DEFENDER BENDER
Missing two starters on the line, the Saints' offense takes a back seat in Saturday's scrimmage
Sunday, August 06, 2006
By Mike Triplett
Staff writer
JACKSON, MISS. -- The Saints offered glimpses of their offensive firepower during Saturday's intrasquad scrimmage, with quarterback Drew Brees giving a decent performance and rookie tailback Reggie Bush showing off a few signature moves.
But the day belonged to the defensive line, particularly Charles Grant, who took turns disrupting Brees, Bush and a depleted offensive line for most of the afternoon.
"They just got us today," admitted Brees, who completed 10 of his first 13 passes, mostly against the second-string defense, before throwing a pair of interceptions on back-to-back plays against the first-string defense. "It's back and forth, which is good. I think it keeps it competitive, and it makes for some fun practices."
To be fair, the Saints offense was playing without starting guards Jermane Mayberry and Montrae Holland, both of whom are nursing injuries. But the defense took advantage in a big way.
During one series against the second-string offense, Grant blew past rookie offensive tackle Zach Strief to sack Jamie Martin, then he shot into the backfield past Strief and guard Chad Setterstrom to stop Bush for a four-yard loss on a fourth-and-one play.
Grant later made another sack, stopped tailback Deuce McAllister for a loss and applied the pressure on one of Brees' interceptions.
Defensive ends Will Smith and Tony Bryant shared one sack, tackles Hollis Thomas and Brian Young shared another, and defensive end Rob Ninkovich had a third. Roman Harper had a sack on a safety blitz.
Brees' passes were intercepted by Fred Thomas and Scott Fujita. Adrian McPherson threw two interceptions, to Jay Bellamy and Grant Mason.
"It's always that double-edged sword there," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "You're encouraged on one end because (the defense) established some pressure and hurried the quarterback. Then you want to check your protections and make sure that you're giving these guys a chance to function. Just based on what I saw, (the defense) did a pretty good job. Those guys got up the field.
"But there were some good things. I thought when we did run it, when we got into a little bit of a groove calling more runs, they came off the ball and did a good job. We've got a lot of work to do, and fortunately we've got four preseason games."
The Saints ran about 100 plays, varying the matchups between first-, second- and third-string units and finishing with some two-minute drills.
There was no live tackling. Instead, defenders wrapped up or held up the offensive players.
As a result, Payton said he called a majority of pass plays, because it's hard for players to physically defend the run when they're not tackling.
The scrimmage started with the first-string offense against the second-string defense, and Brees completed five of eight passes in those series, with McAllister and Bush rotating in and out of the backfield.
As a unit, the offense looked crisp and efficient, but a long opening drive stalled, and they settled for a field goal.
Brees completed two early passes to Devery Henderson for 15 and nine yards. Bush broke off an 18-yard run to the left behind tackle Jammal Brown and took a dump-off pass in the flat for a 13-yard gain.
"Reggie was great," Brees said. "Reggie was playing physical football, and I felt like we all kind of saw that gear that everybody talks about Reggie having. He looks good on a college field; I think he looks pretty good on an NFL field, too."
Official statistics were not kept, but Bush carried the ball seven times for 36 yards, with five catches for an estimated 29 yards. He had four plays that went for nine yards or longer.
Bush and McAllister lined up together twice, once with Bush motioning out wide and once with Bush lining up in the slot.
"I felt all right, pretty good," Bush said. "I don't think the offense had as good of a day as we wanted to, but that's what the scrimmage is for, to work on it and get better next week.
"I feel comfortable with where I'm at, but I'm not satisfied. I have to keep getting better every week."
McAllister lined up as the starting tailback, but with such an abundance of passing plays, he was not on the field as much as Bush. He said his reconstructed right knee felt good, but after he sat out for a long time it began to stiffen.
Brees said he had no problems with his surgically repaired throwing shoulder. He completed 15 of 22 passes for an estimated 133 yards. His best pass was probably a 17-yard completion to receiver Marques Colston with some zip on it.
The first interception was a great play by Thomas, who tipped the ball to himself. The second interception was a miscommunication between Brees and tight end Ernie Conwell. Fujita stepped in front of the ball and probably would have returned it for a touchdown.
Martin was decent as the second-string quarterback, though his unit also failed to score any touchdowns.
Todd Bouman had a solid showing with the third-string offense. He led a long touchdown drive, finishing with a four-yard touchdown fade to tight end Zach Hilton. The only other touchdown came on an eight-yard pass from Jason Fife to Nate Lawrie.
). So if you want Bush in a 12-team league I think you're out of luck if you're picking near the end of the round. He'll be off the board by the time the draft gets back to you in the third round and if you take him in the second, that means you've likely taken him over some or all of the stud WRs and one of the last of the solid RBs like McGahee. That's too great a risk.But if you're sitting near the top of your draft and are able to pair Bush with LJ, Alexander or Tomlinson or even Barber or Portis that's a very nice way to start building your RB corps in your draft.
when he gets a few touches and he learns that the NFL Speed is just as fast as his Speed is.
