Saints News Network

Saints Training Camp: Notes and Observations from Day 16

Wednesday's joint practice with the Packers was a bit more spirited, and brought a few extra concerns for the Saints.

John Hendrix

In this story:

GREEN BAY -- The second and final joint practice between the Packers and Saints went quickly. Things ended 15 minutes earlier today, which was part of the plan on the schedule. The flow was mostly the same from yesterday, as each team practiced some on their own for stretching, walkthroughs, and position specific drills. They got together for team drills the rest of the way. Here's our notes and observations from Wednesday's session.

TRAINING CAMP RECAPS: Day 15 | 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: Among those players not spotted at Wednesday's session included Pete Werner, Ryan Ramczyk, Forrest Lamp, and Jaleel Johnson. Nick Vannett returned to practice after initially not being with the team due to illness. Dwayne Washington, Chase Hansen, Landon Young, and Andrus Peat were among those were present, but not participating. Marcus Davenport was in pads originally and participated in walkthroughs, but ended up in street clothes like yesterday.

JAMEIS WINSTON: Jameis Winston seems a bit closer here, but he won't be playing against the Packers on Friday. He was around for practice, making throws, and also doing sprints in team walkthroughs. However, he did not participate in any team drills.

O-LINE DEPLETED: Things probably couldn't have went worse for the Saints today on the offensive line. Trevor Penning first exited due to injury, being able to walk off under his own power with trainers. The good news is that he later returned. Next, James Hurst left the field and did not return. Dennis Allen said that it's a foot injury, and that's the only details we have. Later, Sage Doxtater left the field with an apparent left arm injury and did not return.

New Orleans was down all three of their main tackles at one point, and with others not playing, it certainly put a heightened focus on Doxtater and Lewis Kidd. Look for the Saints to make some quick moves and calls to get some players in before their game on Friday evening.

WALKTHROUGH NOTES: Defensively, the Saints rolled out their nickel look, with Payton Turner and Carl Granderson on the edge. David Onyemata and Shy Tuttle were in the middle, with Eric Wilson and Demario Davis at linebacker. C.J. Gardner-Johnson was in the slot, while Paulson Adebo and Marshon Lattimore were on the outside. Tyrann Mathieu and Marcus Maye were at safety.

On offense, New Orleans had a much different look without Ramczyk and Young in. Trevor Penning got the start at left tackle, with Calvin Throckmorton, Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, and James Hurst being the others from left to right. Winston took reps with the first team, but Andy Dalton handled all team drills.

SKIRMISH LEADS TO EARLY EXIT: Dennis Allen confirmed after practice that Jarvis Landry exited practice early due to an on-the-field skirmish. Teams were coming together during special teams drills. Obviously, things on the second day were just a bit more spirited. Landry got into it with Eric Stokes.

TEAM DRILL HIGHLIGHTS: New Orleans didn't look good on offense to start team drills. There were at least four sacks between Andy Dalton and Ian Book, with Book taking the majority of them. Give some credit to the Packers defensive line, however. They really took it to another level on Wednesday.

Red zone work saw Andy Dalton catch fire, as he bounced back from back-to-back sacks on the first two plays to throw three touchdowns on three straight plays. The first one was a slant to Chris Olave. He then found Juwan Johnson in the back of the end zone. 

On his next series, his first pass was a touchdown to Adam Trautman, who made a great leap over the defender to get the throw for the score. Lucas Krull got a touchdown on a curl route just three plays later. Dalton was hot in red zone, finishing 4-of-4.

Ian Book's first two reps in red zone saw them end with pass breakups, as they were both passes intended to Tony Jones Jr. The second play likely would have been blown dead as a sack.

The next set of team drills started from the team's own 40-yard-line. Andy Dalton led a scoring drive, finishing 4-of-4. The second play was a Mark Ingram burst up the middle that would have went for a touchdown. It was as pretty of a run as you've seen from Ingram. Dalton had a huge 30-yard play to Chris Olave that helped set the team up in the red zone. Alvin Kamara took it in from 3 yards out two plays later.

Book's series started out promising after a big run play with Tony Jones Jr. off the left side. However, that was about it on the drive, as the offense was stuffed in the run department on three plays, and the two passes Book had were overthrows to Deonte Harty. 

The final portion of team drills involved the two-minute offense, as both teams started in their own territory with 1:10 on the clock. Both the Saints and Packers first team offenses failed to score, as well as the second team New Orleans offense. Jordan Love piloted a drive that resulted in a touchdown to close out practice. 

On Aaron Rodgers' series, the Saints defense stood tall, with Cam Jordan providing a good bit of pressure and a sack. Paulson Adebo dropped a sure pick on a deep slant route that could have ended the drive with 17 seconds left. However, the team rebounded and got a Tanoh Kpassagnon sack to finish. 

GOOD TO SEE: Lucas Krull made two really good catches in the two-minute drill from Ian Book. His first one went deep over the middle, and he paid the price after being hit immediately by Ty Summers. He hung on, however. He then had another good catch near the right sideline for a big gain. You don't want to say that it's too late for him, but after missing the Texans game, Krull needs these type of reps and continue building off of them.

THE REAL DEAL: Chris Olave is the real deal, and he had himself a tremendous practice. You saw how easy it was for him to get open underneath and all over the field. It's as if they just lost him in coverage and were somewhat confused. However, it didn't stop there. Olave made some good contested catches, including a really pretty one from Dalton for a deep sideline gain on a scoring drive. There's tons of reasons to be excited about the rookie.

BOOK'S STRUGGLES: Ian Book had a really rough practice. He was sacked several times in team drills, and had a couple overthrows to Deonte Harty. Had the pass been a bit better hitting Harty in stride, they'd both be touchdowns. He's facing a tremendous amount of pressure to deliver on Friday.

The Saints and Packers have a joint get together planned for this evening. Teams will have their own walkthroughs on Thursday, which are closed to the public and media. We'll back for Friday's game.

Read More Saints News

Published
John Hendrix
JOHN HENDRIX

I officially started covering the New Orleans Saints & other NFL topics in 2011. My work has been featured on various outlets over the years. I worked closely with Skyhorse Publishing in Fall 2018 to update the book, Tales From the New Orleans Saints Sidelines, which filled in all Saints material from the 2013-2017 seasons. Prior to joining Saints News Network, I served as the Managing Editor of SB Nation's Canal Street Chronicles for 3.5 years, and before that with FanSided's Who Dat Dish as the Managing Editor for several years. I have also had experiences of being a freelance Saints reporter for The Sun Herald in Biloxi, MS and a contributing writer for WDSU, a local NBC TV station in New Orleans. I have appeared on a vast amount of TV and Radio shows, both nationally and locally. For tips, comments, or suggestions, please contact me at johnhendrix@saintsnews.net

Home/Training Camp