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Saints Wrap Up Week with Black and Gold Scrimmage
by Doug Miller, NewOrleansSaints.com
Saturday, August 08, 2009 - 5:20 PM
The Saints’ Black-and-Gold scrimmage was forced inside this afternoon after a heavy thunderstorm around mid-day drenched portions of Jefferson Parish.
Some notable players were held out of the practice for precautionary reasons, including tailback Reggie Bush (head coach’s decision), quarterback Drew Brees (personal reasons), cornerback Randall Gay (heel), safety Darren Sharper (knee), receivers Lance Moore (shoulder) and Adrian Arrington (hamstring) and tight end Dan Campbell (knee).
The Saints pulled back a bit on the originally script and limited the scrimmage to fewer plays than usual. The Saints had a session where the No. 1 offense faced the No. 2 defense, then the No. 2 defense faced the No. 1 offense, and the third-string units will face each other. After that, the 1s faced the 1s, the 2s faced the 2s and the 3s finished the scrimmage off.
Both sides of the ball, as well as all of the special teams units, received looks in the crisply run sessions, with back-up quarterbacks Mark Brunell and Anthony Hargrove/Joey Harrington.aspx">Joey Harrington splitting the reps with the various groups throughout practice.
“I thought Mark and Joey did a nice job of running the different groups and getting the team in and out of the huddle and making some things happen,” Head Coach Sean Payton said.
Early on Brunell and WR Marques Colston found a good rhythm and connected to complete five passes early on, including a short touchdown toss. One of the Saints’ early drives ended prematurely when RB Mike Bell, battling hard for a roster spot, coughed up the football that LB Mark Simoneau recovered.
Earlier in the first team defenses’ drive, S Roman Harper made a diving interception and alertly jumped up and returned the football 50 yards. Other big plays from the afternoon included a nice hard inside run by RB Pierre Thomas, who also picked up a nice gain on a screen-play. Other notables included a Will Smith sack, a long gain on a reception that looked liked it would have been good for a touchdown, and a nice reception by WR Devery Henderson on a comeback route.
“It was good to get out there and get in a game type situation,” said Colston. “Mark made some nice throws and I was able to make some plays, so that feels good.”
Brunell echoed the sentiment, “It’s a pretty good way to start off when you can connect with Marques and let him make plays on the ball. He is such a big target and isn’t banged up like he was last year, so I think we are all hoping big things from him this season.”
Defensively the Saints were opportunistic and forced two fumbles, which they recovered, and also generated two interceptions. The fumble recoveries were credited to Simoneau and DE Jeff Charleston, who shot into the backfield and scooped up and errant shotgun snap, while the interceptions were turned in by Harper and CB Jason David, who made a diving interception on a Harrington pass that was deflected at the line of scrimmage by Charleston.
“The defense made some things happen out there,” Payton said. “I though Mike Bell’s fumble was a case of him not having the ball tucked away the way he knows how to, but the defense made the play on the ball. There were some very encouraging things happening out there and I think there are some things that we need to continue to work on and clean up.”
Notes: The Saints players will be given their first day during training camp on Sunday … the Saints will return to practice on Monday, August 10 with a practice open to the public at 8:50-11:00 a.m. … Payton said the only player that was injured during the workout was LB Mark Simoneau (elbow). Payton said Simoneau will have it looked at and the team will have a better idea where he is on Monday.
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