, but he stood out a good bit during practice. He was all over the field, creating both pressure and run stops. He's definitely hitting a stride at the right time, so don't write him off.

LATTIMORE ON ADEBO: Asked Marshon Lattimore after practice what kind of differences he had noticed with Paulson Adebo from Year 1 to Year 2. Lattimore responded, "Just his approach. You know he was a dog last year. This year, you can see he matured a little bit with everything. His technique and everything. Be on the lookout for Paulson, for sure. For sure."

ALVIN KAMARA: Things have been somewhat quiet for Kamara, but he's looked great. Dennis Allen only echoed that after practice. Allen said, “I think he's had as good a camp as I've seen, you know, since I've been here. I think he's in a good place mentally. I think he looks exceptionally explosive. He's in great shape. Great condition.”

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