Joint practices against Jacksonville, Dallas and the Rams provided everything New Orleans Saints coach Kellen Moore needed to see from his starters in preseason, so most of them won't play in the finale Friday against the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tx.
"They've gotten really good work. I tallied up: They had 145 joint practice snaps, so they had a ton of work over those three days," Moore said Wednesday night, following the Saints' open practice on Tom Benson Field at Tulane's Yulman Stadium. "Love where those guys are at mentally, physically, so this will be awesome for the guys who have an opportunity to play in this game."
Joint practices have routinely served as preseason games for teams in recent years, and the Saints participated in their three within an eight-day window, including Aug. 18 and 20 against Dallas and the Rams in California.
"I thought it was great work," Moore said. "Three different teams, three teams that have high aspirations to be really successful this year. Different styles, which was great for us. I think our goal was in three joint practices, we were going to get some really good work. I think we accomplished what we wanted to with that, it puts us in a really good position."
Starters will go through the regular pregame routine before settling in to watch.
"We played it with the intent of we'll just take this thing week by week, see the work that we get," Moore said. "And so I feel like our guys are ready mentally, physically...We want them to still go through their full game day routine — so they'll prepare, they'll tape up, they'll go through early pregame warmups. Get those guys ready, they'll feel the stadium and then obviously they simply won't play a few snaps in the game. They'll be OK with that."
Kicking competition rages on
The kicking competition will continue into Friday's preseason game. There were three kicking periods during Wednesday's practice and Charlie Smyth, Tanner Brown and Daniel Carlson each had eight attempts. Brown made all eight kicks, while Smyth and Carlson each missed one.
"We'll watch this film (from Wednesday)," Moore said. "We'll make a decision — we'll have to create a tier system to that and hopefully get some opportunities this week (against Dallas)."
Tulane juice
The atmosphere at Yulman Stadium was lively for the Saints; attendance totaled 7,948.
"Really fun atmosphere," Moore said. "I thought it was great work, getting our fans involved with this. I think it's always fun to just change the environment. A night practice, our guys had a little bit of time to sleep in, recover. It was awesome."
Weekend cuts
Moore said that Saturday and Sunday are his worst NFL days; NFL rosters must be trimmed to 53 players by 5 p.m. CST. The Saints had 91 on the roster as of Wednesday.
"Everyone has put so much into this," Moore said. "We have such an awesome group of players who have just poured themselves into this. This is their opportunity. And at the end we want all these guys to be successful. Our goal is to keep as many of them as we can through practice squad, through different opportunities."
Bonus work
The Saints will have three practices next week, an increase from previous years, before having another full week of practice prior to the regular-season opener Sept. 13 on the road against Detroit.
"Next week is going to be a really good week," Moore said. The NFL changed their structure just a little bit. Roster cuts are on Sunday so we really get a full week, which I think is going to be to the league's advantage. We'll get three practices in next week. Usually, you kind of drag those roster decisions, you only end up getting one or two practices — you don't get three full days. We'll get great work as we prepare for what the regular season will look like."
